“Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make.” – Nick Bostrom As a child, I would watch reruns of “The Jetsons” and dream about the days when my car would fly and a robot would clean my house. It’s difficult to believe, but that future of which I dreamt is…
Continue reading "Literary Links: Artificial Intelligence" Adults
Literature’s contemplation of the banality of existence was once a male-dominated field… but not anymore! If you are interested in narratives of women wading through dread and anxiety, who seek meaning and intimacy in strange, desperate, and painfully human ways, you have a breadth of material to choose from. Here are four books I’ve enjoyed…
Continue reading "Women vs. The Void" Adults
The best stories are the convincing ones — the ones that feel real. The ones with living, breathing characters who contain constellations of motivations and fears, likes and dislikes. Characters who connect with each other in complex and sincere ways. The worst stories are the ones that make you feel like you’re being lied to…
Continue reading "Real Romance" Adults
Evelyn Kominsky Kumamoto is the adult daughter of a distant Japanese father and a dead Jewish mother. When we meet her, she is preparing to start a new job at a large internet company, having set aside her philosophy dissertation in search of a change. Evelyn is somewhat anchorless — in identity, in work and…
Continue reading "Staff Review: Happy for You by Claire Stanford" Adults
Here are a few of the most notable adult fiction debut novels coming out in March. These have all received positive reviews in library journals. For a longer list, please visit our catalog. “The Astronaut and the Star” by Jen Comfort Astronaut Regina “Reggie” Hayes wants to be the first woman on the moon —…
Continue reading "Debut Author Spotlight: March 2022" Adults
Long ago, when I first had a yard that was mine to do with as I wished, my ignorance was vast. I bought plants based only on what looked pretty. Over the years, I’ve become aware of the importance of encouraging native plants and avoiding invasive species. My learning curve seems to have followed that…
Continue reading "Callery Pear Tree Buy-Back" Adults
Welcome back to another post for our monthly nonfiction roundup! Look below for some suggested titles to put on hold and check our catalog for a more extensive list.
Adults
Wandering through many early spring forests in mid-Missouri in search of wild morels, I’ve never been lucky enough to discover a secret cache of these fairytale figures. Although I’ve found one or two random fruits, not enough to make a meal or brag about to other mycophiles, I can’t complain, because morels, while magical in…
Continue reading "Good Reasons to Mushroom Hunt" Adults
Here is a quick highlight of some of the noteworthy nonfiction titles being released the August. Visit our catalog for a more extensive list. Interesting Picks “The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America” by Karen Abbott In the early days of Prohibition…
Continue reading "Nonfiction Roundup: August 2019" Adults
For about as long as society has existed, so has incarceration. From Socrates to Boethius to Oscar Wilde and beyond, philosophers and writers have often found themselves on the punitive end of a criminal justice system. Even behind bars, though, many managed to produce compelling and inspirational works. Social activists are often imprisoned for their…
Continue reading "Read Harder 2019: A Book Written in Prison" Adults