books

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #historical #generalfiction #horrorfiction

Gracetown, Florida.

June 1950.

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens Jr. is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules, but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

The Reformatory is a “hallucinatory, haunting, terrifying, and moving” (S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed) work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

*Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * Locus Award Finalist * Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and the Shir

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-lost-bookshop

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355d

📚 The Lost Bookshop by: Evie Woods

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found...

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are ever...

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #womenfiction #historical #generalfiction #romance

On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found...

For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder... where nothing is as it seems.

Readers have fallen in love with The Lost Bookshop:
‘Beautifully written and captures the wonder and awe that a story can bring to its reader...a delightful story for any book lover...an ode to storytelling and the connections that books can make!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wowwww!! It’s been awhile since I read something so fascinating, captivating and special all in one...It takes you on a journey like most books do, but this one, I just want to inscribe on my back and hope that it becomes a part of me so that I can carry it with me always’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A must read for readers that love books’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A beautiful story that begs to be read in one sitting...a magical story filled with beautiful prose and many surprises that readers will not soon forget’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘This spellbinding book hooked me from the very beginning and I couldn't put it down til the end’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A love story, one with books and booklovers at its heart. A war

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2y

In July 1917

Siegfried Sassoon issues a "Soldier's Declaration" against prolonging World War I. He is sent by the military (with assistance from Robert Graves) to Edinburgh's Craiglockhart War Hospital, where Wilfred Owen introduces himself on August 18. At Sassoon's urging, Owen writes his two great war poems, "Anthem for Doomed Youth" and "Dulce et Decorum est", although like almost all his poetry they remain unpublished until after his death in action next year.

A scan of a final draft of Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen, penned by the author.

Wilfred Owen (d. 1918) - This image is taken from The Wilfred Owen Multimedia Digital Archive, which scanned it from the printed edition of Wilfred Owen: The Complete Poems and Fragments (Jon Stallworthy, 1994) from the Oxford Text Archive.

https://www.medievalists.net/2025/10/medieval-inventions-we-still-cant-fully-recreate-today/

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356d

Medieval Inventions We Still Can’t Fully Recreate Today

The Middle Ages were a time of remarkable innovation, when new technologies flourished. Yet the knowledge behind many of these inventions has been lost. Here are several medieval technologies that remain impossible to fully recreate, even with modern science.

Medieval science at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=medieval+science

#books #science #inventions

Image from an illuminated manuscript, the Madrid Skylitzes, showing Greek fire in use against the fleet of the rebel Thomas the Slav.

"The Roman fleet burn the opposite fleet down" – An Eastern Roman / Byzantine war ship using their "secret weapon" Greek fire against a ship belonging to the rebel Thomas the Slav, AD 821. (12th century illustration from the "Madrid Skylitzes").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire#/media/File:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg

https://daily.jstor.org/the-lessons-of-due-process-in-julius-caesar/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_id=01K87ETKMS0EZD48BZ10CE3FVQ&_kx=3MZUehzXM-41qlWAMPUiuNZadX2p0SByuNf_t0eMLB0.U5D8ER

Edited 356d ago

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356d

The Lessons of Due Process in Julius Caesar

Shakespeare’s tragedy offers a telling parable about the administration of justice—and rife mishandling thereof—in our day.

By: Philip Goldfarb Styrt

Julius Caesar at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1522

Aftermath of the attack with Caesar's body abandoned in the foreground, La Mort de César by Jean-Léon Gérôme, c. 1859–1867.

In 44CE a group of senators banded together to kill Julius Caesar, who they believed was taking too much power for himself and endangering the Roman Republic. Rather than show the dramatic moment that the conspirators attacked, as artists had often done before him, Gérôme chose to depict the moment immediately following Caesar’s murder. His body is abandoned in the foreground next to a toppled throne, and the senators rush out into the sunlight with their swords held aloft. Only one man is left in the seats to the right, brooding over the scene. The dramatic use Gérôme makes of architecture, lighting, and props is a lesson in scenography. His highly choreographed paintings influenced early filmmakers and continue to resonate in movies and serials set in ancient Roman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar#/media/File:Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_-_The_Death_of_Caesar_-_Walters_37884.jpg

#books #literature #poetry

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2y

Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist Giacomo Leopardi died #OTD in 1837.

Around 1816, Leopardi experienced what he called his "literary conversion," shifting his focus from philological studies to poetry and philosophical reflection. His early lyrical poems, or "canti," began to reflect his developing philosophical ideas. In 1816 the idylls Le rimembranze and Inno a Nettuno were published.

Books by Giacomo Leopardi at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8593

Domenico Morelli, Portrait of Giacomo Leopardi, 1842, believed by acquaintances to be most faithful to the poet's physical appearance.

Portrait of a man wearing a stylish blue suit in a painting.

Manoscritto autografo de L'infinito. (Visso, Archivio comunale)

https://bookblabla.com/book/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo

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184d

📚 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by: Stieg Larsson

The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a lib...

#books #reading #libraries

The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a libel case, to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker, possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessnes assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, an astonishing corruption at the highest echelon of Swedish industrialism and a surprising connection between themselves.

@bookstodon
@bookstodon@a.gup.pe

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356d

What are some good books on Emotional Intelligence?

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356d

New #BookReview on my #blog: 'This book is yours and free to keep'
https://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2025/10/book-review-this-book-is-yours-and-free.html

#books #reading #review #ItinerantLibrarian #Appalachia #prison #literacy 💙📚

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356d

Published in 1986, "INTERLISP: The Language and Its Usage" by Stephen Kaisler was the only book on Interlisp printed by a publisher. It extensively covers the Interlisp language and environment with many code snippets and examples.

https://interlisp.org/documentation/1986-interlisp-language-book-1.pdf

#interlisp #lisp #retrocomputing #books

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356d

This week's #NewBooks at the library: I bought several second copies of
- How the Mind Changed: A Human History of our Evolving Brain
- Kate Raworth's Doughnut #Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist. We had hoped to get this signed when she recently spoke in London, but, alas, failed.
- An ex-library copy of an older classic on #Buffon: From Natural History to the History of Nature: Readings from Buffon and His Critics, of which I made a note after reviewing Every Living Thing some time back.

#Books #Scicomm #Bookstodon #Neurobiology #Degrowth #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci @bookstodon

A photo of three books standing on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books.

On the left, standing up, How the Mind Changed, showing two pictures of a human brain on a black background. At the top, part of a connectome picture, showing a high-resolution brain scan of neuronal connections in green, red, and purple; at the bottom, part of the surface of the brain, using the same green, red, and purple colour scheme

In the middle, Doughtnut Economics, showing a close-up picture of a blackboard with a drawing in white chalk of two concentric circles, one inside the other. Two pieces of white chalk lie next to the outer circle.

On the right, From Natural History to the History of Nature, showing a plain hardcover book bound in navy blue cloth with gold lettering. This is an ex-library copy bound in transparent protective foil that gives it a slightly shiny look.

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2y

Italian mathematician, astronomer and engineer Giovanni Domenico Cassini was born #OTD in 1625.

His observations & calculations helped to confirm & refine Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. He formulated Cassini’s Law, describing the rotational behavior of the Moon, which was crucial for understanding the Moon's synchronous rotation with the Earth. He was involved in measuring the meridian arc of Paris, contributing to the accurate determination of the shape of the Earth.

#books #astronomy

Fig. 1-6. Illustrations to the article Diversae motus periodi in Jove... published in the Acta Eruditorum of 1692

Drawings of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
Robert Hooke, Giovanni Cassini - Observations Made in Italy, Confirming the Former, and Withall Fixing the Period of the Revolution of Mars. In: Philosophical Transactions. Band 1, Nummer 14, 2. Juli 1666, S. 242–245.

https://www.thenation.com/podcast/environment/peoplesclimate-10252025/

Edited 2y ago

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356d

#APeoplesClimate welcomes #LeahPenniman, founder of #SoulFireFarm and author of #FarmingWhileBlack

"From the legacy of #BlackFarmers in the U.S. to the ongoing exploitation of agricultural workers, this conversation reveals how land is not only the foundation of sustenance but the basis of revolution, independence, and justice."

#BlackHistory #decolonialStruggles #AfroIndigenousFarming #sustainableFarming #agriculture #environmentalJustice #books @bookstodon

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356d

Make Biblioburros Great Again

#biblioburros #books @bookstodon

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2y

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason."
The Age of Reason (1794)

Thomas Paine died #OTD in 1809.

He had a great influence on the thoughts and ideas which led to the American Revolution and the United States Declaration of Independence. He wrote three of the most influential and controversial works of the 18th Century: Common Sense, Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason.

Books by Thomas Paine at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/91

Laurent Dabos – Thomas Paine.

Image of older man in formal black suit, emanating a sense of grace and experience.

Title page from the first English edition of Part I

Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.

@bookstodon
#fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

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312d

50% off @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1733647

Levi Jacobs always dreamed of being like his father, a great wizard, but had no understanding what it would be like. Follow Levi’s journey from bumbling teen to a great hero, while the young wizard learns to master magical powers that are initially completely beyond him and barely under control.

The ad flyer for the series The Wizard's Scion.

(Background) View of a planet from space.

(Top Center) A black flying saucer surrounded by this text:
Trolls, boogeymen and witches, oh my!
Just another day for a young wizard.

(Top Left) The cover of Troll Song displays a woman in battered, muddy armor with her two swords crossed against the neck of a dwarf.

(Lower Left) The cover of Forgotten Legends displays a child reading in bed as a black, smoky monster with red eyes peeks out from under the bed.

(Lower Center Left) The cover of The Third Wish displays a wizard on top of a mountain, looking to the sunset, over a city of sky scrapers that have plants growing on them. In his shadow is the red eyed creature from Forgotten Legends.

(Lower Center Right) The cover of Dark Moon displays a witch and wizard fighting back to back, holding pistols, while objects fall around them, with the moon behind their heads.

(Lower Right) The cover of The Inverted Glass displays a line art hourglass with a white figure in black sand at the bottom, with a black figure in white sand upside-down in the top. Balanced on a scale are a heart and a feather.

(Upper Right) The cover of The Wizard's Scion: The Complete Series displays several figures in silhouette representing the main characters, as they traverse a wormhole. Behind them is a red-eyed octopus.

An image for the 2025 Smashwords End of Year Sale, which is 25%-100% off for participating titles and runs from December 8th throughg January 1st.

In the lower right corner is a woman with dark hair and heavy clothes for the cold, reading a book.

https://speakingoutofplace.buzzsprout.com/2084729/episodes/19188391-muskism-its-roots-nature-and-how-to-fight-it-a-conversation-with-quinn-slobodian-and-ben-tarnoff

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152d

#SpeakingOutOfPlace welcomes #QuinnSlobodian & #BenTarnoff to talk about their book #Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed.

'We see a mind that is profoundly troubled by any contagion spreading into seemingly closed systems—it can take the form of racial others, transpeople, “woke” populations, or most generally and dismissively, “Non-Player-Characters.” '

#Musk #ElonMusk #tech #BigTech #SiliconValleyRight #techFutures #techCriticism #techOligarchs #books @bookstodon

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312d

Beyond Winnie-the-Pooh: On A.A. Milne’s Romance Novels

Gyles Brandreth Explores the Adult Side of an Iconic Children’s Author

https://lithub.com/beyond-winnie-the-pooh-on-a-a-milnes-romance-novels/

Milne at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/730

A. A. Milne, with his son Christopher Robin and the original Pooh Bear, at Cotchford Farm, their home in Sussex, photographed in the year that Winnie-the-Pooh was first published.

A 1926 sepia photograph by Howard Coster showing A.A. Milne with his young son Christopher Robin and the original Winnie-the-Pooh teddy bear at Cotchford Farm, taken the year Winnie-the-Pooh was published.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne#/media/File:A._A._Milne_with_his_son_Christopher_Robin_Milne_and_Pooh_Bear_-_Howard_Coster_-_NPG_P715.jpg

@bookstodon #books #IndieAuthors #ebooks

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312d

The #SmashWords sale has started! Lots of discounts and free books for the rest of December.

Browse all sale items here:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos

Mine are cosy-adjacent fantasy with romance, often queer, all 25% off:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer

A decorative image saying the sale is December 8 to January 1 and it's a great opportunity to support indie authors and get DRM-free books.

https://bookblabla.com/book/king-sorrow

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356d

📚 King Sorrow by: Joe Hill

Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.

But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the ...

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #generalfiction #fantasy #contemporaryfiction #horror

Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.

But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.

But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.

'A brilliantly Faustian fable with a heart as huge as a dragon's, and a stinging twist in its tail. I devoured it.' RUTH WARE
'A wild, genre-defying journey, packed with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns' DAILY MIRROR
'A glorious, wild ride' NEW YORK TIMES
'Epic! KING SORROW is Hill's best and most ambitious work to date' LINWOOD BARCLAY
'Magnificent - by far and away Hill's best book to date' SFX
'When they talk ab

https://medium.com/s/the-matilda-effect

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312d

The Mathilda Effect - The Missing Heroines of Science

If you believe the history books, science is a guy thing. Discoveries are made by men, which spur further innovation by men, followed by acclaim and prizes for men. But too often, there is an unsung woman genius who deserves just as much credit.

By Martha Rossiter

More about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_effect#:~:text=The%20Matilda%20effect%20is%20a,attributed%20to%20their%20male%20colleagues.

#books #womeninStem

Dr. Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist, three-quarter length portrait.

A formal black and white portrait of Dr. Lise Meitner, the pioneering Austrian physicist, seated in professional attire with a book in hand before a library bookshelf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner#/media/File:Lise_Meitner_NatGeo.jpg