Mt. Pleasant
Neighborhood Library

Set in contemporary New York City, Nicole Krauss’ beautiful novel explores themes of loneliness and loss, and the unlikely glimmers of hope found despite these through the lives of two unlikely protagonists: Leo Gursky, an older gentleman who once wrote a book and fell in love with a girl in the Polish village he left long ago, and Alma Singer, a 14-year-old who already leads a busy life trying to keep an eye on her delusional younger brother and writing—when a letter in the mail puts her on the trail of a mystery that will ultimately involve her

With the election of Barack Obama, many people went on record stating that racial lines and prejudices in American society were firmly a thing of the past. While this may be a premature and rather naïve statement to make, how far has the struggle for civil rights come?

Worn with time, the majestic Art Deco Yacoubian building shines in its quiet, ever-watchful manner in downtown Cairo, namesake of its builder’s ambitions and a stolid witness to its share of history. Time has also had its way with the unfulfilled lives of the motley group of residents of this decadent building, among them a student, a politician, a seductress, an aging aristocrat, and a newspaper editor.

There are countless stories told by mariners and seamen of ships that have been battered and have —sometimes—survived encounters with these giants of the sea.