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I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Picture Books for Adults

Catching up on children's literature

If you are an adult and you don't spend much time with children, it's probably been years since you've even thought about picture books. We all have our favorites from childhood, but as time goes on, so does the world of new children's literature. Here are a few recent books you won't regret spending some time with. They only take a couple minutes to read, and they're great mood enhancers - so don't be embarrassed to read them on Metro! 

Image of early book cover for "Babbitt" by Sinclair Lewis

Book Club Pick o' the Month

'Babbitt' by Sinclair Lewis

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, June 23 at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt (1922), largely a satire of American culture, society, and behavior, and a bestseller too that gave us the word "Babbitt" meaning "a person and esp.

Antique photo of boat on C&O Canal

'The Grand Old Ditch'

The past, present, and future of the C&O Canal

Judith Welles, a Canal Trust Board member and local history author, will provide historic highlights and photographs of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, including the canal’s role in the Civil War, in a talk to be held Wednesday, June 10, at 7 p.m. 

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

New Nonfiction

Recommended reading for fans of the real world

This list is for readers who try to keep up with current social and political norms. Whether you're looking for inspiration or just making conversation, you'll find plenty to talk about - or base major life changes upon - in these new nonfiction titles:   Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Image of meditation in the abstract

Meditation

A tool to balance your life, mind, body and soul

David Newcomb, a long-time practitioner/teacher, will lead a two-part workshop on the inner peace and joy of Jyoti meditation, Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, May 13 at 7 p.m. We live in a fast-paced world, filled with challenges and constant demands made on our precious time. Wouldn't it be nice if we could step back, take a little vacation from all the tension and find a place filled with joy, bliss and peace?

Image of "Lord of the Flies" book cover

Book Club Pick 'o the Month

'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Lord of the Flies by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. 

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

New Adult Grab Bag

All About That... Angst

Though there seem to be clear markers of the sub-genre, "New Adult Fiction" is a slightly contentious label. The term was coined to individuate books about people navigating an entry into the "real world" that follows high school and/or college.

Photo of American poet Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman on Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Washington

A talk by a local expert

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's assassination, Martin G. Murray, Founder, Washington Friends of Walt Whitman, will speak on the poet's reflections on the slain leader and on life in the wartime Capital, accompanied by slide illustations, on Tuesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., and in celebration of April as National Poetry Month.

Head shot of American poet Robert Frost

West End Fiction Book Club Presents . . .

A tribute to America's best-loved poet

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, April 21 at 12:30 p.m. to read/discuss "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "The Road Not Taken," "Tuft of Flowers," "Birches," "Mending Wall,"  "Out, Out--," "Death of the Hired Man" and other poems by Robert Frost (1874-1963), in celebration of April as National Poetry Month. 

Head shot of recently deceased poet Claudia Emerson

'Lament for the Makers'

A tribute to recently deceased poet Claudia Emerson and others

Please join us for a reading of poems in memory of Claudia Emerson (1957-2014), winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and former Poet Laureate of Virginia, as well as anecdotes and tributes to this remarkable and beloved poet, and with apologies to Scottish poet William Dunbar (c.1460-c.1513),

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