Ocean State Libraries

"A nuanced satire--both hilarious and disconcerting--that probes the blurred lines between empowerment, spirituality, and consumerism in our online lives. Lilian Quick is 40, single, and childless, working as a pet portrait artist. She paints the colored light only she can see, but animal aura portraits are a niche market at best. She's working hard to build her brand on social media and struggling to pay the rent. Her estranged cousin has become...

"From one of our most passionately engaged global literary citizens comes Writing with Intent, the largest collection ever assembled of Margaret Atwood's nonfiction, spanning 1983-2005. The fifty-eight essays compiled here are written in a bracing voice that is provocative, witty, often colloquial, and always accessible. Comprised of autobiographical essays, cultural commentary, book and film reviews, eulogies, introductions written for great works...

"Comprising The diary, The table talk and A garland of miscellanea by Samuel Marchbanks, but enlarged to include a biographical introduction and copious notes calculated to remove all difficulties caused by the passing of time, and to offer the wisdom, not to speak of the whimsicality, of this astonishing man to the modern public, by his long-suffering friend."

A collection of speeches on literature, academia, and more by the "extremely entertaining novelist and public speaker" (The Washington Post). These public addresses by the acclaimed Canadian man of letters and New York Times-bestselling author Robertson Davies provides portraits of literary personalities, advice on writers and writing, and comments on academia and the modern world. Whether giving advice to schoolgirls, discussing the Age of...