Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Title: Wives and Daughters
Author:  Elizabeth Gaskell, called The Unjustly Overlooked Victorian Novelist by the New Yorker

Setting: 1830s England

Publication:  Oxford University Press, trade paper, 1987 (originally published 1864-66 in serial form)

Genre: Literature

Boston's Branch Library System

While every library has a charm all its own, a public library, which serves all, regardless of status, education, or wealth, is a resource that can be transformative to the widest range of users.  The Boston Public Library was the first large free municipal library in the United States.  Many visitors know the beautiful and recently renovated central library in Copley Square.  Designed by McKim Mead & White, it stands across the street from its equally famous neighbor, Trinity Church, the masterpiece of Henry Hobson Richardson, whom I have been studying this summer. 

BPL from the East

Bookshelf Traveling - August 15

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a new pile of books.    

Cult-favorite Tryst by Elswyth Thane (1939)

Title: Tryst
Author: Elswyth Thane

Publication: Aeonian Press, hardcover, 1974 (originally published in 1939)

Genre: Fiction/Romance

Bookshelf Traveling - August 7

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a pile of books on the floor that you keep meaning to read or at least make space for in a bookcase.

(Concluding) Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 13 and 14

Chapter 13      Rip Van Winkle

Naturally, the girls are very excited on the day of the performance for their stage debut.  The trio walks to Winona’s house and Mr. Root drives them downtown in his cutter.   Tib made daily visits to the Melborn Hotel to be coached by Mrs. Poppy (how does she know the part so well?) and since then has been rehearsing with the cast.  Surprisingly, Tib is not a “quick study” but once she learns something she is completely confident without no stage fright.   The girls are told they will cling to the coat-tails of the actor playing Rip.

An Air That Kills, the Lydmouth series launch by Andrew Taylor

Title: An Air That Kills
Author: Andrew Taylor

Publication: St. Martin’s Press, hardcover, 1995 (originally published 1994)

Genre: Mystery

Setting: 1950s Britain

Six Degrees of Separation - From How to Do Nothing to A Tale of Two Cities

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where each ends up.   This month’s starting point is How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell (2019), praised by the New York Times as “[a]n eloquent argument against the cult of efficiency . . . I felt both consoled and invigorated by it.”  It is rare I completely miss hearing about an NYT bestseller but this is not the type of nonfiction I read.