If I were going to write a prescription for my pandemic-weary soul, I would pen it for some excitement, intrigue, hope, and reconciliation. One way to experience these is to be safely transported to another time and place by a skilled storyteller. The library has two such experiences for you.
Whether you’re planning an actual trip or simply want to travel in your imagination, you’ll find exciting places to add to your literary travel itinerary in this post! Discover some of the oldest, most beautiful, and most unusual libraries and literary landmarks in Asia, Africa, Continental Europe, and Latin America.
BY SUSAN GOERTZ I had never eaten gimbap before I was invited by a high school friend to her home to try one of her Korean mother’s specialties. I was very excited. Then, I was shocked to learn that this popular sushi-style rice dish included hotdogs. Aren’t hotdogs as “American” as apple pie?! This introduction […]
BY CAITLIN WHEELER MEMOIR, A MOMENT IN A LIFE Unlike biography, which is the story of a life, memoir is a story within a life—a moment or a thread of moments that shed light on a larger truth. Everyone has stories like these: little moments in our lives that illustrate something bigger about how we […]
By Melissa Rhoades As a novel enthusiast, I love returning to the same characters, settings, and writing styles for days or weeks at a time. It feels like taking an extended vacation. Short stories, in comparison, can feel like weekend getaways that end too soon. But Neil Gaiman has pointed out the positive side of […]
by Melissa Rhoades Writer Kurt Vonnegut survived being a soldier and prisoner of war during WWII. He also suffered from depression. Knowing these facts adds extra weight to Vonnegut’s thoughts about the importance of art: “The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more […]
by Dana Mannino “Do one thing every day that scares you.” I first met this quote on a refrigerator magnet. Since then, I’ve seen it online attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, Kurt Vonnegut, and several more historical figures. The website Quote Investigator says that it actually comes from a 1997 article by journalist Mary Schmich, but […]
by Susan Goertz September means many things to many people—leaves changing color, shortening days, pumpkin spice everything. Did you know that September is also Self-Care Awareness Month? You wouldn’t think people would need tips on how to take it easy and pamper themselves. How hard can it be to slow down and breathe, right? Yet […]
by Melissa Rhoades Have you heard of Horatio Nelson Jackson? This under-celebrated trailblazer was the first person to drive an automobile across the U.S. In 1903, ten years before Ford Motor Company began mass producing cars, Jackson left San Francisco in a two-cylinder Winton with a mechanic as his travel companion and a $50 bet […]
by Caitlin Wheeler June is LGBT Pride Month in the U.S. and the time to spotlight LGBTQ artists and thinkers who might otherwise remain hidden in library stacks. As you may know, the library is an advocate for equitable access and for fundamental values that include equity, diversity, and inclusion and the protection of intellectual […]