- March 19, 2025
While discussing family history with Miss Mary, I learned that her grandmother Irene had diaries from her younger years, including during WW2, and she had turned some of them into a book several years ago. Based on what she had told me about this fascinating woman, I knew I needed to read this book.
Fire Burn ...
Read more… - March 13, 2025
Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack by Willa Hammitt Brown
Legend has it that the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan was born in Michigan, or Minnesota, or Wisconsin, or perhaps even our very own Bangor, Maine. Determining the birthplace of a mythical entity can be a tricky business, needless to say. Wherever he may ...
Read more… - February 26, 2025
Between Two Sounds is a moving graphic look at experimental composer Arvo Pärt’s musical path from his Estonian childhood to his eventual emigration due to his refusal to change his music to fit the political landscape. The book examines the role musicians played in Estonia’s national identity, while exploring the role religion and philosophy played ...
Read more… - February 19, 2025
The central character of North Woods is a house; a yellow house in the woods of Western Massachusetts that has been there for centuries. The residents of the house, which at times include Puritan lovers escaping their oppressive community, an orchardist and his insular twin daughters, a runaway slave, a nature painter obsessing over a ...
Read more… - February 12, 2025
The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell by Jonas Olofsson
Being a body in the world is an endlessly stimulating affair. How bizarre that we should ever succumb to disenchantment – boredom, even! – when our five senses extend perpetual invitation into a rich-to-the-point-of-limitless extravagance of possible experiences. Often I lament that we are nowhere ...
Read more… - February 5, 2025
Tim Brown’s The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game tells the stories of players who never were #1 catchers but always the backup, playing irregularly but always needing to be ready and available, and calling the entire game on the days when they were called on. This book ...
Read more… - January 29, 2025
“If I had the time and a hammer, I would smash every copy of the Holiday Special.”
-George Lucas (This quote seems to be an urban legend, but you get the idea.)
A long time ago, in this very galaxy, the American people, still hyped from watching Star Wars: A New Hope, and eagerly awaiting ...
Read more… - January 23, 2025
It’s cold! See what we’re reading to take our minds off (or celebrate!) it.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anaparra “A novel inspired by real events, it is told in the voice of a 9-year old who goes searching for the children who are disappearing from his impoverished settlement in India.”
The Heart Goes ...
Read more… - January 15, 2025
I re-read Shadow of the Wind for probably the third time. Never disappoints.
Deliciously gothic tale full of plot twists and sub plots that takes place in Barcelona 1945. Part historical fiction, mystery, and romance. In addition, the plot centers around the son of bookseller and a mysterious book that is being systematically destroyed. A book ...
Read more… - January 8, 2025
If the last two Bath Climate Conversation events got you thinking about solutions in your own life, check out this list of some further reading on the subject, curated by the Reference Team.
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