Akron Public Library

Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It's easy to say that humans are "wired" for story, but why? In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life's...

With the untimely death of England's great soldier-king, Henry V, the crown passes to his young and inexperienced son. While the nobles quarrel among themselves and compete for influence over the new monarch, the French seize the opportunity to reclaim their former territories from English possession. The success of the French armies rests upon an unlikely leader: the peasant girl Joan La Pucelle, known to history as Joan of Arc. The first of three...

A dictatorship called Big Brother rules the people in a collectivist society where Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth. Winston joins the underground where he becomes involved in a forbidden love affair.

"At the start of the twentieth century, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a series of letters to a young officer cadet, advising him on writing, love, sex, suffering, and the nature of advice itself. With honesty, elegance, and a deep understanding of the loneliness that often comes with being an artist, Rilke's letters are an endless source of inspiration and comfort."--from Penguin Classics description.

"A meditation instructor and former English teacher shows how the great classics of Western literature illustrate the essential concepts of Eastern philosophy. The discussion includes works by authors such as John Keats, William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Frederick Douglass, and many others"--

A collection of over six hundred poems by more than forty poets, drawn from throughout the history of America, including a section of Native American poetry, as well as the lyrics to patriotic songs.

"It's no secret that millions of American teenagers, caught up in social media, television, movies, and games, don't read seriously-they associate sustained reading with duty or work, not with pleasure. This indifference has become a grievous loss to our standing as a great nation--and a personal loss, too, for millions of teenagers who may turn into adults with limited understanding of themselves and the world. Can teenagers be turned on to serious...

In this compelling book of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, Erin Blakemore explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Anne Shirley, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, Scarlett O'Hara, Scout Finch and Jo March can inspire women today.

"This book asks the questions of whether Moby-Dick-the first novel to represent vast metaphorical and spiritual implications for our own behavior through ocean animals- closely conveyed the understanding of whales in the nineteenth century, and what was twisted merely for the fictional purposes. Richard King lays bare the background to Moby-Dick by moving through the voyage of the Pequod, exploring topics in marine biology, oceanography, and the science...