Summer vacation is upon us! Whether you’re a seasoned globe trotter or an armchair traveler, Mechanics’ Institute Library has plenty to whet your appetite for intriguing locales and all the interesting people you’ll meet in those intriguing locales. Staff members have selected a wide array of books to set your mind wandering, if not your body!
Check out the Staff Picks display on the second floor for these and many other engaging titles to choose from.
Heather selects Quiet Paris by Siobhan Wall (914.436 W187) and Hidden Gardens of Paris by Susan Neunzig Cahill (914.436 C128)
If you’d like to avoid the hustle and bustle of the typical Parisian tourist attractions, even if just for a day or two of your trip, check out these two guides to the less frenetic side of La Ville-Lumière. With recommendations for libraries, gardens, and low-key cafes, these guides made my recent side trip to Paris a welcome recovery from the late-late nights of a heady European summer vacation!
Chris recommends Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner (Fiction)
Shortly after finishing school, young American Adam Gordon is awarded a writer's fellowship to produce a long-form piece on the Spanish Civil War. Placed in Madrid for an extended period of research, he is confronted by his own lack of historical understanding as well as doubts about the power of art and poetry. During his long, unstructured days in Madrid, the traveler’s opportunity to present himself in the most flattering but untruthful light seduces him, and he soon finds himself deep in false claims. As he becomes more than a mere tourist in Madrid, Adam navigates friendships and romances, and is witness to political turmoil that makes urgent history that he had before only understood as abstract. Luckily for the reader, Adam is as bright and articulate as he is self-conscious and destructive; his musings on art, America, tourism, and his own struggles with authenticity are brilliantly told.
