The April 18th's Rising Writers event with Daniel Gumbiner and Kevin Smokler was as educational as it was entertaining. Daniel Gumbiner, author of National Book Award nominee The Boatbuilder, and Kevin Smoker, author of Brat Pack America, talked about writing The Boatbuilder and Gumbiner's next project.
Gumbiner's novel primarily deals with escape, acceptance and the relationship between the two. Its protagonist, Berg, is an opiate addict recovering...
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BOOKS
FICTION
David Quantick All my colors
Historical Fiction
Louis Bayard Courting Mr. Lincoln
Jennifer Cody Epstein Wunderland
Mystery, Suspense, Espionage & Intrigue
Jean-Luc Bannalec...
Science fiction has plenty of book series. The Mechanics Institute Library has recently acquired a few new ones and added to some popular ones.
Fire Logic, the first book of Laurie J. Marks's tetrology "Elemental Logic," has proven so popular with members that we have acquired the next 2 books: Earth Logic (book 2) and ...
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The month of March, or Women's History Month, may be in the rearview mirror but there’s always a time and reason to celebrate the contributions of women. In the last few years, there has been an explosion of women biopics, movies with a top-shelf, mostly-female cast, and films directed by women. Some of these like Lady Bird, Hidden Figures, and The Favourite have earned Oscar recognition.
Come check out our extensive display of feminist films on the 2nd floo...
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The time has come!
Starting Sunday, May 5th, the Mechanics’ Institute Library is having its annual magazine sale. Stop by the 3rd floor to browse all titles from The Advocate to Zyzzyva. All issues or bundles of issues will be $1 each (plus tax). That includes heavy issues (e.g. Artforum, Monocle, Virginia Quarterly Review, etc.) and oversized issues (e.g. Country Life, The London Review of Books, T...
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BOOKS
FICTION
Nnamdi Ehirim Prince of monkeys
Mareike Krügel Look at me
Sally Rooney Normal people
Daniel Sanchez Arevalo Alice's island
Historical Fiction
Myla Goldb...
BOOKS
FICTION
Sarah Blake Naamah
Ksenia Buksh The freedom factory
Susan Choi Trust exercise
James Lasdun Afternoon of a faun
Jojo Moyes The...
Over the last two years, over two 6-month periods, we have tracked the number of members using the Mechanics' Institute Library after 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and found that Library usage drops dramatically during that last hour. Very few members used the Library after 8 p.m. during the last 6-month period (September 16, 2018 – March 15, 2019). Given low Library usage, we have decided to change our Monday through Thursday hours to 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
The new hours:
BOOKS
FICTION
Belle Boggs The gulf
Candice Carty-Williams Queenie
Lydia Fitzpatrick Lights all night long
Nell Freudenberger Lost & wanted
Tracey Garvis Graves...
The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, more commonly known as the California Midwinter Fair, was the brainchild of Michael H. deYoung, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle and a commissioner of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. DeYoung was inspired by the great success of the Columbian Exposition and wanted San Francisco to benefit from the public’s desire for this kind of extravaganza. His idea was to transport...
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