Armchair Travel in the Coffman Library

By Carol Van Why

In preparing to spend two weeks in fourNew England states during October, I first cruised the 1666 Coffman library shelves.  A book in the TRAVEL WRITINGS section, The Last Empty Places by Peter Stark, offered up tidbits about Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau. Because my travel was going to feature Revolutionary War sites, I signed out and enjoyed David McCullough’s 1776 from the U.S. HISTORY section.

The trip would also take me to western Massachusetts with a special visit to Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, MA.  The Library’s FICTION section did not disappoint, containing Wharton’s House of Mirth, Ethan Frome and Age of Innocence.

The final third of the trip would be a meander down the Maine Coast.  Linda Greenlaw’s Lobster Chronicles, found on the BIOGRAPHY shelves was required reading for this segment of the trip.

​Where have your 2018 travels taken you?  Did you browse our library to find related reading before or after your trip?