As long as I’ve been driving, I have been locked in a struggle with my car. My beaters have stalled out, erupted coolant, leaked, squealed and haunted my nightmares. I’ll admit, the ceaseless cycle of break downs broke me down to the point I became apathetic to my car. Right now, on the precipice of replacing my ride, I found an invaluable guide for the road ahead.
Chaya Milchtein’s “Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership” helped me reset a decade of bad habits with the education and empowerment to do better. The quick read left me with more insight on my vehicle than I had generated in the past decade. Milchtein, an automotive educator, combines expertise, personal perspectives and plain language into an approachable overview of a car’s life. For those like me, ignorant and almost afraid of their car, and those who have been intentionally dispossessed from car ownership, the book offers friendly guidance. Continue reading “Staff Review: Mechanic Shop Femme’s Guide to Car Ownership by Chaya Milchtein”
This past November, The Atlantic released an alarming article about elite college freshmen who lack the ability to read books. It turns out that many students have never received an assignment to read an entire book in their middle and high schools, but rather have studied excerpts, poems and articles. Concerned educators have cited several possible and fairly obvious explanations: smartphones, the No Child Left Behind Act, Common Core educational standards, the pandemic, an increase in focus on practical employment and declining enrollment in the humanities.
Top universities and colleges are adjusting as best they can without compromising educational excellence. For example, Andrew Delbanco, a Columbia University American studies professor, has modified a seminar to emphasize short pieces of writing rather than longer classic literature. Instead of powering through “Moby-Dick,” students now examine “Billy Budd” and “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” In support of such a pivot, Columbia’s literature humanities chair, Joseph Howley, maintains that he’d rather students skip over some longer classics if they can benefit from focusing on shorter works in greater depth.
The idea that short stories might offer an option warrants follow-up. In addition to teaching necessary skills such as critical analysis and empathy that can lead readers to tackling longer, more ambitious pieces of literature, short stories are valuable on their own merits. Short stories allow readers to explore new genres, perspectives and authors, especially collections of stories including different authors.
To that end, here are a few fascinating and unique anthologies perfect for stretching the mind in smaller doses: Continue reading “Literary Links: Exploring Short Stories”
The 2025 Black History Month theme is exciting and wide-sweeping! This theme “focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds — free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary — intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.” The theme is particularly appropriate, since 2025 celebrates the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids by labor organizer and civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph. This organization was the first Black union to receive an American Federation of Labor charter. Continue reading “Black History Month 2025: African Americans and Labor”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in February. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Memorial Days: A Memoir” by Geraldine Brooks (Feb 4)
Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz — just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy — collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk. After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built was one of meaningful work, good humor and tenderness, as they spent their days writing and their evenings cooking family dinners or watching the sun set with friends at the beach. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf. Three years later, she booked a flight to a remote island off the coast of Australia with the intention of finally giving herself the time to mourn. In a shack on a pristine, rugged coast she often went days without seeing another person. There, she pondered the various ways in which cultures grieve and what rituals of her own might help to rebuild a life around the void of Tony’s death. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: February 2025”
Greg Olson is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “Indigenous Missourians: Ancient Societies to the Present.” The book explores the Show Me State’s Indigenous past and presents it as one spanning twelve millennia of Native presence, resilience, and evolution. Greg Olson served as the Curator of Exhibits and Special Projects at the Missouri State Archives from 2000-2018 and has also published several articles and books about the history of Indigenous people in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Greg Olson, Author of “Indigenous Missourians””
What does it mean to be a good neighbor? In a literal sense, it could mean checking in on a person who lives near you. You might offer to bring them some soup if they are feeling poorly, or you might mow their lawn if they are not able. In a community sense, it could mean that you help at a school bake sale or join a local organization like City of Refuge, CoMo Preservation or Room at the Inn CoMo. On a bigger scale, you can be a good neighbor by voting, practicing environmental stewardship, using good manners online (and in person) or sharing a talent or skill with the world. The library has a wide range of books to inspire you to be the best neighbor you can be.
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General put out an advisory on the healing effects of social connection and connectivity, saying, “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling — it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.” The following books offer helpful advice for increasing social connectivity and decreasing loneliness. Being a good neighbor can actually save your life! Continue reading “Good Neighbors”
Mollie Jackman is a Columbia, MO author whose debut book is “Ornithomancy.” The book offers poetry and illustrations that explore loss and how we get through it. Jackman is a graduate of Lindenwood University with an MFA in writing who runs a freelance business as a writer/editor and has a job as a full-time copywriter. She was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Mollie Jackman, Author of “Ornithomancy””
Sean Spence is a Columbia, MO author whose latest book is “Breaking Barriers: Disability History in the United States.” The book covers key individuals, events and concepts that have affected the history of disability rights in the United States. Spence’s interest in disability starts primarily with his personal experience as someone with multiple sclerosis, combined with his love of history (he earned his BA in US history from MU in 1993). He currently works on fundraising, PR & marketing, and volunteer management for the Salvation Army. He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Sean Spence, Author of “Breaking Barriers: Disability History in the United States””
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way” – Complete Series – Website / Reviews
This comedy/drama series follows an American college football coach who is hired to lead an English soccer team where his folksy, optimistic leadership proves unexpectedly successful.
“The Boy and the Heron” – Website / Reviews
An Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Film, this is a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki.
“The Fall Guy” – Website / Reviews
A stuntman (Ryan Gosling) must track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy, and win back the love of his life (Emily Blunt) while still doing his day job in this action-packed thrill ride.
“Wicked Little Letters” – Website / Reviews
Based on a true story, this mystery/comedy follows a series of bizarre events as the pious and reserved Edith receives a string of crude letters, supposedly from her boisterous neighbour Rose.
“Perfect Days” – Website / Reviews
This quiet drama follows a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, who cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and photographing trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on the beauty in the world.
Continue reading “New DVD List: August 2024”
The genre known as “eco-fiction” or “cli-fi” is not new; once grouped as works of speculative or science fiction, writings on the topic of global warming or climate catastrophe include such venerable titles as J.G. Ballard’s 1962 parable “The Drowned World.” One of Kurt Vonnegut’s first published pieces, 
the short story “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” spoke to human overpopulation and environmental calamity.
Eco-fiction is a genre filled with rich potential. Nature teeters on a balance between desolation (in the depths of the last ice age, a mere 20,000 years ago, the earth above the 45th parallel was mostly a barren, icy wasteland) and a quiescent ecotopia, which was arguably the last few centuries of our epoch. Environmental catastrophe and species collapse feel just a calamity away.
Our 2024 One Read winner, “Migrations” by Charlotte McConaghy, is set on such a dystopian earth, where environmental ruin has outpaced hope for the future. Overfishing is much to blame for this collapse, as is a general human callousness toward each another and the natural world. Most of the characters featured in this book, including protagonist Franny Stone, seem to be fractured, rudderless souls. Continue reading “Literary Links: Migrations and Lost Worlds”
