As we mentioned on Monday, the books here at the Library are quietly assembling for All-Hallows Read, a celebration of all things literary, eerie, chilling, and delightful. Our staff is getting involved, too, selecting some of their favorite spooky reads for your All Hallows Read list. From the classics to new releases and back again, … Continue reading An All-Hallows Read If/Then Post
As an historian, I love good, detailed footnotes; the kind that not only tell you where an author came across a piece of information, but offers anecdotes, qualifies the point in some way, or generally just feels like you have been privy to some kind of secret insider information–like the author has taken you aside … Continue reading Footnotes in books…A bibliographic If/Then…
In 1773, a woman named Anne Letitia Aiken became one of the first people to actually discuss what it meant to be a reader, and how the act of reading can change a person. Her essay was entitled “On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror”, and in it, she pretty much explained how we … Continue reading Keep the Lights On…A Thoroughly Creepy If/Then Post…
I report to you today, Beloved Patrons, from London, a city with perhaps more literary connections than any other in the world–or, at the very least, the English speaking world. I think it might be an interesting challenge to attempt to walk down a street in this great city, and not find some literary reference. … Continue reading “…when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life…” A Londoner’s If/Then…
It is really, truly one of the highlights of my day when a patron comes in and shares that they are enjoying our little endeavor here with this blog. It makes my week, if not my whole month, when they share their own suggestions in response to some of our posts. And it seems that … Continue reading Seriously, where is that map?…Another wanderer’s If/Then….
Summer is a time for exploration…for road trips and sailing trips and airplane voyages and stay-cations. And that last one, those stay-cations, might very well be the best kind–know why? Because it gives you plenty of time to head to the library and check out one of these books! <–That, right there? That was a … Continue reading Maybe we should have brought a map? A wanderer’s If/Then….
A number of patrons have come in recently talking about the TV adaptation of Susannah Clarke’s masterful Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell that will be airing on BBC America this Saturday. I have to admit, I have yet to tackle this 900+ page meisterwerk (oddly, the new paperback edition seems more intimidating than the hardcover!), but this is a book that … Continue reading “Two magicians shall appear in England…” A Magical If/Then Post