Members sometimes ask a staff member what book they are reading at the moment. In my case, I explain that, well, it is hard to say. As I am primarily a non-fiction reader, I tend to use the “rule of three.” I may read just a few chapters in one book, then switch to reading one or two chapters in a different book, and move on to the next title. Then I make my way back to the first book.
Given the wide breadth of subjects in the Library collection, particularly in the social sciences and the humanities, the selection process and the time that I spend reading is all the more rewarding. Below are my current selections.
792.092 B218 Tallulah Bankhead: My Autobiography, was first published in 1952 and a New York Times bestseller for twenty-six weeks. She was an acclaimed actress of London's West End and on Broadway, and was famous for her snappy repartee, candid quotes, scandalous lifestyle, and calling everybody ‘Dahling’. The book really is a very witty and entertaining memoir. Anyone “of a certain age” will definitely recognize this celebrity.
942.01 L13 The Year 1000: what life was like at the turn of the first millennium : an Englishman’s world, written by Robert Lacey. The book is a portrait of everyday life, month by month, just before the Norman invasion of England in 1066. It was a much quieter world than today. We learn that people lived in wooden houses with dirt floors, usually died in their 40s, and that life revolved around the harvest, along with floods, disease and famine to contend with.
440.09 R53 A history of the French language by Peter Rickard.
Having studied French (and Latin to a lesser degree), I consider the development of French over time is particularly interesting. It is the Romance language that has evolved furthermost from Latin. Its pronunciation and vocabulary are so different than Spanish or Italian for instance. In this book, the author examines what caused the language to evolve from the time it was Vulgar Latin spoken in Gaul, up to when it became standardized in a near modern form by the 17th century. The myriad examples of specific lexical and grammatical changes render this work particularly insightful.
