Story Tags

Shakespeare Society: As You Like It

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity posits that time is relative. A Kantian would insist that time is a form of intuition. However, a Fool -- indeed, the Fool in As You Like It -- aptly describes time as an unforgiving, continuous series of hours: “It is ten o’clock. Thus we may see,” quoth he, “how the world wags. ’Tis but an hour ago since it was nine, And after one hour more ’twill be eleven. And so from hour to hour we ripe and ripe, And then from hour to hour we rot and rot, And thereby hangs a tale.” (2.7.23-29)

Portrait of Ori Soltes

Ori Soltes Lecture Series, Spring 2022

The Age of Adventure and Exploration

To join these lectures and Q&As, please email my.nguyen@dc.gov to register and for updates. Please see library staff for assistance with the reading materials, which are available upon request. All gatherings are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. While the branch is currently closed for in-person discussions, we continue to meet virtually until further notice. Please email my.nguyen@dc.gov for additional details. Overview The West End Library Friends Present: Ori Z Soltes: The Age of Adventure and Exploration

Shakespeare Society flyer

Shakespeare Society: The Problem Plays

The Shakespeare Society is a monthly Shakespeare reading and discussion group. We meet on the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30 p.m.  We intend to read and discuss every single Shakespeare play in series-order, grouped in several series reflecting his tragedies, comedies, problem plays, romances, and histories. There is no preferred edition. The West End Neighborhood Library's adult services librarian will facilitate the discussion.

The Brothers Karmazov 1 flyer

The Intimidating Book Club: The Brothers Karamazov, Books IV-VI

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ fasts for forty days and forty nights, a feat that, in and of itself, requires at least some modicum of superhuman strength. What I find more extraordinary, however -- indeed, this is the most extraordinary, superhuman thing -- is when Jesus resists the temptation to "stick it" to his nemesis. "If you're as great as you claim," the devil essentially says, "turn these stones into bread."

The Brothers Karmazov 1 flyer

The Intimidating Book Club: The Brothers Karamazov

Overview of The Intimidating Book Club Intended for those who have always wanted to read that one classic novel of gargantuan proportions but never did (or didn't finish). This group will read a notoriously lengthy book widely considered a classic, section by section, and meet monthly at 6:30 p.m. ET for a minimum one-hour discussion that may last through 8 p.m.

Both Flesh and Not book cover image

The New Sincerity & David Foster Wallace

The idea of “New Sincerity,” which was especially noted in popular culture of the 1990s, drew a large amount of its nominal popularity from the essay work of David Foster Wallace.

Book jacket

Boston in Books

Boston. Beantown. Home of America's oldest university, park and subway system. But what is it like to live in such a fabled and esteemed city? The titles on this bibliography explore that question. Six novels and one memoir tell tales of racial and economic inequality that are as American as apple pie. (Please note all titles are linked to their physical copies; nearly all are also available as library ebooks via OverDrive and its app Libby.)

Ebook cover of Tom Sawyer

Book Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Temitope Johnson discusses the themes of slavery and superstition in one of Mark Twain's most well-known novels

Review written by Temitope Johnson, teen volunteer. 

Mysterious Affair at Styles cover

Agatha and Clive

Classic Literary Anniversaries

This month, Agatha Christie and Clive S. (C.S.) Lewis published two of their best known novels. Both of their respective novels introduced classic characters and their later novels were adapted as movies or a television series. You can check out and download these two titles from the library system.

Image of the Cover of Outbreak

Disease and Pestilence Pay a Visit

2018 was the centennial of the signing of the Armistice Agreement to end WWI and unquestionably, people who were living at that time were relieved that the war was over. After the war ended, however, there was another global threat—the Spanish Flu pandemic. Pre-Covid 19, I had assembled a couple of titles for a possible list of books that take place at the end of “the great war,” and coincided with the flu pandemic. Instead, I have here a list of five novels with a mix of health crises.

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