Posted on: October 27, 2021
directed by Lasse Hallström
Hassan is a culinary ingenue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, his family settles in a quaint village in the south of France. They plan to open an Indian restaurant &am...
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Posted on: June 25, 2021
by Jill Lepore
In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, award-winning historian Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation, an urgently needed reckoning with the beauty and tragedy of American ...
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Posted on: May 6, 2021
directed by Alan Rickman
A romantic drama following Sabine (Kate Winslet), a strong-willed and talented landscape designer, who is selected to build one of the main gardens at King Louis XIV's new palace at Versailles. In her new position of power...
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Posted on: January 29, 2021
by Sara Eddy
“Amid the many delicious feasts contained in Full Mouth — ranging from caviar and oysters to donuts and dumplings — you’ll find the “sweet improbable globes” of oranges, and the batte...
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Posted on: January 5, 2021
by Tony Horwitz
The author retraces Frederick Law Olmsted's journey across the American South in the 1850s, on the eve of the Civil War. Olmsted roamed eleven states and six thousand miles, and the New York Times published his dispatches about slavery and ...
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Posted on: December 11, 2020
directed by Bharat Nalluri
A film about the magical journey that led to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer), Tiny Tim, and other classic characters from A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) mixed real-life inspirations with h...
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Posted on: October 29, 2020
by Isabel Allende
In the late 1930s, civil war gripped Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them...
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Posted on: August 31, 2020
by Isabel WilkersonIn this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern an...
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Posted on: August 11, 2020
directed by Jean BeckerThis film stars Gerard Depardieu who plays Germain, a 45-year-old, illiterate handyman. Margueritte is a lovely 95-year-old lady who loves any good book to share with others. The two meet in the afternoons where Margueritte reads an...
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Posted on: July 7, 2020
directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen
This film follows the early life of the Swedish children author, Astrid Lindgren. She is considered to be the world’s third most-translated children’s author. She has written more than a 100 titl...
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Posted on: June 9, 2020
directed by Yen Tan
This film is shot on black-and-white super 16mm film and centers on a pivotal time in America during the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Adrian returns to Texas to celebrate Christmas and reconnect with his family. Unresolved issues forc...
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Posted on: May 21, 2020
by Fredrik Backman
In this bestselling and delightfully quirky debut novel from Sweden, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.
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Posted on: May 21, 2020
by Vicki Croke
The remarkable story of James Howard "Billy" Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant Bill.
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Posted on: February 27, 2020
by Abdi Nor Iftin
Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop artists like Michael Jackson and watching films starring action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines lan...
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Posted on: January 27, 2020
by Hans Christian Andersen; translated by Frank Hugus
This semi-autobiographical novel, inspired by Andersen’s travels in Italy, was recently translated by Frank Hugus, Amherst resident and UMass Professor of German & Scandinavian Studies.
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Posted on: November 25, 2019
by Stephen Nissenbaum
In 1659 the Massachusetts Bay General Court declared the celebration of Christmas to be a criminal offense. What the Puritans were trying to suppress was a holiday marked by boisterous invasions of the homes of the wealthy. As recentl...
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Posted on: October 28, 2019
by Paula S. Fass
A sweeping look at the history of American childhood and parenting, from the nation's founding to the present day. Renowned historian Paula Fass shows how, since the beginning of the American republic, independence, self-definition, and in...
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Posted on: September 27, 2019
by Cokie Roberts
Cokie Roberts's number one New York Times bestseller, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, examined the nature of women's roles throughout history and led USA Today to praise her as a "custodian of time-honored values." Her second best...
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Posted on: August 23, 2019
by Linda Hirshman
The relationship between Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Republican and Democrat, Christian and Jew, western rancher's daughter and Brooklyn girl — transcends party, religion, region, and culture. Strengt...
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Posted on: July 11, 2019
by Madeleine May Kunin
Many readers are already familiar with Madeleine Kunin, the former three-term governor of Vermont, who served as the deputy secretary of education and ambassador to Switzerland under President Bill Clinton. The topic of this — her mo...
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Posted on: June 7, 2019
by Trevor Noah
Noah's path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, at the time such a union was punishable by five years in prison. As he struggl...
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Posted on: May 3, 2019
by Peter Wohlleben
A forester's fascinating stories, supported by the latest scientific research, reveal the extraordinary world of forests and illustrate how trees communicate and care for each other.
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Posted on: March 20, 2019
by Bryan Stevenson
The executive director of a social advocacy group for prisoners tells the story of Walter McMillian, a man condemned to death row for a murder he didn't commit — and explains why justice and mercy must go hand-in-hand.
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Posted on: March 8, 2019
by Nate Blakeslee
The enthralling story of the rise and reign of O-Six, the celebrated Yellowstone wolf, and the people who loved or feared her. Before men ruled the earth, there were wolves. Once abundant in North America, these majestic creatures were hu...
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Posted on: December 21, 2018
by Michelle Obama
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America, she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive Whit...
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Posted on: December 13, 2018
directed and produced by Betsy West & Julie Cohen
At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the na...
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Posted on: October 25, 2018
by Susan Orlean
Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metro...
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Posted on: October 11, 2018
by Russell Shorto
In his epic new book, Russell Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters and autobiographies to flesh out six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light. They include an African man who free...
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Posted on: August 31, 2018
by Gail Caldwell
In this moving memoir, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gail Caldwell reflects on her own coming-of-age in midlife, as she learns to open herself to the power and healing of sharing her life with a best friend.
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Posted on: May 4, 2018
by Michael Ponsor
When a drive-by shooting in Holyoke, Massachusetts, claims the lives of a Puerto Rican drug dealer and a hockey mom volunteering at an inner-city clinic, the police arrest a rival gang member. With no death penalty in Massachusetts, the U...
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Posted on: April 6, 2018
by Steven Stoll
An original investigation into the rise of the Appalachian homestead explores the impact of coal mining, timber and other industries on victimizing and marginalizing the region, sharing insights into how Appalachia became wrongly associated...
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Posted on: February 27, 2018
by Michael Finkel
For readers of Jon Krakauer and The Lost City of Z, a remarkable tale of survival and solitude — the true story of a man who lived alone in a tent in the Maine woods, never talking to another person and surviving by stealing supplies from...
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Posted on: February 6, 2018
by Alan Brennert
Seven-year-old Rachel is forcibly removed from her family's 1890s Honolulu home when she contracts leprosy and is placed in a settlement, where she loses a series of new friends before new medical discoveries enable her to reenter the worl...
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Posted on: January 5, 2018
by J. Courtney Sullivan
A sweeping novel about two sisters — one the matriarch of a boisterous Irish Catholic family, the other a cloistered nun, hidden from the world — and the secret that drove them apart.
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Posted on: November 17, 2017
by Paulette Jiles
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an elderly widower and itinerant news reader, is offered fifty dollars to bring an orphan girl, who was kidnapped and raised by Kiowa raiders, from Wichita Falls back to her ...
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Posted on: October 25, 2017
by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
This dual portrait of a pioneering African-American poet and her Revolutionary War veteran husband describes their groundbreaking court battle to retain their land in Vermont and Massachusetts when bigoted neighbors attempted t...
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Posted on: September 25, 2017
by Polly Longsworth
The romance between Mabel Loomis Todd and Austin Dickinson, the brother of the poet Emily Dickinson, is portrayed in a selection of letters.
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Posted on: July 12, 2017
by Jill Lepore
This cultural history of Wonder Woman traces the character's creation and enduring popularity, drawing on interviews and archival research to reveal the pivotal role of feminism in shaping her seven-decade story.
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Posted on: May 25, 2017
by Kate Andersen Brower
America's first families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and hea...
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Posted on: March 16, 2017
by Arlie Russell Hochschild
In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country – a stronghold of the conserva...
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Posted on: January 19, 2017
by J.D. Vance
Provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the present day. The sixth extinction i...
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Posted on: December 15, 2016
by Daniel Tammet
An autistic savant with genius-level mathematical talents describes how he was shunned by his classmates in spite of his super-human capacity for math and language and offers insight into how he experiences the world.
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Posted on: December 5, 2016
by Ilene Beckerman
In a volume originally intended just for friends, the author reflects on her fortunes and misfortunes through the clothes she has worn, clothes that have expressed her hopes and dreams — from her Brownie uniform to her first maternity dr...
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Posted on: January 19, 2017
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the present day. The sixth extin...
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Posted on: October 28, 2016
by Kristin Hannah
Reunited when the elder's husband is sent to fight in World War II, French sisters Vianne and Isabelle find their bond as well as their respective beliefs tested by a world that changes in horrific ways.
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Posted on: May 25, 2016
by Steve Osborne
A retired NYPD lieutenant shares the most entertaining and engrossing true stories from his two decades on the beat, including when he mistook a dentist as an armed robbery suspect and a strange request made by the mother of a suspected cr...
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Posted on: May 25, 2016
by Charles Todd
When battlefield nurse Bess Crawford, while contending with wounded soldiers and influenza patients, stumbles upon the body of an officer and family friend who has been murdered, she – using her father's connections in the military – search...
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Posted on: March 23, 2016
by Anthony Doerr
A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with their respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast.
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Posted on: February 24, 2016
by Atul Gawande
Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending. Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Gawande asserts that medicine can comfort and enhanc...
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Posted on: February 17, 2016
directed by John Madden
When seven cash-strapped seniors decide to 'outsource' their retirement to a resort in far-off India, friendship and romance blossom in the most unexpected ways.
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Posted on: December 31, 2015
directed by Bill Condon
In 1947, an aging Sherlock Holmes returns from a journey to Japan, where, in search of a rare plant with powerful restorative qualities, he has witnessed the devastation of nuclear warfare. Now, in his remote seaside farmhouse, Holm...
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Posted on: November 25, 2015
directed by Cynthia Scott
Seven elderly women and their bus driver band together to survive when their bus breaks down in the Quebec countryside. As they draw closer, the women begin to share stories from their pasts.
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Posted on: November 25, 2015
by Ellen J. Langer
If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now, in Counter Clockwise, she ...
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