Inyo County Free Library - New Acquisitions
January 2020 - March 2020
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.
By Amis, Martin Publishing Date: 2001 Classification: 800 Call Number: 823.914 AMI The author traces his life and career, examining his relationship with his father, comic novelist Kingsley Amis, the changing literary scene in Great Britain and the U.S., and the impact of the abduction and murder of his cousin by one of Britain's most notorious serial killers. |
By Jamie, Kathleen Publishing Date: 2019 Classification: 800 Call Number: 824.914 JAM "A new collection of essays exploring the nature of time and place in a shrinking world, from the award-winning author of Sightlines"-- |
Alive, alive oh: and other things that matter By Athill, Diana Publishing Date: 2016 Classification: 800 Call Number: 828 ATH "A luminous, wise, and joyful insight into what really matters at the end of a long life, from the beloved author of the award-winning Somewhere Towards the End. What will you remember if you live to be 100? Diana Athill charmed readers with her prize-winning memoir Somewhere Towards the End, which transformed her into an unexpected literary star. Now, on the eve of her ninety-eighth birthday, Athill has written a sequel every bit as unsentimental, candid, and beguiling as her most beloved work. Writing from her cozy room in Highgate, London, Diana begins to reflect on the things that matter after a lifetime of remarkable experiences, and the memories that have risen to the surface and sustain her in her very old age. 'My two valuable lessons are: avoid romanticism and abhor possessiveness,' she writes. In warm, engaging prose she describes the bucolic pleasures of her grandmother's garden and the wonders of traveling as a young woman in Europe after the end of the Second World War. As her vivid, textured memories range across the decades, she relates with unflinching candor her harrowing experience as an expectant mother in her forties and crafts unforgettable portraits of friends, writers, and lovers. A pure joy to read, Alive, Alive Oh! sparkles with wise and often very funny reflections on the condition of being old. Athill reminds us of the joy and richness of every stage of life--and what it means to live life fully, without regrets" -- |
If: the untold story of Kipling's American years By Benfey, Christopher E. G. Publishing Date: 2019 Classification: 800 Call Number: 828.809 BEN "Rudyard Kipling once towered over not just English literature, but indeed the entire literary world. In 1907, at just forty-two, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming its youngest winner and the first in the English language. Today, however, when he is read, if indeed he is read at all, it is regarding the history of colonial India, his birthplace and the setting of some his most famous work, and to a lesser extent England, his ancestral home. But, in fact, Kipling's most prodigious and creative period took place in America, which was also his preferred home. It was here, on the crest of a Vermont hillside overlooking the Connecticut River, that Kipling wrote both The Jungle Book and Captains Courageous. And here where his ascent to fame was most rapid. Almost certainly, he would have stayed in the United States, understanding himself not just to be an American but a particularly American artist, had a family dispute not forced his departure in 1896. Steeped in the history of the Gilded Age, Christopher Benfey brings to life in fresh revelatory detail American Kipling, tracing a great but today deeply unfashionable writer's intense personal, political, and artistic involvement with the United States. He offers an overdue reminder of Kipling's extraordinary influence in his own lifetime, as well as a compelling portrait of the American artists and writers he both influenced and was influence by, including William James and, in particular, Mark Twain -- who Kipling sought out specifically as kindred spirit when he first arrived, and before long had eclipsed in literary fame and critical estimation. Intertwining biography, criticism, and history, IF restores judiciously a true story of great American artistry." -- |
John Ruskin: selected writings By Ruskin, John Publishing Date: 2004 Classification: 800 Call Number: 828.809 RUS John Ruskin was the most powerful and influential art critic and social commentator of the Victorian nineteenth century. A true polymath, he wrote about nature, art, architecture, politics, history, myth and much more. All of his work is characterized by a clarity of vision as unsettling and intense now as it was for his first readers. This new selection includes wide-ranging extracts of Ruskin's texts, from the early 1840s to the late 1880s, as well as representative material from each of his major works. Modern Painters, The Stones of Venice, and Sesame and Lilies are juxtaposed with less familiar writing on science and myth. An authoritative introduction outlines Ruskin's life and thought, making it clear why his writing is still relevant today. This new edition also includes a selection of Ruskin's own illustrations. - (Oxford University Press) |
Das Nibelungenlied = Song of the Nibelungs Publishing Date: 2006 Classification: 800 Call Number: 831 A new verse translation of the great German epic poem that inspired Wagner’s Ring Cycle and J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings |
By Ibsen, Henrik Publishing Date: 1999 Classification: 800 Call Number: 839.8226 IBS In Riverton, Maine, circa 1893, Dr. Thomas Stockman wants to disclose that the town's money-making health spa, Clearwater Springs, has been fouled by pollution from a tannery but his proposal to go public is opposed by his brother Pete, the town's mayor, who prompts a wave of public outrage against Dr. Stockman and his family. |
By Carrère, Emmanuel Publishing Date: 2012 Classification: 800 Call Number: 843.914 CAR Story of lives racked by tragedy and redeemed by love. |
By Benavente, Jacinto Publishing Date: 1979 Classification: 800 Call Number: 864 BEN |
But what if we're wrong: thinking about the present as if it were the past By Klosterman, Chuck Publishing Date: [2016] Classification: 900 Call Number: 909.8312 KLO "We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there's nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure--until, of course, they don't. But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or--weirder still--widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we "overrate" democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we've reached the end of knowledge? Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We're Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers--George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others--interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It's a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It's about how we live now, once "now" has become "then.""-- |
Living with cannibals and other women's adventures By Slung, Michele B. Publishing Date: [2000] Classification: 900 Call Number: 910.82 SLU Inspiring, sometimes tragic, often humorous tales of adventurous women from the 18th century to the 21st century. Selected from National Geographic's archives, this colorful group portrait pairs female adventurers of the past with their contemporary counterparts in a "then and now" approach. You'll meet Arctic explorers and aviators, women who defied Victorian convention to venture alone among the headhunters of Borneo or to see firsthand the hidden corners of Africa, India, and Japan, and record-breaking moments by latter-day legends. Whether kayaking remote Tibetan rivers or bottle-feeding baby orangutans, bicycling to India or battling icebergs off the coast of Greenland, each woman profiled here demonstrates her unswerving devotion to a dream.--From publisher description. |
Dark star safari: overland from Cairo to Cape Town By Theroux, Paul Publishing Date: 2003 Classification: 900 Call Number: 916.04 THE "A rich and insightful travel book in the tradition that made Paul Theroux's reputation, Dark Star Safari takes us the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, forgotten train, and rusting steamer. Theroux confronts delay, discomfort, bullets, and bad food while encountering a remarkable mix of places and people. Beginning in Cairo and ending in Cape Town, he goes on the ultimate safari to the true heart of Africa, not the lavish game parks with overfed guests but the small villages of the bush and the filthy chaotic cities that define this forgotten continent"--Publisher's description. |
By Lee, Jessica Publishing Date: 2017 Classification: 900 Call Number: 916.4045 LEE Lonely Planet Morocco is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the medina and tanneries in Fez, hop between kasbahs and oases in the Draa Valley, or catch a wave at Taghazout; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Morocco and begin your journey now! |
On the plain of snakes: a Mexican journey By Theroux, Paul Publishing Date: 2019 Classification: 900 Call Number: 917.204 THE "Legendary travel writer Paul Theroux fearlessly drives the entire length of the US-Mexico border, then goes deep into the hinterland, on the back roads of Chiapas and Oaxaca, to uncover the rich, layered world behind today's brutal headlines."--Provided by publisher. |
The lies they tell: a journey through America By Tenenbom, Tuvia Publishing Date: [2017] Classification: 900 Call Number: 917.304 TEN Who are the real Americans, the people who make up America? In The Lies They Tell Tuvia travels through America to find out. He wanders across borders, partisan lines and socioeconimic boundaries in his fearless quest for the flesh-and-blood American. He visits black ghettos and white gated communities, mega churches and Indian reservations. He schmoozers with robbers who teach him the true meaning of love and meets Jews who dedicate day and night to hatred of the their breathren. He finagles his way into a prison where skinheads pray, experiments with drugs on American streets and ponders the deeper meaning of life with rednecks. Soldiers teach him how to invade foreign countries and intellectuals reveal the beautiful nature of Mother Earth, the goodness of man, and the sadism of the Israeli. The characters he encounters, the adventures he eagerly embraces and the findings of his journey are unique and often unexpected. Welcome to the real America, a place you call home but don't know yet. |
Spying on the South: an odyssey across the American divide By Horwitz, Tony Publishing Date: 2019 Classification: 900 Call Number: 917.504 HOR "The author retraces Frederick Law Olmsted's journey across the American South in the 1850s, on the eve of the Civil War. Olmsted roamed eleven states and six thousand miles, and the New York Times published his dispatches about slavery and its defenders. More than 150 years later, Tony Horwitz followed Olmsted's route, and whenever possible his mode of transport--rail, riverboats, in the saddle--through Appalachia, down the Ohio and Mississippi, through Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and across Texas to the Rio Grande, discovering and reporting on vestiges of what Olmsted called the Cotton Kingdom"-- |
West of the West: dreamers, believers, builders, and killers in the Golden State By Arax, Mark Publishing Date: c2009 Classification: 900 Call Number: 917.9404 ARA In the tradition of Joan Didion, Arax combines journalism, essay, and memoir to capture social upheaval as well as the sense of being rooted in a community. This new collection finds a different drama rising out of each confounding landscape: a portrait of one family from Oaxaca, through harrowing border crossings and brutal raisin harvests; right-wing Christians and Jews form a strange pact that tries to silence debate on the War on Terror; Lamont, the inspiration for the town in the Grapes of Wrath, has but one Okie left, who tells Arax his life story as he drives to a funeral to bury one more Dust Bowl migrant; in Humboldt County, the old hippies are battling the new hippies over "pollution pot." Arax pieces together the murder-suicide at the heart of a rotisserie chicken empire, and provides a moving epilogue to the murder of his own father.--From publisher description. |
Mobituaries: great lives worth reliving By Rocca, Mo Publishing Date: 2019 Classification: 900 Call Number: 920.02 ROC "Mo Rocca has always loved obituaries -- reading about the remarkable lives of world leaders, captains of industry, innovators and artists. But not every notable life has gotten the send-off it deserves. With Mobituaries -- the book companion to the CBS podcast of the same name -- the journalist, humorist, and history buff is righting that wrong, profiling the people who have long fascinated him -- from the 20th century's greatest entertainer... to sitcom characters gone all too soon... to a shamefully forgotten Founding Father. Even if you know the names, you've never understood why they matter... until now. In these pages, Rocca chronicles the stories of the people who made a difference, but whose lives -- for some reason or another -- were never truly examined. There's Thomas Paine, whose Common Sense lit the fuse for the American Revolution -- and whose paltry obit summed up his life thusly: "He had lived long, did some good, and much harm." And then there's screen icon Audrey Hepburn. She remains a household name, but how much do we know about her wartime upbringing and how it shaped the woman we fell in love with? And what about Billy Carter and history's unruly presidential brothers? Were they ne'er-do-well liabilities... or secret weapons? As a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and the host of The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation, Rocca is an expert researcher and storyteller. He draws on these skills here. With his rigorous reporting and trademark wit, Rocca brings these men and women splendidly back to life like no one else can. Mobituaries is an insightful and unconventional account of the people who made life worth living for the rest of us, one that asks us to think about who gets remembered, and why." -- |
By Hitchens, Christopher Publishing Date: 2010 Classification: 900 Call Number: 920.073 HIT "The life story of one of the most admired and controversial public intellectuals of our time"--Provided by publisher. |
By Jünger, Ernst Publishing Date: 2004 Classification: 900 Call Number: 940.4144 JÜN The memoir widely viewed as the best account ever written of fighting in WW1 A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but—more importantly—as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure. Published shortly after the war’s end, Storm of Steel was a worldwide bestseller and can now be rediscovered through Michael Hofmann’s brilliant new translation. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. - (Random House, Inc.) |