“The Offer of the College” is the promotional material for my life. I drop the last line — I prefer a “life long” learning curve. My favorite line is “to lose yourself in generous enthusiasms,” with an emphasis on “generous.” “To be at home in all lands and all ages; to count Nature a familiar …
Furthermore, at certain hours of the day, when the sunshine is poured down at the required angle, the whole mass of the spray enveloping the fairy establishment is brilliantly irised; and it is through so glorious a rainbow atmosphere as this that some of our blessed ouzels obtain their first peep at the world.
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, commonly known as Moll Flanders, is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722. Moll Flanders is a heartbreaking tale of a woman seeking love in all the wrong places. As an adolescent Moll experiences what all girls do: issues with body image, her first crush, …
The narrator of this novel, a likeable poet named Paul Chowder, recounts his struggles to write the Introductory essay to a poetry anthology, Only Rhyme. He’s suffering from writer’s block – in a way, he knows too much. It’s hard for him to condense into prose his knowledge about poetry’s history, theory and significance. And …
Have you ever wondered what if? What would our world be like if the Trojans had never accepted that wooden horse? Or what if President Lincoln was not able to successfully join the North and the South? How would our world be different today? Harry Turtledove explores these types of questions through an alternative history …
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a pet that came from nowhere and ended up being loved by the whole world? Dewey is a heartwarming story for all ages that will make you think of any animal that ever needed a home. I have worked at the College Library since …
True Crime has always been a guilty pleasure of mine – maybe it’s the lawyer in me. Generally not the violent stuff (although Truman Capote’s classic In Cold Blood and Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City are two of my all-time favorites); I gravitate more toward true stories of con men, conterfeiters and …
Joe Litvak is a former member of the Bowdoin English Department who left in 1999 to join Tufts’ English Department. His book revisits the aims and cultural effects of the House Un-American Activities Committee. JL considers the Jewish witness, so often before the committee, and how he came to be the embodiment of an epitomic …
This book is well worth the trek to the 4th floor of Hubbard Hall. Written by the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (another favorite of mine), it is the story of George Hall’s attempt to adjust to life after retirement. All the guy wants to do is listen to …
After visiting the Galapagos Islands this summer, I became curious about the natural history of this fascinating region that is both remote and vibrant. “The Voyage of The Beagle” is a journal written by Charles Darwin on his 5-year voyage aboard a naval survey brig between 1831 and 1836. During his visits to South America …