Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions

These are books and media new to the library and cataloged by the Inyo County Free Library.

Additional information about each title can be found in the catalog (click on the title). For older acquisition lists choose from Select another list. To request any of these titles please contact your local library branch.

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Walking papers: poems, 1999-2009

By Lynch, Thomas

Publishing Date: 2010

Classification: 800

Call Number: 811.54 LYN

In colloquial language, undertaker Lynch (Apparition & Late Fictions) examines the subjects that define our humanity: mortality, religion, love, family, and friendship. In a series of poems (e.g., "Dear Mr. President," "Dear Messrs Attorneys General"), he uses humor and animal allegories to question some of our former leaders. But most often these poems dwell on the everyday. Although frequently light in tone, they are at their core deadly serious. Lynch reminds us to remember and enjoy "these long contemplations at the fire, cats/ curling at the door, the dog's lame waltzing." Several pay homage to other poets, particularly Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. But mortality is Lynch's core focus: he describes the heart "between swoon and sure damage, rapture and doom." A series of poems focuses on country life in Ireland including one about a lovers' leap in Loop Head: "in every leap some landing and some fall;/ the seed, the stone; in every start an end." VERDICT These easily understandable poems have philosophical underpinnings. They celebrate life, love, death, and literature. People who enjoy the work of Wendell Berry and Maxine Kumin will find a kindred spirit here.—Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC

The grapes of wrath and other writings, 1936-1941

By Steinbeck, John

Publishing Date: c1996

Classification: 800

Call Number: 813.52 STE

From the Publisher: This second volume in The Library of America's authoritative edition of John Steinbeck features his acknowledged masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. Written in an incredibly compressed five-month period, the novel had an electrifying impact upon publication in 1939, unleashing a political storm with its vision of America's dispossessed struggling for survival. It continues to exert a powerful influence on American culture, and has inspired artists as diverse as John Ford, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springsteen. Tracing the journey of the Joad family from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the migrant camps of California, Steinbeck creates an American epic, spacious, impassioned, and pulsating with the rhythms of living speech. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize and has since sold millions of copies worldwide. The text of The Grapes of Wrath has been newly edited based on Steinbeck's manuscript, typescript, and proofs. Many errors have been corrected and words omitted or misconstrued by his typist have been restored. In addition, The Harvest Gypsies, his 1936 investigative report on migrant workers which laid the groundwork for the novel, is included as an appendix. The Long Valley (1938) displays Steinbeck's brilliance as a writer of short stories, including such classics as The Chrysanthemums, The White Quail, Flight, and The Red Pony. Set in the Salinas Valley landscape which was Steinbeck's enduring inspiration, the stories explore moments of fear, tenderness, isolation, and violence with poetic intensity. The Log from the Sea of Cortez, an account of the 1940 marine biological expedition in which Steinbeck participated with his close friend Ed Ricketts, is a unique blend of science, philosophy, and adventure, as well as one of Steinbeck's most revealing expositions of his core beliefs. First published in 1941 as part of the collaborative volume Sea of Cortez, Steinbeck's narrative was reissued separately a decade later, augmented by the moving tribute About Ed Ricketts.

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Catch as catch can: the collected stories and other writings

By Heller, Joseph

Publishing Date: 2003

Classification: 800

Call Number: 813.54 HEL

Heller's formidable literary reputation is based almost entirely on one book, Catch-22. He can't escape its shadow, even posthumously. At least half of this new collection consists of material directly related to that iconic novel: "lost" episodes, dramatizations, and reminiscences. The best of the lot is a short essay on the Mike Nichols film adaptation, first published in Audience magazine in 1972. The rest of the book is devoted to short fiction from the late 1940s. Surprisingly, these are not early attempts at the black comedy that became Heller's trademark but rather lurid pulp tales featuring prostitutes, potheads, and heroin addicts. Two previously unpublished stories, strikingly similar in tone to Nelson Algren's 1949 novel The Man with the Golden Arm, follow a young addict named Carl, who returns to his Brooklyn neighborhood after a failed attempt at rehab. Who would have guessed that Heller was a pioneer in the burgeoning genre of drug fiction? Recommended for most collections of postwar fiction. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/02.]-Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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This is the story of a happy marriage

By Patchett, Ann

Publishing Date: 2013

Classification: 800

Call Number: 813.54 PAT

Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder, Run, and Bel Canto, examines her deepest commitments-- to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband-- creating a resonant portrait of her life.

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Lighting out for the territory: how Samuel Clemens headed West and became Mark Twain

By Morris, Roy

Publishing Date: c2010

Classification: 800

Call Number: 818.403 MOR

Acclaimed literary biographer Roy Morris carefully sorts fact from fiction to tell the story of a young genius finding his voice in the ramshackle mining camps, boomtowns, and newspaper offices of the wild and woolly West, while the Civil War rages half a continent away.

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The life and times of William Shakespeare

By Levi, Peter

Publishing Date: 1995

Classification: 800

Call Number: 822.3 LEV

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Shakespeare: a life in drama

By Wells, Stanley

Publishing Date: 1995

Classification: 800

Call Number: 822.33 WEL

Wells, who is director of the Shakespeare Institute in England and general editor of the "Oxford Shakespeare," shares his wealth of knowledge and experience in this study, which will appeal to anyone with an interest in Shakespeare's work. Wells examines what is known about Shakespeare's life and speculates about his personality but he emphasizes that Shakespeare had a unique ability to transcend his own identity and imagine himself into the roles of his characters. Wells sees Shakespeare above all as a man of the theater, and in the chronological survey of the plays and poems that constitutes the bulk of his book, Wells emphasizes the theatrical qualities, often citing examples from particular performance. Wells also shows how the meanings attached to the plays have evolved over the centuries and why they still appeal to us today: Shakespeare addresses fundamental human concerns, and, ultimately, what shines out of his work is compassion for his fellow human beings.-Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia. Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information.

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