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‘A symbol of new beginning’: Mosul’s university library reopens

The university library in Mosul, which was bombed by Islamic State militants, has opened its doors again, describing itself as a “lighthouse of knowledge” which is “once again burning bright”. Founded in 1921, the library was ransacked and bombarded by missiles during the IS occupation of the city, with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 books and manuscripts destroyed. It was reopened on 19 February by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with financial support from Germany and book donations from around the world, including over 20,000 from the UK. Read more

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The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

Done right, the combination of two archetypal genre stories into something new can work brilliantly … The Paradox Hotel offers a memorable case study in how to bridge two genres in a way that satisfies readers of both … Throughout The Paradox Hotel Hart creates a sense of a place on the cusp of being irrevocably changed—and of a style of living that may have exceeded its viability … In the end, The Paradox Hotel succeeds as both a mystery and as a story involving time travel. Read more

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Words: Technologies of Power

In our brave new world of online surveillance and 280 character missives, of endless scrolling and shortening attention spans, a printed book can’t be traced like your virtual activity can — protecting our cognitive liberty and making it more valuable than ever. Books still are, as Stephen King (another proud writer of many a banned book) called them, “our most uniquely portable magic.” They are dangerous tools of destruction indeed — because the best ones break down the barriers that separate you and me. In other words, they humanize us. Read more

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Scholar of the Early Republic Wins American History Book Prize

Alan Taylor, the author of “American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850,” has been named the winner of the New-York Historical Society’s 2022 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, which is awarded each year for the best work of American history or biography. Read more

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How a Death-Row Inmate’s Embrace of Conservatism Led to His Release

In 1957, Edgar Smith, a 23-year-old former Marine who was both a husband and a new father, confessed to the bludgeoning murder of 15-year-old Vickie Zielinski in New Jersey. After deliberating for two hours, a jury convicted him. The judge sentenced him to death and he was sent to Trenton State Prison. What interests Weinman, who writes the Crime column for The New York Times Book Review, is not the murder but what transpired in its wake. Through a confluence of events, William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of National Review and one of the architects of the 20th-century conservative movement, learned that Smith was a fan of his publication. Flattered, Buckley began to mail the inmate the latest issues. These communications initiated a relationship that would add up to nine years and 1,500 pages of correspondence — and, ultimately, Smith’s release from prison. Read more

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The Huntington’s Chinese Garden will host an opera based on Lisa See’s bestselling book ‘On Gold Mountain

Filled with bamboo, pine and plum blossoms, the Chinese Garden at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is one of the city’s loveliest places to while away an afternoon. In May, the 15-acre space will break in a new outdoor performance area, the Terrace of Shared Delights, to stage a production of “On Gold Mountain,” an opera based on author Lisa See’s bestselling book about her Chinese American family’s immigrant experience in California. Read more

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Megan Marshall has won this year’s BIO Award

Last week, the Biographers International Organization (BIO) announced Megan Marshall as the winner of its 13th annual BIO Award, bestowed annually “to a distinguished colleague who has made major contributions to the advancement of the art and craft of biography.” Read more

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‘Power of the Dog’ author Thomas Savage died in obscurity. It’s time to honor his work.

Jane Campion’s outstanding adaptation of Thomas Savage’s novel “The Power of the Dog” — which won three Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for a dozen Oscars — finally spotlights a first-rate novelist who never received much recognition in his lifetime, or even well beyond it. Read more

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