HeyJaredThe Provincial Library
The Provincial Library is for readers who are simultaneously enchanted and (also equally) overwhelmed by all that there is to read in the world.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Aug 15, 2026
Latest issues
On Wrestling for Goodness—and Why it is Always Worth the Fight (opens the original)
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What makes humanity unbearably painful is also what makes humanity, devastatingly so, beautiful. That’s what John Steinbeck’s East of Eden demonstrates more powerfully than any other novel in existence. (Arguably so, anyway.) Diving into this book for the second time, I found myself yet again astounded at just how dense and layered and complicated this story really is; each character is working to reveal universal truths, but they are also working to intentionally challenge those universal truth
7 (Brilliant) Books on Beauty and Enchantment (opens the original)
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I am whole-heartedly convinced that beauty has the power to save, transform, and heal even in the most bleak, mundane, and painful seasons of life. Whether it’s a heart-catching view of a natural landscape or the arresting words of a potent prose, beauty moves us in all its forms. And what quickly follows an encounter with beauty is a moment of re-enchantment. Suddenly, at least for a moment, it doesn’t feel so foolish to cry after reading an achingly beautiful sentence; beauty makes us feel see
September 2026 read-along pick: East of Eden by John Steinbeck (opens the original)
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In spite of being incredibly nervous to see John Steinbeck’s East of Eden on screen, there is absolutely no way I couldn’t watch the Netflix adaptation; no matter how harrowing the story, its message is too important to me. (If there’s anyone out there who’s seen the 1955 film, I’d love to hear about it. I am thoroughly confused as to how it could be rated PG. Were entire characters removed??? Someone shed some light on this.)If you haven’t caught the East of Eden bug like myself and many others
On Lonesome Dove Part III (opens the original)
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As the summer comes to a slow, lazy close in my Midwest backyard, the sun has set (for me at least) over Lonesome Dove and (what’s left of) the Hat Creek Outfit for the last time. I—very firmly—did not want this book to end. And honestly I don’t see how this story could not be in anyone’s top 10 (at least!) novels of all time; if it isn’t that’s simply because one hasn’t read it yet. Part III of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove was just as heart-wrenching and profound as I was expecting it to be—b
On Lonesome Dove Parts I and II (opens the original)
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I’ll just say this: I don’t think a Pulitzer Prize is enough. Who knew a 1986 Western novel, set in the late 1870s —complete with all the frontier violence, brutal outlaws, and scalping scenes—would move me so profoundly? I don’t think there’s anything this novel doesn’t have; the adventure, the romance, the suspense, the humor, the tragedy…it is all there and it is all perfectly executed. Is there a more perfect summertime read? Will I go on to read more Westerns? DID I JUST FIND MY NEW FAVORIT
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