From the Stacks
By Carol Ann Robb, PPL Reference Librarian
The past six weeks or so have been a flurry of traveling as I’ve gone from one place to another—England, North Carolina, back to England for an extended stay, then did some rambling through eastern Kansas before heading off to Australia, and am now in Scotland before stops in New York state and Virginia.
What I love about all these journeys is that I’ve not been stranded by weather delays at airports or been knocked about by turbulence, no jet lag to power through, and no bags to pack and lug around. Best of all, none of this cost me a penny because I have the ultimate ticket for unlimited travel—a Pittsburg Public Library card.
By reading “Cliff’s Edge” by Charles Todd, I found myself in Yorkshiresoon after World War I ended. Then I trekked to North Carolina, circa 1985, in Wiley Cash’s “When Ghosts Come Home.” I returned to England, this time in during the early 1920’s, in “A Fashionable Fatality” by Alyssa Maxwell, followed by the more contemporary “Autheticity Project” by Claire Pooley.
Then I stayed closer to home with Al Ortolani’s latest collection of poetry, “Taco Boat” before picking up “Exiles” by Jane Harper which transported me to Australia (and is now one of my top reads of the year so far; if you’ve not read “The Dry” and “Force of Nature” yet, do that before picking up her latest). Now I’m in Scotland for James Runcie’s “Tell Me Good Things,” a nonfiction account of his wife’s battle with Motor Neuron Disease (known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease in the US).
When that’s finished, I’ll head off to New York state with the third installment of the Greer Hogan mystery series by M. E. Hilliard, “Three Can Keep a Secret.” For the next stop, I’ll be in antebellum Virginia for “Yellow Wife” by Sadeqa Johnson.
But this Sunday I’ll find myself immersed in Irish lore when Maeve Cummings enchants us with tales of Celtic saints, queens, banshees, and other forces of nature at 2:00 p.mhere at the Library. Join me in a cup of hot tea (or decaf coffee if you’re so inclined) as we’re transported to the Emerald Isle. You won’t even need a library card for this trip but if you don’t have one, we’ll be happy to make sure you leave with one. It’s the best travel bargain in town.