I initially started listening to the audiobook of The Immortial Life of Henrietta Lacks on my commute to work. But after just a couple of rides back and forth, I felt compelled to go to the Hatch Science Library to pick up the print copy so I could continue reading inside the house instead of …
In State of Wonder, a researcher for a Minnesota pharmaceutical company heads off to the Amazonian jungle to look into the death of another researcher. The book has mystery—why is the director of the research facility hiding the facts about the death, about what research is being done, and even the location of the jungle …
I am reading Herzog by Saul Bellow. The book follows Moses Herzog, a college professor, as he writes unsent letters to people in his life: friends, famous figures, colleagues…Much of the action of the novel is developed through these letters. Herzog’s romances, relationships, career, as well as his world view are revealed through his writings. …
Through the Door by Jodi McIsaac weaves Celtic mythology and urban fantasy. This tells the story of a mom trying to reconcile her daughter’s unusual abilities and her feelings for the man who abandoned her. The book is heart wrenching, surprising, and full of magical wonder. Nothing is what it seems. Jodi is an Indie …
Continue reading “Amy Dionne, Executive Assistant, Treasurers Office”
Published last year, Pym by Mat Johnson was recommended to me by a colleague who, like me, teaches African American literature. The novel, however, is adamantly not a work of African American literature though it is all about African American literature. The story revolves around the life of Christopher Jaynes who has recently been denied …
Published last year, Pym by Mat Johnson was recommended to me by a colleague who, like me, teaches African American literature. The novel, however, is adamantly not a work of African American literature though it is all about African American literature. The story revolves around the life of Christopher Jaynes who has recently been denied …
I am currently rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora, in preparation for the newest book of the Gentleman Bastard sequence by Scott Lynch. The Lies of Locke Lamora is an intelligently crafted fantasy novel that is endlessly amusing and surprising. It follows the adventures of a group of con artists known as the Gentlemen Bastards. …
I’m easily lured to tales of pioneers who leave the comfortable and familiar to carve out lives on the frontier. I’m also fascinated by the U.S. counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Add my interest in organic gardening and a love of the Maine Coast, and this book becomes a must-read for me. Melissa …
Continue reading “Alida Snow, Circulation Assistant, HL Library”
Let me start by saying that I’m a hopeless addict to trashy fantasy and sci-fi novels. After finishing a particularly long and embarrassingly bad series I decided that it was time to push the boundaries of my comfort zone, so I committed to reading 10 non-fiction books before returning to my usual rubbish. To start, …
Continue reading “Dan Robinson, Assistant Director of Annual Giving/Young Alumni”
I picked up Cold Mountain a few weeks ago as a partial antidote to the nonfiction that I read for research and teaching and the children’s literature I read with my daughters. Charles Frazier, the author, writes with beautifully detailed prose evoking the landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At one level the book tells …