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Readers' Nook

Readers Nook

by
Heather Miles

FICTION

Richard Ford Be mine Fic Ford
Louise Lewis The eternal return of Clara Hart Fic Finch
Paul Rudnick Farrell Covington and the limits of style : a novel Fic Rudnick
Roslyn Bernstein The girl who counted numbers : a novel Fic Bernstein
Bernardo Zannoni My stupid intentions Fic Zannoni
Aharon Apelfeld Poland, a green land Fic Appelfeld
Gustave Flaubert Three tales Fic Flaubert
Lydia Kiesling Mobility : a novel Fic Kiesling
Lorrie Moore I am homeless if this is not my home Fic Moore
Patrick deWitt The librarianist : a novel Fic DeWitt
Marcel Proust Swann's way Fic Proust
Ann Patchett Tom Lake : a novel Fic Patchett
Daniel Manus Pinkwater The afterlife diet Fic Pinkwater

Historical Fiction

Rachel Eliza Griffiths Promise : a novel Fic Griffiths
John Sayles Jamie MacGillivray : the renegade's journey Fic Sayles

Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers, Espionage & Intrigue

Daniel Silva The collector : a novel Fic Silva
Laura Lippman Prom mom : a novel Fic Lippman
Mindy Mejia To catch a storm : a novel Fic Mejia
Joe Hart Where they lie : a thriller Fic Hart
Brad Thor Dead fall : a thriller Fic Thor
Shari Lapena Everyone here is lying Fic Lapena
Sandra Brown Out of nowhere Fic Brown
Candace Buford Good as gold Fic Buford

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror

Justin Cronin The ferryman : a novel Fic Cronin
Chloe Gong Immortal longings Fic Gong
Martha Wells Exit strategy Fic Wells
Mark Lawrence The book that wouldn't burn Fic Lawrence
Jennifer L. Armentrout A soul of ash and blood Fic Armentrout
Joe Hart Obscura Fic Hart

Short Stories
Tessa Hadley After the funeral and other stories Fic Hadley
Michele Mari You, bleeding childhood Fic Mari

Comic Books, Graphic Novels & Comic Strips

Adam Bessie Going remote : a teacher's journey 378.12 B559 Comics
Samuel Machado Thing : inside the struggle for animal personhood 179.3 M149 Comics

FICTION

Richard Ford Be mine Fic Ford
Louise Lewis The eternal return of Clara Hart Fic Finch
Paul Rudnick Farrell Covington and the limits of style : a novel Fic Rudnick
Roslyn Bernstein The girl who counted numbers : a novel Fic Bernstein
Bernardo Zannoni My stupid intentions Fic Zannoni
Aharon Apelfeld Poland, a green land Fic Appelfeld
Gustave Flaubert Three tales Fic Flaubert
Lydia Kiesling Mobility : a novel Fic Kiesling
Lorrie Moore I am homeless if this is not my home Fic Moore
Patrick deWitt The librarianist : a novel Fic...

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by
Heather Miles

PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Making their mark : art by women in the Shah Garg collection 704.042 M235

Biography & Genealogy

Olga Lengyel Five chimneys : a woman survivor's true story of Auschwitz 940.5318 L566
Jane Ferguson No ordinary assignment : a memoir 070.4 F352

Business & Economics

Claire Hughes Johnson Scaling people : tactics for management and company building 658.3 H893
Bethany Allen Beijing rules : how China weaponized its economy to confront the world 337.51 A425

Chess

The imagery of chess revisited 794.1 I314
Mike. Basman Chess openings 794.122 B315

Food & Drink

Jack Bishop The complete Italian vegetarian cookbook : 350 essential recipes for inspired everyday eating 641.5636 B622

Health & Medicine

Lessons from the COVID war : an investigative report 362.1962 L641
Jonathan Su 6-minute fitness at 60+ : simple home exercises to reclaim strength, balance, and energy in 15 days 613.71 S938
Tom Mueller How to make a killing : blood, death and dollars in American medicine 362.19 M946

History

Ariel Aberg-Riger America redux : visual stories from our dynamic history 973 A145
Miles Taylor Blowback : a warning to save democracy from the next Trump 973.934 T238
Eric Silver The book of the just : the silent heroes who saved Jews from Hitler 940.53 S58
Heather Dune Macadam Star crossed : a true Romeo and Juliet story in Hitler's Paris 940.5318 M115s

Literature & Writing

Meg Bowles How to tell a story : the essential guide to memorable storytelling from The Moth 808.543 B787
How we do it : Black writers on craft, practice, and skill 808.02 H847
Terrance Hayes So to speak 811 H417
Speaking while female : 75 extraordinary speeches by American women 808.85 S741
Stefano Massini The Lehman trilogy 812 M418

Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Gregory Skomal Chasing shadows : my life tracking the great white shark 597.3 S628
Karen Pinchin Kings of their own ocean : tuna, obsession, and the future of our seas 597.783 P647
David Scheel Many things under a rock : the mysteries of octopuses 594.5 S315
Susan Casey The underworld : journeys to the depths of the ocean 551.46 C338u

Performing Arts & Music

Michael R. Jackson A strange loop 782.14 J124
Greg Gutfeld The king of late night 791.45 G983
Myŏng-sŏk Kang Beyond the story : 10-year record of BTS 780.92 B916

Philosophy, Psychology & Religion

Juan Ricardo Cole Muhammad : prophet of peace amid the clash of empires 297.63 C68

Social Sciences & Current Events

Jillian Lauren Behold the monster : confronting America's most prolific serial killer 364.152 L378
Neil Howe The fourth turning is here : what the seasons of history tell us about how and when this crisis will end 303.49 H855
David Lipsky The parrot and the igloo : climate and the science of denial 304.2 L767
Jaha Nailah Avery Those who saw the sun : African American oral histories from the Jim Crow South 305.896 A954
Michael Finkel The art thief : a true story of love, crime, and a dangerous obsession 364.1628 F499
Christopher F. Rufo America's cultural revolution : how the radical left conquered everything 306.0973 R926
Kathryn Edin The injustice of place : uncovering the legacy of poverty in America 339.46 E235i
Carol Roth You will own nothing : your war with a new financial world order and how to fight back 305.52 R845

Sports & Games

Summer in the City : New York Baseball 1947-1957. 796.357 S95

Travel & Geography

Rick Steves Rick Steves' Vienna Salzburg & Tirol. 914.36 S848
Lonely planet Malta & Gozo. 914.585 L847
E. M. Forster The hill of Devi : an Englishman serving at the court of a Maharajah 915.4 F73
The rough guide to Thailand's beaches and islands. 915.93 R856
Greece. 914.95 L847
Spain 914.6 L847
Fodor's Oregon. 917.95 F653

Universal (Children's)

Elizabeth Santiago The moonlit vine U Santiago
Annette Bay Pimentel Before colors : where pigments and dyes come from U 667.2 P644

PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Making their mark : art by women in the Shah Garg collection 704.042 M235

Biography & Genealogy

Olga Lengyel Five chimneys : a woman survivor's true story of Auschwitz 940.5318 L566
Jane Ferguson No ordinary assignment : a memoir 070.4 F352

Business & Economics

Claire Hughes Johnson Scaling people : tactics for management and company building 658.3 H893
Bethany Allen Beijing rules : how China weaponized its economy to confront the world 337.51 A425

Chess

The imagery of chess revisited 794.1 I314
Mike. Basman Chess openings 794.122 B315...

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by
Heather Miles

Heinrich von Kleist Michael Kohlhaas
Gustave Flaubert Three tales
Domenico Starnone Ties
Olufemi Taiwo Against decolonisation : taking African agency seriously
Alistair MacLean Alistair MacLean Arctic Chillers 4-Book Collection
Alistair MacLean Alistair MacLean sea thrillers : 4-book collection.
Alistair MacLean Breakheart Pass
Alistair MacLean Circus
Matt Wesolowski Demon.
Mario Vargas Llosa The feast of the Goat
Alistair MacLean H.M.S. Ulysses
Alistair MacLean Partisans
Alistair MacLean Puppet on a chain
Juan Gabriel Vásquez Reputations
Alistair MacLean Where eagles dare
Jason Roberts A Sense of the World Jason Roberts.
William Trevor The Boarding-House
William Trevor Elizabeth Alone
William Trevor Mrs. Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel
William Trevor Nights at the Alexandra
William Trevor The Old Boys
William Trevor Other People's Worlds
William Trevor The Silence in the Garden
Milos Kankaras Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development : A Simple Guide

Heinrich von Kleist Michael Kohlhaas
Gustave Flaubert Three tales
Domenico Starnone Ties
Olufemi Taiwo Against decolonisation : taking African agency seriously
Alistair MacLean Alistair MacLean Arctic Chillers 4-Book Collection
Alistair MacLean Alistair MacLean sea thrillers : 4-book collection.
Alistair MacLean Breakheart Pass
Alistair MacLean Circus
Matt Wesolowski Demon.
Mario Vargas Llosa The feast of the Goat
Alistair MacLean H.M.S. Ulysses
Alistair MacLean...

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by
Steven Dunlap
Aharon Apelfeld (1932-2018) wrote numerous books, 12 of them in our fiction collection have all proven very popular with Mechanics’ Institute members. He wrote the most recent one to come out in English translation in 2005. Poland, a green land is a departure from his usual historical fiction writing. This story has more autobiographical elements and takes place in the present (but with echoes of the past). A Shopkeeper in Tel Aviv travels to his parents’ birthplace in Poland to discover two different “Polands.” People in his parents’ hometown greet him warmly at first, but then their mood turns dark when he tries to buy the tombstones from a desecrated Jewish cemetery that an earlier generation made into cornerstones for the town square.
Aharon Apelfeld (1932-2018) wrote numerous books, 12 of them in our fiction collection have all proven very popular with Mechanics’ Institute members. He wrote the most recent one to come out in English translation in 2005. Poland, a green land is a departure from his usual historical fiction writing. This story has more autobiographical elements and takes place in the present (but with echoes of the past). A Shopkeeper in Tel Aviv travels to his parents’ birthplace in Poland to discover two different “Polands.” People in his parents’ hometown greet him warmly at first, but then their mood turns dark when he tries to buy the tombstones from a desecrated Jewish cemetery that an earlier generation made into cornerstones for the town square.
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by
Heather Miles

Many, many books have been written about Titanic, but Voyagers of the Titanic is a real standout in the field for its memorable and engaging tone. The book is comprehensive, beginning with an overview of the shipbuilders and financiers who made her, then the various people who set sail on the fateful maiden voyage.

Much of Davenport-Hines’ prose, particularly his depictions of various passengers' lives, is colorful and descriptive. From a description of an outfit worn by Francis Millet, an American painter, head of the American Academy in Rome: "Bright copper-colored trousers with matching Norfolk jacket, fastened by big ball-shaped buttons of red porcelain, a lavender tie, tall bay-wing collar, a derby hat with broad brim, patent leather shoes with white tops, a bunch of lilies in his buttonhole and a cambric handkerchief tucked in his left sleeve."

When it comes to the complicated personal lives of the passengers, his descriptions are vivid and sometimes, even amusing. Of Benjamin Guggenheim's marriage/romantic life: "At first, Ben Guggenheim lived with his wife, Florette, and three daughters in a pretentious, tomblike house on a corner of Fifth Avenue…he was the rare sort of philanderer who liked women and understood them. He kept a slim brunette nurse in the Stygian house, ostensibly because her massage warded off his neuralgia, but eventually decided that marvelous regions lay waiting to be explored in Paris, where he took an apartment."

While some articles and books have focused on the well-known first class passengers (and indeed, they are included here), Voyagers of the Titanic also has portraits of the sailors, second class, and steerage passengers as well. It is easy enough to list the number of people who died, their occupations, and the places they came from. What Richard Davenport-Hines has given us are realistic and distinct portraits of those numbers as individuals.

In the chapter "Second Class," we learn about one couple traveling in this section. "In the library, a pert young Frenchwoman, Henriette Yrois, sat playing patience under the admiring scrutiny of her middle-aged companion. This was William Harbeck, aged forty-eight, from Toledo, Ohio. As a cynic would have realized, the pair were too acutely away from each other to be a married couple. Neither survived the tragedy, although his body was recovered clutching her purse, which contained his wedding ring. His real wife did not pay for a headstone for his grave."

In "Third Class," we learn the fate of Rhoda Abbott, a mother returning to Rhode Island with her two sons, Rossmore, aged sixteen, and Eugene, thirteen. All three went into the sea together when the ship took its final plunge. The two young men shoved their mother into a collapsible lifeboat, then held onto the edge themselves. As their mother looked on, the boys gradually lost their grip and drifted away. As Davenport-Hines states "few women can have suffered as she did."

The aftermath of the sinking is handled with the same skill as the previous ⅔ of the book. One theme that the author addresses early on in the book, and returns to here, is that of the social environment the wreck occurred in, specifically the racial and ethnic prejudices at play. The "gutter press" declared that the heroism of Anglo-Saxon men, going bravely to their deaths, was contrasted with the cowardice of non-Anglo people such as Italians, Chinese, and Syrians.
Voyagers of the Titanic is ideal for those who have a new interest in the Titanic, but due to the author's skill, it would also be of interest to those who are already well-read on the subject.

Many, many books have been written about Titanic, but Voyagers of the Titanic is a real standout in the field for its memorable and engaging tone. The book is comprehensive, beginning with an overview of the shipbuilders and financiers who made her, then the various people who set sail on the fateful maiden voyage.

Much of Davenport-Hines’ prose, particularly his depictions of various passengers' lives, is colorful and descriptive. From a description of an outfit worn by Francis Millet, an American painter, head of the American Academy in Rome: "Bright copper-colored trousers with matching Norfolk jacket, fastened by big ball-shaped buttons of red porcelain, a lavender tie, tall bay-wing collar, a derby hat with broad brim, patent leather shoes with white tops, a bunch of lilies in his buttonhole and a cambric handkerchief tucked in his left sleeve."

When it comes to the complicated personal lives of the passengers, his...

Continue reading...
by
Heather Miles

PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION

Applied Sciences
3D printing projects 621.9 T531

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Alan J. Flusser Ralph Lauren : in his own fashion 746.9 L37f
Graham Day Pattinson A guide to professional architectural and industrial scale model building 720.22 P321

Biography & Genealogy

Keah Brown The pretty one : on life, pop culture, disability, and other reasons to fall in love with me 616.8 B877
Matt Birkbeck The life we chose : William "Big Billy" D'Elia and the last secrets of America's most powerful mafia family 364.106 B619

Books, Reading, Publishing, Journalism

Derek Beres Conspirituality : how new age conspiracy theories became a health threat 001.9 B491

Business & Economics

Melissa Jean-Baptiste So, this is why I'm broke : money lessons on financial literacy, passive income, and generational wealth 332.024 J432
Matthew Mottola The human cloud : how today's changemakers use artificial intelligence and the freelance economy to transform work 306.36 M92
Brendan Ballou Plunder : private equity's plan to pillage America 332.6 B193

Chess

Tony Cullen Chess rivals of the 19th century : with 300 annotated games 794.15 C967
Jesús de la Villa García The 100 endgames you must know workbook : practical endgames exercises for every chess player 794.124 D34w
Cyrus Lakdawala Tactical training 794.12 L192
Arthur van de Oudeweetering Chess pattern recognition for beginners : the fundamental guide to spotting key moves in the middlegame 794.123 O932
John Emms First steps : 1 e4 e5 794.1225 C20 E54
M. I. Shereshevsky The Soviet chess conveyor 794.1 S551
Svetozar. Gligorić Shall we play Fischerandom chess? 794.1 G55f
Taylor Kingston The fighting chess of Edgard Colle : Caissa's wounded warrior : an exploration and celebration of the artistry of the Belgian chess champion and prolific international tournament player Egard Colle 794.15 C69k

Computer Science

Scott N. Schober Senior cyber : best security practices for your golden years 005.8 S363
Laurence Lars Svekis JavaScript from beginner to professional : learn JavaScript quickly by building fun, interactive, and dynamic web apps, games, and pages 005.2762 J416sv
Harrison Ferrone Learning C# by developing games with Unity : get to grips with coding in C# and build simple 3D games in Unity 2022 from the ground up 005.13 F396
Josh Goldberg Learning TypeScript : enhance your web development skills using type-safe JavaScript 005.2762 J416g
Clifford A. Pickover Artificial intelligence : an illustrated history : from medieval robots to neural networks 006.3 P59

Food & Drink

Nick DiGiovanni Knife drop : creative recipes anyone can cook 641.5 D574
Dan Buettner The blue zones American kitchen : 100 recipes to live to 100 641.563 B928b
Natasha Pickowicz More than cake : 100 baking recipes built for pleasure and community 641.815 P597

Health & Medicine

Audrey Clare Farley Girls and their monsters : the Genain quadruplets and the making of madness in America 616.8982 F231
Alden Wicker To dye for : how toxic fashion is making us sick--and how we can fight back 613 W636
Hadley Vlahos The in-between : unforgettable encounters during life's final moments 616.029 V865
Emily Clionsky Dementia prevention : using your head to save your brain 616.831 C641

History

Claudine Chalmers French San Francisco 979.461 C438f
Judy Rakowsky Jews in the garden : a Holocaust survivor, the fate of his family, and the secret history of Poland in World War II 940.5318 R162
Norman Solomon War made invisible : how America hides the human toll of its military machine 355.033 S689
Bill Dixon Last days of Last Island : the hurricane of 1856, Louisiana's first great storm 976.3 D621
Richard J. Evans Lying about Hitler : history, Holocaust, and the David Irving trial 940.5318 E924
Anthony McIntyre Good Friday : the death of Irish republicanism 941.6 M152
Randall Sullivan Graveyard of the Pacific : shipwreck and survival on America's deadliest waterway 979.7 S95
A. Wilson Greene Breaking the backbone of the rebellion : the final battles of the Petersburg campaign 973.7 G799
A new history of the American South 975 N532
D. M. Giangreco Truman and the bomb : the untold story 973.918 G43
Cathy Yandell The French art of living well : finding joie de vivre in the everyday world 944 Y21
Peter Moore Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness : Britain and the American dream 973 M823
John C. McManus To the end of the earth : the US Army and the downfall of Japan, 1945 940.542 M167t

Literature & Writing

August. Kleinzahler Green sees things in waves 811 K64g
Noël Maureen Valis Lorca after life 868 G216o
Beth Kempton The way of the fearless writer : mindful wisdom for a flourishing writing life 808.02 K329
Hart Seely Pieces of intelligence : the existential poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld 811 R93s
Carla Sarett She has visions 811 S24
Mark J. Mitchell Roshi San Francisco 811 M681r
Mark J. Mitchell Something to be : poems on the workday 811 M681s
Mark J. Mitchell Starting from tu fu 811 M681st
Neruda and Vallejo : selected poems 861 N454

Natural Sciences & Mathematics

Christian Cooper Better living through birding : notes from a Black man in the natural world 598.072 C776
Jeff Goodell The heat will kill you first : life and death on a scorched planet 551.6 G64h
Jennifer Ackerman What an owl knows : the new science of the world's most enigmatic birds 598.97 A182

Performing Arts & Music

David Lindsay-Abaire Kimberly Akimbo : a new musical based on the play 782.14 L749
Charlotte Chandler I, Fellini 791.4 F31c
Paul McCartney 1964 : eyes of the storm 780.92 M12ni

Philosophy, Psychology & Religion

Tyson Motsenbocker Where the waves turn back : a forty-day pilgrimage along the California coast 263.041 M919
Garrison Keillor Cheerfulness 158 K27
Ken Jennings 100 places to see after you die : a travel guide to the afterlife 202.3 J54
John Barton The Word : how we translate the Bible--and why it matters 220.4 B293

Politics & Government

Mikhail Zygarʹ War and punishment : Putin, Zelinsky, and the path to Russia's invasion of Ukraine 327.47 Z99
Jason Chaffetz The puppeteers : the people who control the people who control America 320.51 C433

Social Sciences & Current Events

David Von Drehle The book of Charlie : wisdom from the remarkable American life of a 109-year-old man 305.26 V94
Andrew Monteith Christian nationalism and the birth of the war on drugs 363.45 M775
John Vaillant Fire weather : a true story from a hotter world 363.37 V13
Robert E. Lighthizer No trade is free : changing course, taking on China, and helping America's workers 382 L724
Jean Pfaelzer California, a slave state 306.362 P52
Maureen Ryan Burn it down : power, complicity, and a call for change in Hollywood 364.153 R988
Joseph McGill Sleeping with the ancestors : how I followed the footprints of slavery 306.362 M145
Peter H. Gleick The three ages of water : prehistoric past, imperiled present, and a hope for the future 333.91 G556
M. T. Connolly The measure of our age : navigating care, safety, money, and meaning in later life 305.26 C752

Travel & Geography

Nancy Marie Brown Looking for the hidden folk : how Iceland's elves can save the earth 398.09 B877
Will Grant The last ride of the Pony Express : my 2,000-mile horseback journey into the Old West 917.8 G761
Moon Montana : with Yellowstone National Park 917.866 M818
Rick Steves' Greece : Athens & the Peloponnese. 914.95 S848

Universal (Children's)
Non-fiction

Erica Armstrong Dunbar Never Caught, the story of Ona Judge : George and Martha Washington's courageous slave who dared to run away U 306.362 D911
Frieda Wishinsky A flower is a friend U 577.55 W814
Katharine von der Gathen Any body : a comic compendium of important facts & feelings about our bodies U 612 G259
Claire Saxby Great white shark U 597.3 S272
Elisa Boxer Hidden hope : how a toy and a hero saved lives during the Holocaust U 940.548 B788

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NON-FICTION

Applied Sciences
3D printing projects 621.9 T531

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Alan J. Flusser Ralph Lauren : in his own fashion 746.9 L37f
Graham Day Pattinson A guide to professional architectural and industrial scale model building 720.22 P321

Biography & Genealogy

Keah Brown The pretty one : on life, pop culture, disability, and other reasons to fall in love with me 616.8 B877
Matt Birkbeck The life we chose : William "Big Billy" D'Elia and the last secrets of America's most powerful mafia family 364.106 B619

Books, Reading, Publishing, Journalism

Derek Beres Conspirituality : how new age conspiracy theories became a health threat...

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by
Heather Miles

PRINT BOOKS
FICTION

Colson Whitehead Crook manifesto Fic Whitehead
Eliza Jane Brazier Girls and their horses Fic Brazier
Emma Cline The guest Fic Cline
Edgard Telles Ribeiro The impostor Fic Telles Ribeiro
Siddhartha Deb The light at the end of the world Fic Deb
Luna McNamara Psyche and Eros Fic McNamara
Christine Pride You were always mine Fic Pride
Johanna Hedva Your love is not good Fic Hedva
Andrea Lee Red Island house Fic Lee
Kōbō Abe The woman in the dunes Fic Abe
Mikhail Bulgakov Heart of a dog Fic Bulgakov
Helen Schulman Lucky dogs Fic Schulman
Keziah Weir The mythmakers Fic Weir
R F Kuang Yellowface Fic Kuang

Historical Fiction
Heinrich von Kleist Michael Kohlhaas Fic Kleist
Kristin Harmel The Paris daughter Fic Harmel

Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers, Espionage & Intrigue
Chris Offutt Code of the hills Fic Offutt
Riley Sager The only one left Fic Sager
Joe Ide Fixit Fic Ide
Douglas J. Preston The cabinet of Dr. Leng : a Pendergast novel Fic Preston
S. A. Cosby All the sinners bleed Fic Cosby
Lynda La Plante Blunt force Fic La Plante
James Patterson Cross down Fic Patterson
Lynda La Plante Dark rooms Fic La Plante
Lynda La Plante The dirty dozen Fic La Plante
Lynda La Plante Unholy murder Fic La Plante

Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
J. Zachary Pike Orconomics : a satire Fic Pike
Rebecca Yarros Fourth wing Fic Yarros
Mark J. Mitchell Magic war Fic Mitchell

Comic Books, Graphic Novels & Comic Strips
Junji Itō Uzumaki : spiral into horror 741.5 I893 Comics
Alverne Ball Across the tracks : remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre 976.6 B187 Comics
David Gonzales Homies : a David Gonzales retrospective 741.5 G643 Comics
Charles Addams My crowd 741.5 A22m Comics

Short Stories
Jeffery Renard Allen Fat time and other stories Fic Allen
Julio Cortázar Blow-up, and other stories Fic Cortazar

Universal (Children's)
Fiction

Elaine Dimopoulos The remarkable rescue at Milkweed Meadow U Dimopoulos
J. Albert Mann The degenerates U Mann
Rafael Yockteng Afterward, everything was different : a tale from the Pleistocene U Yockteng
Van G. Garrett Juneteenth U Garrett
Tove Jansson Moomin and the spring surprise U Jansson
Moomin's little book of numbers. U Jansson
Tove Jansson Who will comfort Toffle? : a tale of Moomin Valley U Jansson
A. J. Irving The wishing flower U Irving
Nicola Skinner Starboard U Skinner
Roger Zelazny A night in the lonesome October U Zelazny

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FICTION

Colson Whitehead Crook manifesto Fic Whitehead
Eliza Jane Brazier Girls and their horses Fic Brazier
Emma Cline The guest Fic Cline
Edgard Telles Ribeiro The impostor Fic Telles Ribeiro
Siddhartha Deb The light at the end of the world Fic Deb
Luna McNamara Psyche and Eros Fic McNamara
Christine Pride You were always mine Fic Pride
Johanna Hedva Your love is not good Fic Hedva
Andrea Lee Red Island house Fic Lee
Kōbō Abe The woman in the dunes Fic Abe
Mikhail Bulgakov...

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by
Heather Miles

E-AUDIOBOOKS

Paul Bowles Their heads are green and their hands are blue
Lis Smith Any Given Tuesday : a political love story
Pete Hegseth Battle for the American mind : uprooting a century of miseducation
Jenna Kutcher How are you, really? : living your truth one answer at a time
Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez Lead successful projects
Stephen E Ambrose The supreme commander : the war years of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Robert Seethaler The tobacconist
M Nolan Gray Arbitrary lines : how zoning broke the American city and how to fix it
Emily Weinstein Behind their screens : what teens are facing (and adults are missing)
Ronald H Spector A continent erupts : decolonization, civil war, and massacre in postwar Asia, 1945-1955
Angus Robertson The crossroads of civilization : A history of Vienna
Ed Mylett The power of one more : The ultimate guide to happiness and success
Noah Boyd Agent X : a novel
Don A Farrell Atomic bomb island : Tinian, the last stage of the manhattan project, and the dropping of the atomic bombs on japan in world war ii
Joshua Frank Atomic days : the untold story of the most toxic place in America
Carter W Lewis Golf with Alan Shepard
Patrick Link Headstrong
John Lawton Moscow exile
James Hadley Chase No orchids for Miss Blandish
Christina Calvit Pride and Prejudice
Walter M Miller The best of Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Scott Ritter Disarmament in the time of perestroika : Arms control and the end of the soviet union; a personal journal
Fay Weldon The hole in the top of the world
Alistair Moffat The reivers : The story of the border reivers
Alistair Moffat Scotland's forgotten past : a history of the mislaid, misplaced and misunderstood
David Ives Time flies
Trevor Barnes Dead doubles : the extraordinary worldwide hunt for one of the Cold War's most notorious spy rings
John McPhee Assembling California
William Trevor Death in summer
William Trevor Felicia's journey

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by
Heather Miles

EBOOKS
M Ravenel The blackmail
M Dean Wright Welcome, caller
Pete Hegseth Battle for the American mind : uprooting a century of miseducation
Lis Smith Any given Tuesday : a political love story
Stefan Fatsis Word freak : heartbreak, triumph, genius, and obsession in the world of competitive scrabble players
Julio Cortar All fires the fire
Damon Galgut Arctic summer
Damon Galgut The Good Doctor
Damon Galgut In a strange room : three journeys
Damon Galgut The quarry
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight : a new verse translation
Jenna Kutcher How Are You, Really? : Living Your Truth One Answer at a Time.
W S Merwin Summer Doorways : a Memoir
Louise Mey The second woman
Michael A Singer Living untethered beyond the human predicament
David Grohl The storyteller : tales of life and music
Doris Lessing Martha Quest
Evelyn Waugh A handful of dust
Alverne Ball Across the tracks : remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
James Edward Mills The adventure gap : changing the face of the outdoors
Toni Morrison Beloved : a novel
Henry Threadgill Easily slip into another world : a life in music
Jancee Dunn Hot and bothered : what no one tells you about menopause and how to feel like yourself again
Edward C Baig iPhone for dummies.
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by
Paul Whitehead

Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

I was quite a voracious reader at a young age, and on my eighth birthday my parents bought me a very nice hard-backed edition of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.  Published in 1871, this sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) was another hallucinogenic romp through the mathematical game-mind of its creator, but, rather than playing-cards, the template this time was chess.

Beautifully illustrated by John Tenniel, the setting Alice finds herself in is contrary and curious: drowsily she follows her kitten through a mirror, and into a mirror-world.  All is topsy-turvy, and Alice must run with the Red Queen to simply stay in one place, while the White Queen tells Alice that “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day.”

As Alice proceeds in her adventures to the eighth square (to become a Queen), we are introduced to some of the classic characters from English literature: Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, the Walrus and the Carpenter. Jabberwocky, that masterpiece of so-called ‘nonsense-verse,’ lies in the pages of this fabulously rich book.  The author has also given all the chess pieces an alias in the Dramatis Personae that precedes the action.

Perhaps most interesting of all, Carroll includes a chess problem, along with the key to the action, for White Pawn (Alice) to play, and to win in eleven moves.

There is much written about this problem elsewhere; suffice to say, in a later edition, Carroll advises:

“As the chess-problem, given on the previous page, has puzzled some of my readers, it may be well to explain that it is correctly worked out, so far as the moves are concerned.  The alternation of Red and White is perhaps not so strictly observed as it might be, and the ‘castling’ of the three Queens is merely a way of saying that they entered the palace; but the ‘check’ of the White King at move 6, the capture of the Red Knight at move 7, and the final ‘check-mate’ of the Red King, will be found, by anyone who will take the trouble to set up the pieces and play the moves as directed, to be strictly in accordance with the laws of the game.”

Playing a not insignificant part in my childhood development, opening up the ‘doors of perception’ with its mind-bending use of language and ‘illogical’ thought, Through the Looking Glass is the very finest fiction using chess as a theme, surpassing any book (or film) I have read or seen since.

When Alice says “One can’t believe impossible things” and the White Queen replies “Why, sometimes I’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast,” we are at the very heart of the matter: Carroll is daring us to use our imagination.

Sound advice for us all, but an absolutely essential attribute for a chess player.

- Paul Whitehead

Mechanics’ Institute has this story in several books, in eBook format, and DVDs in our collection.

Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll

I was quite a voracious reader at a young age, and on my eighth birthday my parents bought me a very nice hard-backed edition of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass.  Published in 1871, this sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) was another hallucinogenic romp through the mathematical game-mind of its creator, but, rather than playing-cards, the template this time was chess.

Beautifully illustrated by John Tenniel, the setting Alice finds herself in is contrary and curious: drowsily she follows her kitten through a mirror, and into a mirror-world.  All is topsy-turvy, and Alice must run with the Red Queen to simply stay in one place, while the White Queen tells Alice that “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day.”

As Alice...

Continue reading...