Nonfiction

The Oxford dictionary of proverbs book cover

The Oxford dictionary of proverbs

REF 398.9 Oxford 2003
Nonfiction

A thematic index allows readers to easily find proverbs on subjects ranging from boasting to weddings. Presented in a thoroughly reader-friendly style yet maintaining the scholarly standards that have characterized earlier editions, this fourth edition is a valuable updating of a well-loved classic reference.

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The Penguin book of the undead : fifteen hundred years of supernatural encounters book cover

The Penguin book of the undead : fifteen hundred years of supernatural encounters

133.1 /Penguin
Nonfiction

The Penguin Book of the Undead teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath. Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living--and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife.

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The illustrated world encyclopedia of knives, swords, spears & daggers : through history in over 1500 photographs book cover

The illustrated world encyclopedia of knives, swords, spears & daggers : through history in over 1500 photographs

Harvey J. S Withers

623.441 /Withers
Nonfiction

This comprehensive encyclopedia of edged weapons is both an authoritative reference work & a visual directory, explaining the development of these weapons through the centuries, describing their capabilities & individual specifications.

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Because you'll need to know the difference between a katana and a short sword. -Melody

National geographic guide to the world's supernatural places : more than 250 spine-chilling destinations around the globe book cover

National geographic guide to the world's supernatural places : more than 250 spine-chilling destinations around the globe

Sarah Bartlett

133 /Bartlett
Nonfiction

"Witches and demons, ghosts and vampires, aliens and voodoo spirit...from spooky to chilling to downright weird, signs of the supernatural have terrified -- and fascinated -- people for centuries. Dare to discover some of the world's most puzzling enigmas in this remarkable book, which reveals a dazzling array of haunted castles, forbidden hideaways and otherwise eerie landmarks."--Description from Amazon.com.

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Mysterious Celtic mythology in American folklore book cover

Mysterious Celtic mythology in American folklore

Bob Curran

398.0973 /Curran
Nonfiction

The darkest fears and wildest dreams of people throughout history survive in legends, fairy tales, and bedtime stories. A respected Celtic expert, Bob Curran explores nineteen regional tales from all over the United States and traces their origins to the ancient mythology of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Celtic Europeans brought their folktales with them to America. Once they reached American soil, they adapted their stories, replacing details popular in the old country with those more relevant to the new world. Divided into chapters, these regionally distinct stories trace the beginnings of vampires, headless horsemen, witches, banshees, and other mythical creatures.

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The complete world of Greek mythology book cover

The complete world of Greek mythology

Richard Buxton

292.13 /Buxton
Nonfiction

Complemented by lavish illustrations, genealogical tables, box features, and specially commissioned drawings, this will be an essential book for anyone interested in these classic tales and in the world of the ancient Greeks.

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Also great for fact-checking your understanding of Greek mythology -Melody

Ireland's immortals : a history of the gods of Irish myth book cover

Ireland's immortals : a history of the gods of Irish myth

M. A. (Mark Andrew) Williams

299.16113 /Williams
Nonfiction

Ireland's Immortals tells the story of one of the world's great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation's languages, the book describes how Ireland's pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era--and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams's comprehensive history traces how these gods - known as the Tuatha De Danann - have shifted shape across the centuries, from Iron Age cult to medieval saga to today's young-adult fiction. We meet the heroic Lug; the Morrigan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the mist-cloaked sea god Manannan mac Lir; and the ageless fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's immortal elves. Medieval clerics speculated that the Irish divinities might be devils, angels, or enchanters. W. B. Yeats invoked them to reimagine the national condition, while his friend George Russell beheld them in visions and understood them to be local versions of Hindu deities. The book also tells how the Scots repackaged Ireland's divine beings as the gods of the Gael on both sides of the sea--and how Irish mythology continues to influence popular culture far beyond Ireland.

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The complete rhyming dictionary revised, including the poet's craft book book cover

The complete rhyming dictionary revised, including the poet's craft book

Clement Wood

808.1 /Wood
Nonfiction

This simple-to-use, exceptionally complete reference work has been updated, expanded and redesigned to meet the needs of today's most demanding wordsmiths. Included here are over 10,000 new entries--over 60,000 in all, sight, vowel, consonant, and one-, two-, and three-syllable rhymes.

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