YA: Your Athenaeum

A blog for young readers (and YA lovers) from the Providence Athenaeum. The Providence Athenaeum is a unique library and cultural center in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island. Growing out of the Providence Library Company (fourth library in the United States), the Athenaeum as we know it was formed in 1836. Our handsome building on the corner of Benefit and College was completed in 1838. We are one of the few surviving membership libraries in the nation. Student memberships are available - visit or call for more information. This blog is updated by one of our circulation assistants (and YA enthusiast), Amy. Follow us to find out what's new in our Young Adult corner, or just for a daily dose of literary shenanigans. You can follow the Ath on twitter or facebook. Our catalog and much more information about us can be found at our homepage.

[seattlemysterybooks]

dtacollectables

October 1942 issue

cover art by Modest Stein

“The Santa Claus Murders” by Fredric Brown, later expanded to Murder Can Be Fun (1948 Dutton hardcover)

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[prepfordwife]

[findoutwhereyourplaceis]

“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” — Anne Lamott

[thefederalistfreestyle]

took a cash collection just to send him to the main man [x x x x]

[ebookfriendly]

Cat library #caturday http://ebks.to/23fsngS

[seattlemysterybooks]

dtacollectables

1943 Avon reissue

cover art by Gaspano and Ricco

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[librarymoments]

Missing book searches...

[apparitionedbye-deactivated2013]

[pastelparrotlet]

Me thinking about the new book I have waiting at home:

[seattlemysterybooks]

datacollectables

pseudonym of Madeleine McCoy

1943 Messner hardcover

1945 Black Cat digest abridged reissue

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[seattlemysterybooks]

philsp.com

October 10, 1921 issue

cover art by William Hurd Lawrence

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[providencepubliclibrary]

We were delighted to find the following Pawtucket businesses’ matchbooks when browsing through New England Roadside Delights, by Will Anderson.

Main and Broad Streets in Pawtucket were hub for entertainment during the period these matchbooks were printed, which Mr. Anderson estimates as the 1950s. He describes this area as “idle” prior to the repeal of Prohibition, when there was a sudden opening of numerous night clubs and taverns. Mr. Anderson mentions that, oddly, there is no trace of the Cabbage Patch as a licensed establishment in any of the pertinent records.

The Atomic Bomb Grille wonderfully combined the fear inherent in its name with its offering of “community singing” and a somewhat suggestive cover. In contrast, the Empire Café modestly suggestsed “Enjoy television.”

Request this book via this link, and take a look at Roadside Delights, by Richard W. Longstreth for another look at a vanishing aesthetic.

[lascasartoris]

Amiri Baraka and Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, and Toni Morrison all getting down!!

Pure joy

[yourathenaeum]

Patron: Where are the books for boys?

Me: *gestures to the entire library.*

Patron: Where are the books for girls?

Me: *gestures to the entire library*

[lrlamauthor]

Just look at these gorgeous, finished UK hardbacks of False Hearts! Out June 16th (June 14th in the US). I haven’t been able to see them in person yet, but both these and the US (also beautiful editions) are on their way to my greedy little hands!

Going to leave the pre-order links here, just in case you fancy picking it up. They are really beautiful editions, with foil printing, spot varnish, a red belly band, and sprayed edges. Feeling so lucky! Crossing my fingers that it finds its way to readers and that people enjoy it. 

Cover copy:

One night Tila stumbles home, terrified and covered in blood.

She’s arrested for murder, the first by a civilian in decades. The San Francisco police suspect involvement with Verve, a powerful drug, and offer her twin sister Taema a chilling deal. Taema must assume Tila’s identity and gather information – then if she brings down the drug syndicate, the police may let her sister live. But Taema’s investigation raises ghosts from the twins’ past.

The sisters were raised by a cult, which banned modern medicine. But as conjoined twins, they needed surgery to divide their shared heart – and escaped. Taema now finds Tila discovered links between the cult and the city’s underground. Once unable to keep secrets, the sisters will discover the true cost of lies.

Content notes: violence, swearing, sex work, sex, drugs, emotional manipulation, murder

[hogwartshousehabits]

*this may sound a bit strange* Can y'all sum up each house by only using ONE gif from The Princess Bride?

Gryffindor: 

Hufflepuff:

Ravenclaw: 

Slytherin:

[manicpanic88]

Never have I felt so strongly about a post in my life

@wintersoldierfell agree?

[wintersoldierfell]

AGREE SO HARD

[theartofnotwriting-deactivated2]

In my experience, that void gets filled not through strength but through weakness. You must be weak before the world, because love and listening weaken you. They make you vulnerable. They break you open. And it is only when you are weak that you can truly see and acknowledge and forgive and love the weakness in others. Weakness allows you to see other humans not as enemies to defeat, but as collaborators and co-creators. In the end, we’re making humanness up together as we go along.

John Green, Kenyon College commencement address on May 21, 2016 (via theartofnotwriting)