Washoe County Library System

"This irreverent guide to crafting personal essays and creative nonfiction takes inspiration from the father of the essay, Michele de Montaigne, using lively essays to answer writing questions from top writers like Cheryl Strayed and Philip Lopate"--

"Good Prose" is an inspiring book about writing--about the creation of good prose--and the record of a warm and productive literary friendship.

As the planet warms, winter is shrinking. In the last 50 years, the Northern Hemisphere lost a million square miles of spring snowpack and in the US alone, snow cover has been reduced by 15-30 percent. On average, winter has shrunk by a month in most northern latitudes. In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of...

"Christian Wiman, a thinker "at the very source of theology" (Marilynne Robinson), braids poetry, memoir, and criticism to create an inspired, career-defining work"-- "Christian Wiman braids poetry, memoir, and criticism to create an inspired, career-defining work. Few contemporary writers ask the questions about faith, morality, and God that Christian Wiman does, and even fewer—perhaps none—do so with his urgency and eloquence. Wiman, an award-winning...

Draws on the achievements of scientists, engineers, and mediums to consider the feasibility of life after death, from a reincarnation researcher's experimentation with out-of-body experiences to laboratory investigations into ghosts. "What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that, the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place...

A memoir by the bestselling author of The Prince of Tides about his father--the inspiration for The Great Santini--and a reaffirmation that love can conquer even the meanest of men.

"When artists and athletes age, what happens to their work? Does it ripen or rot? Achieve a new serenity or succumb to an escalating torment? As our bodies decay, how do we keep on? In this beguiling meditation, Geoff Dyer sets his own encounter with late middle age against the last days and last works of writers, painters, footballers, musicians, and tennis stars who’ve mattered to him throughout his life. With a playful charm and penetrating intelligence,...

A collection of long-form pieces on war is complemented by notable profiles, sports articles, cultural essays, and other writings. "In addition to three extraordinary pieces on war, this book includes Bowden's incisive sports writing, think pieces, and a selection of fascinating profiles--from a piece on the world's youngest and most baffling dictator, Kim Jong-un, to features on newspaper scion Arthur Sulzberger and The Wire creator, David Simon"--published...

"A child disappears . . . a foster mom faces an impossible choice . . . a baby's future hangs in the balance. When Debra Moerke and her husband decided to become foster parents, they never imagined how their lives would change. Debra became especially close to one little girl: four-year-old Hannah. She loved her and did everything she could to help Hannah learn to trust and teach her to feel safe. But when Hannah went back to her birth mother, Karen,...