Special Collections
Bookshare Volunteers' Favorite Books
Description: A collection of our Bookshare volunteers' favorite books and recommended reads. Thank you to our volunteers whose dedicated work helps up to provide more books to the Bookshare community. #WeAreGrateful #adults
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
by Douglas AdamsSeconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.
Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.
Where are these pens? Why are we born? Why do we die? Why do we spend so much time between wearing digital watches? For all the answers stick your thumb to the stars. And don't forget to bring a towel!
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel MárquezOne of the 20th century's enduring works, One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize-winning career.
The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendia family.
It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendia family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.
Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel.
Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garcia Marquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.
Mary Lincoln
by Ruth Painter RandallMore fascinating than fiction, this is the moving story of the most misunderstood woman in American history...The truth about Mary Lincoln has for nearly a century been hidden under a mountain of myth.They said Lincoln really loved Ann Rutledge. That he had tried to avoid marriage to Mary Todd, that his wife hurt him politically though she drove him to the Presidency, that she embarrassed him financially as well as socially and inflicted on him the agony of adjustment to her psychopathic personality.Now for the first time, the true woman beneath the myth is presented. The veil of legend surrounding Mary Lincoln is torn aside and an entirely new picture of a woman and a marriage emerges.Here, through the eyes of the people who knew the Lincolns, through the long-lost telegrams and letters they sent each other, comes the story of their day-to-day life together. It begins in Springfield, and there, many years later, it ends. But the truth of those years gives evidence to restore Mary Todd Lincoln to her rightful place in history and in the affections of the American people.Acclaimed by the critics..."Never has such a story seemed better worth telling or better told."--SATURDAY REVIEW"This is an important and definitive volume."--AMERICAN HISTORY REVIEW"Out of the most searching scrutiny ever leveled on the Lincolns' family affairs comes the picture of a tempestuous yet essentially happy marriage."--NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE"This is a very moving book. It is also a nice example of what a first-rate historian can do with a difficult subject."--THE NEW YORKER"It is a book that can be recommended without reservation: A combination of profound research and fine prose style, it meets both the requirements of the Lincoln scholar and the casual reader who is looking for a truly fascinating story."--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Cinder
by Marissa MeyerHumans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. ... Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future. In this thrilling debut young adult novel, the first of a quartet, Marissa Meyer introduces readers to an unforgettable heroine and a masterfully crafted new world that's enthralling.
Rosemary and Rue
by Seanan McGuireThe world of Faerie never disappeared; it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie's survival--but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born.
Outsiders from birth, these half-human, half-fae children spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations. Or, in the case of October "Toby" Daye, rejecting it completely.
After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating into a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, Faerie has other ideas...
The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose, one of the secret regents of the San Francisco Bay Area, pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant to the Duke of Shadowed Hills and begin renewing old alliances that may prove her only hope of solving the mystery...before the curse catches up with her.
The Fischer-dieskau Book of Lieder
by Dietrich Fischer-DieskauThis book presents German original texts with English translations in line-by-line format of over 750 German Lieder, including texts for Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte and Six Gellert Lieder; Brahms's Die schöne Magelone, Four Serious Songs and Gypsy Songs; Paul Hindemith's Life of Mary; Mahler's Song of the Earth, Kindertotenlieder and Song of a Wayfarer; Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, Die Winterreise and Schwanengesang; Schumann's Dichterliebe, Liederkreis collections and Frauenliebe und -leben; Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs; Hugo Wolf's Italian and Spanish songbooks; Boris Blacher's 3 Psalms in Martin Luther's German; Richard Wagner's Five Poems for a Woman's Voice; Schönberg's Fifteen Poems from "The Book of the Hanging Gardens"; Alban Berg's Seven Early Lieder; Peter Cornelius's Trauer und Trost and Weihnachtslieder. Added to these song collections are nearly 500 texts for individual songs set by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss, Zemlinsky and others. Fischer-Dieskau introduces the collection with an essay and individual song texts are in alphabetical order. The Index of titles and first lines at the back of the book serves as the table of contents. DAISY markup makes perusing this book easy and electronic searching makes it an excellent companion for anyone who has recordings of these songs or who would like to sing them. Dieskau does not include the text for Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder.
Anathem
by Neal StephensonAnathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable-yet strangely inverted-world. Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside-the Extramuros-for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago. Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates-at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change. Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros-a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose-as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world-as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
No Compromise
by Melody GreenThe 25th Anniversary Edition of Keith Green's inspiring biography, revised and updated by his wife, Melody. This expanded biography contains many added stories and insights, never before published photos, extra selections from Keith's private journals, and glimpses into Melody's season of grieving and raising their two surviving children on her own. He was only twenty-eight when he died in a plane crash with two of his small children, but singer/songwriter Keith Green had already created a legacy of music and inspiration that would outlive him. A spiritual revolutionary, he found freedom through Jesus, not religion, and spent his last years convincing others to refuse to accept the status quo and instead to bring compassion and honesty back to the church. He touched people through vibrant lyrics in songs like "Your Love Broke Through," "You Put This Love In My Heart," and "Asleep In The Light. " Last Days Ministries, which he and his wife Melody founded, went on to challenge thousands of people to take to the mission fields of the world. Now, on the 25th anniversary of his death, Melody has updated her husband's biography with new photos, essays from current musicians who were influenced by Keith, selections from Keith's private journal, and stories about what it was like raising their two remaining children on her own.
Down to a Sunless Sea
by David Graham and Jim HardisonThe time is the immediate future. Twin crises rock the globe: dwindling oil supply and the still unresolved Middle East conflict. And America is hit hardest of all. A soaring trade deficit has turned the dollar into worthless paper; the country’s economy is in ruins. Civil violence divides a starving, terrified population living in gutted cities and rural poverty. A huge airlift is undertaken in an effort to evacuate those fortunate Americans with family or business contacts overseas to safer, less troubled nations. The greatly expanded British national airline, supported by North Sea oil supplies, takes on much of the burden, and in a grisly scene reminiscent of the last days of Saigon, Captain Jonah Scott flies his “stretched” Jumbo Jet into Kennedy Airport for another 600-passenger load of refugees. Scott’s crew spends a nightmarish stopover in vandal-infested New York; then, at midnight, flight Delta Tango lifts off for London. Delta Tango is 1,000 miles out over the Atlantic when, with no warning, the long- feared nuclear war breaks out in the Middle East. Within an hour, as Scott and his crew listen helplessly, the conflagration leaps across the globe and one international airport after another falls into radio silence. With fuel supplies dwindling rapidly, Delta Tango searches frantically for some sanctuary on the devastated globe where the 600 survivors can find shelter from the sickening radioactive cloud blotting out the sun. How this supersonic ark on which the very survival of the human race now depends speeds toward its last remaining hope for safe harbor, how its crew and human cargo bear up under the unbelievable stress of navigating the silent, deadly ocean of radioactivity is a terrifying nonstop tale of heroism and suspense with a stunning and inspiring conclusion. DAVID GRAHAM served with distinction in the RAF as a fighter pilot during World War II, and later as a flying instructor. He is now a technical writer for an aeronautics firm in Great Britain, and lives in Southampton, England.
Freakonomics
by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. LevittThrough forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives--how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of ... well, everything.
The Book of Mormon
by Joseph B. Smith and Laurie F. Maffly-KippThe spiritual text that forms the basis of Mormonism?in the last edition edited by its founder, Joseph Smith, Jr.THE BOOK OF MORMON is one of the most influential? as well as controversial?religious documents in American history, and is regarded as sacred scripture by followers around the world, including members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the fourth-largest religious body in the United States. According to Mormon belief, The Book of Mormon was inscribed on golden plates by ancient prophets. I t contains stories of ancient peoples migrating from the Near East to the Americas, and also explains that Jesus Christ appeared to the New World after his resurrection. The golden plates were discovered in upstate New York and translated by Joseph Smith, Jr., under the guidance of an angel, Moroni. From this divine revelation, Smith founded the Mormon sect, which is now comprised of more than 12.5 million members worldwide.
Fly a Little Higher
by Laura SobiechLaura Sobiech tells the amazing story of how God used her son's battle with cancer to touch the lives of millions. "Okay, Lord, you can have him. But if he must die, I want it to be for something big. I want someone's life to be changed forever. " This is what Laura Sobeich prayed when she found out her seventeen-year-old son had only one year to live. With this desperate prayer, she released her son to God's will. At that point, Zach Sobiech was just another teenager battling cancer. When his mother told him to think about writing good-bye letters to family and friends, he decided instead to write songs. One of them, "Clouds," captured hearts and changed not one life but millions, making him an international sensation. He produced a full-length EP, written and performed by Zach and his lifelong friend, Sammy, including a personal goodbye song to each other. The day of Zach's funeral, "Clouds" was the #1 downloaded song on iTunes, and the EP rose to #2. The music video now has more than 7 million views on YouTube, and the documentary Soul Pancake released on Zach's eighteenth birthday has more than 9 million views. But Zach's story is not just about music. It's a testament to what can happen when you live as if each day might be your last. It's a story about the human spirit. It's about how God used a dying boy from a small town in Minnesota to touch the hearts of millions-including top executives in the music industry, major music artists, news anchors, talk show hosts, actors, priests and pastors, and school children across the globe. Zach once said, "I want to be known as the kid who went down fighting, and didn't really lose. " Fly a Little Higher is about how God used Zach to do something big.
The Dean's Watch
by Elizabeth GoudgeFrom the Book jacket: FOR twenty-five years devoted readers of Elizabeth Goudge's exceptional novels have kept her name on best-seller lists with dependable regularity. In her newest novel the author of Green Dolphin Street, Gentian Hill and The White Witch returns to the setting and period of her best-loved book, A City of Bells. An English cathedral town in the mid-nineteenth century forms the background for the warm and gentle story of Isaac Peabody, an obscure clockmaker, a dreamer but a dedicated craftsman, and of Adam Ayscough, the brilliant, pious Dean of the Cathedral, whose great love for his parishioners is stifled by his own unconquerable shyness. Around these two central characters, Miss Goudge has brilliantly evoked the atmosphere of the town itself, steeped in history yet throbbing with the very real life of its citizens, who are all in one way or another affected by the Dean's remarkable awakening. Through his help and Adam the strange healing force of unselfish love is revealed with power to alter and redeem the lives of all whom it touches. In this inspiring novel, Miss Goudge has drawn, with her remarkable talent, appealing characters in a warm and richly imaginative story. As always her handling of children is magic and in this appealing story they come to life as they respond to the Dean's understanding and appreciation. Miss Goudge returns to Ely, the country she knew and loved as a child, for her novel The Dean's Watch. Having a horror of cities, she now finds the peace and beauty needed to write her charming novels in the appropriately named Rose Cottage in Oxfordshire, England. Rose Cottage stands in a small but lovely garden and beyond that, fields, woods and a great sky. The beauty of her surroundings and her own understanding of the goodness of people enable her to present the endearing and aspiring qualities of human nature. Her ability to depict the charms of out-of-the-way places and to make them live again in time and space is a constant delight to her many readers.
Little Mule
by John BurressThe hope that this is another Little Britches dies a-borning -- but those who like quiet, homespun novels, may find this sincere, unpretentious, pleasant reading of a boy and his family in rural Missouri in 1916-1918 The father, a Baptist minister, has died, and the mother is determined to hold her little brood of five together without taking Charity. Little Mule, the youngest, has at four earned his nickname by answering anything that displeases him with a kick. It takes two years-span of the story to turn him from a stealing, high-tempered baby into a not-quite credible paragon ready to take on the job of cotton field plowing to help earn the family's way. Despite a cyclone, a tear-jerking Christmas, a serious accident to the eldest son, and the mother's being done out of her husband's life insurance, this book is filled with humor and thoughtfulness.