Library Fun Facts:
Did you know that our library building was purchased and donated to the town by generous local citizens?
۰In 1910, after the library had rented space for decades, a group of six local benefactors bought the present building and donated it to the town.
۰In 1916, those same generous neighbors bought and donated the adjacent building, which now houses three rental apartments. That rental income helps support library operations.
۰To this day we continue to enjoy the benefits of local philanthropy from over a century ago!
Upcoming Events:
Sept. 19, 2-3:30 p.m. Beauty and Terror - a poetry workshop with Caitlin Gildrien. Spots are limited. For more info and to hold your spot, please visit https://brandonpubliclibrary.org/poetry
Sept. 27: The Friends of Brandon Library are holding their annual golf tournament at Neshobe Golf Course. Visit brandonpubliclibrary.org/golf for more information.
New non-fiction:
“The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State” by Jill Lepore. Lepore examines the rise of an "Artificial State," arguing that technology, data, artificial intelligence, and billionaire technocracy are undermining democracy, human self-government, and community. She traces the historical roots and consequences of this transformation, including environmental damage, and argues that the Artificial State is not inevitable and can be dismantled through understanding its origins and structures.
“The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy” by Gil Duran. The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.
“Symphony for the City of the Dead” by M.T. Anderson. In September 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history — almost three years of bombardment and starvation. Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, writing a symphony to rouse, rally, eulogize, and commemorate his fellow citizens: the Leningrad Symphony.
“A Marriage at Sea” by Sophie Elmhirst. In June 1972, Maurice and Maralyn quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat and set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. What ensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive in the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as their inner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can’t run away from themselves.
“You Won’t Get Free of It” by Rachel Aviv. Stories of mothers and daughters searching for each other and for themselves. Aviv writes about one mother searching for her vanished daughter; another who sacrifices herself for her daughters by working as a nanny for other people’s children. In the final story, a daughter’s traumatic experience is erased by her family, only to be recast by her mother, the writer Alice Munro, in stories celebrated around the world.
“This is the Plan” by Ben Wikler. Drawing on decades of organizing, from local races (including a race for county coroner that hinged on the issue of zombification) to presidential showdowns, Wikler brings readers behind the scenes to explore the hidden structures of power that shape our politics and our lives, and takes us into the art and science of winning elections.
A biography you might have missed:
“Vagabond” by Tim Curry. Curry takes readers behind-the-scenes from his early beginnings as a military brat to his formative years in boarding school and university, to the moment when he hit the stage for the first time. He goes in-depth about what it was like to work on some of the most emblematic works of the 20th century. He also explores the voicework that defined his later career and provided him with a chance to pivot after surviving a catastrophic stroke in 2012 that nearly took his life. Tim Curry died on August 26th, 2026, leaving behind a singular body of work that resonated with and gave solace to multiple generations of outsiders and underdogs.
