Off the Shelves for 8-24-17
The following item is available at the Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road. For more information on the library’s collection or to reserve a title, visit hcplibrary.org.
Adult Fiction
“Copycat,” by Kimberla Lawson Roby
Befriending Traci Calloway Cole is the best thing Simone Phillips has ever done. Traci is the kind of woman Simone wants to be — in every way possible. She begins copying her role model, not because she wants to be Traci; she just wants to be exactly like Traci. Traci doesn’t worry, though. She knows Simone doesn’t mean any harm, and her mimicry is only sincere admiration. Until she discovers how far Simone’s obsession has gone. It is then that Simone’s entire world begins to unravel, and dreadful secrets from her past — that she’ll do almost anything to protect — are exposed with no warning.
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Adult Nonfiction
“Scurvy: the disease of discovery,” by Jonathan Lamb
One of the symptoms of scurvy, a disease often associated with long stretches of maritime travel, manifested itself in the form of intense sensations beyond what was normal. Eyes dazzled; skin was morbidly sensitive; emotions veered between disgust and delight. In this book, Jonathan Lamb presents a history of scurvy. Drawing on historical accounts from scientists, voyagers as and major literary works, Lamb explores the medical knowledge surrounding scurvy and the debates about its cause, prevention and cures. He describes the phenomenon and experience of “scorbutic nostalgia” in which victims imagined mirages of food, water or home, and then wept at the realization that their visions were unattainable. Lamb argues that a culture of scurvy arose in the colony of Australia, which was prey to the disease in its early years, and identifies mentions of scurvy in the works of writers Herman Melville, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Francis Bacon and Jonathan Swift.
