Trending
Digital books, also known as eBooks, can be read on e-reading devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers. eBooks seem to be in a constant battle against print books. Here are the advantages and practical benefits of reading eBooks:
Portability
An eReader can hold thousands of books in a device that fits in your bag. For frequent travelers or readers who move through books quickly, that convenience is hard to beat.
Night reading and no glare
Most eReaders are backlit, making them ideal for reading in low light without disturbing anyone nearby. Kindle makes the Paperwhite device, which is perfect for reading outdoors, such as on a beach. It is glare-free, making it easy to enjoy your book anywhere you want.
Storage
For readers with limited shelf space, eBooks are an easy solution. A single device can store an entire library.
Instant availability
eBooks are available the moment you borrow them, with no shipping wait and no risk of a title being out of stock. If the library is closed on Sunday or late at night, you can still find an eBook.
Added features
Many eBooks include built-in bookmarks, highlighting, note-taking and hyperlinked text that lets readers look up definitions or sources without losing their place. You can also enlarge the text for those with eyesight issues.
Smaller eco-footprint
Digital books require no paper, ink or physical production, making them a lower-impact option for environmentally-conscious readers.
At the Juniata County Library, we have a free app that you can use to download eBooks. Libby, which can be found in your app store, requires a valid library card. Visit www.juniatalibrary.org to get started.
Book of the week!
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try...
Their Wonted Fires by Michael Robert Drane
(New adult fiction: historical, Pennsylvania, 19th century) - 294 pages.
In a nutshell: Gilded Age historical fiction based in Bellefonte, Clearfield, Braddock and other Western Pennsylvania towns.
Spanning 30 years, "Their Wonted Fires" is a rich telling of Gilded Age America and the horrors that ordinary people endured. Told from the perspective of multiple individuals who ultimately come together, the reader sees that income inequality is nothing new.
Starting in 1884 in Munster, the Moran family loses their farmhouse when their father suddenly passes away. On top of losing their home, they feel the judgment and shame from their community. This splinters the family. Some stay in the mountains while others move to Braddock (just outside Pittsburgh) in search of work. Then and now, families living on the fringes of society are one paycheck or death away from losing everything.
Elizabeth Moran stays in the mountains and meets Danny McDermott, an immigrant from Ireland whose family was also banished because of financial hardship. Both support unions, attending meetings and working to grow membership. Corporations across Pennsylvania were strongly anti-union, sending in thugs to quell strikes, banning participants from ever working in the industry again and placing spies amongst the workers. The unions never seem to gain traction in their collective efforts, always splintering or coming under attack.
Adjacent to the Morans is Charlie Schwab, an up-and-coming engineer at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works plant in Braddock. Charlie is upbeat and a visionary, which helps propel him from modest beginnings to ultimately running the fast-growing U.S. Steel. But time and power soon corrupted Charlie. Once a rank-and-file steelworker, he came to support the union-busting tactics in Braddock.
The trajectories for the Morans and Schwab couldn't be any more different. The Morans go from town to town, working in grueling trades and being forced to cram numerous people into small homes. The neighborhood they live in near the steelworks plant is overrun with sewage in the streets and furnace soot on their porches. Morans and McDermotts die from mysterious illnesses, horrific accidents at the steelworks plant or various bacterial infections. Meanwhile, Schwab slowly enters a life of opulence and decadence. His caring nature for his wife eventually gives way to a self-indulgent and controlling persona, mixed with paranoia and infidelity.
Drane puts a microscope on these 19th-century communities and shows us what their daily experiences were truly like. In his later years, Schwab grew increasingly wealthy and worked toward building yet another mansion. Meanwhile, the Morans are at a nearby carnival, and the children are ecstatic to have a penny to play a game.
As the years go by, I can feel the dread and weariness of Schwab and Elizabeth McDermott née Moran. Schwab grows more isolated as he rules the Carnegie steel empire and is seemingly always hindered by competitors and his fellow coworkers. His philandering and grueling work ethic leave him constantly tired, overweight and alone. Elizabeth, a matriarch and focal point in the Moran storyline, continues to watch seemingly everyone around her die.
The word wonted means "usual, customary or habitual." The nonstop fires of the steel mill can metaphorically represent the nonstop destruction Americans faced during this industrial age. In a text exchange with the author, a college friend of mine, he explained an inspiration for his storytelling: the HBO show "The Wire."
While the Morans have very little in terms of money and possessions, they do all they can to resist death even when it seems inevitable and always nearby.
Bottom line: A sobering portrayal of our Pennsylvania ancestors, living through habitual plight as they built the society we live in today.
•••
Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since April 2015.