Ocean State Libraries

“West with the Night” is a memoir by British-born author, aviator, and equestrian, Beryl Markham. Friend and fellow author Ernest Hemingway once wrote to his editor Maxwell Perkins asking: "Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night?... bloody wonderful work." Markham was one of, if not the first, female bush pilots in Africa, and her memoir details adventures in Kenya with a unique perspective both from the ground and the sky. Markham...

While riding in the car with Buzz and his father, Fly Guy gets blown out of the window and finds himself riding in a truck, then a boat, a train, an airplane, and maybe even a rocket.

"Joshua Slocum spent a lifetime at sea. He ran away from his Nova Scotia home at the age of 14 and for the next 35 years he sailed the world holding every shipboard rank. When a ship under his command was wrecked on the coast of Brazil in 1887, it seemed that his maritime career had ended in disgrace. Not one for retiring to earthly pastures, Slocum rebuilt a hundred- year-old sloop and set off for Boston in 1895 on the first single-handed circumnavigation...

"Embarking on a train trip to visit his grandmother, Pete the Cat accompanies the conductor on a tour of the train, looks at the engine and blows the whistle while making new friends and playing train-themed games." --

The book that made Mark Twain famous and introduced the world to that obnoxious and ubiquitous character: the American tourist Based on a series of letters first published in American newspapers, The Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain's hilarious and insightful account of an organized tour of Europe and the Holy Land undertaken in 1867.   With his trademark blend of skepticism and sincerity, Twain casts New World eyes on the people and places of the...

In this penetrating narrative account, Hessler investigates China's lurch into modernity as he survives the advent of the nation's uniquely terrifying car culture, probes the transformation of village life, and explores China's frantic industrialization.

"Steamships once plied the waters of Narragansett Bay, carrying thousands of guests to feasts of clams prepared in every way imaginable at scenic spots like Rocky Point and Crescent Park. After hurricanes and pollution destroyed Rhode Island's soft-shell clam and oyster beds, the quahog became the state's favorite bivalve, and Rhode Islanders took to their automobiles and drove to the beach for clam cakes and chowder at the shacks and chowder houses...

"Arthur Louis Pullman the Third has been stripped of his college scholarship, is losing his grip on reality, and has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle. He discovers a journal written by his grandfather, the first Arthur Louis Pullman, a Salinger-esque author who went missing the last week of his life and died hundreds of miles away from their family home. Using the journal as a guide, Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive...