I’m currently reading Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk. It is a memoir in which Macdonald, a naturalist and a scholar at Cambridge, recounts her attempt to train a goshawk while struggling to come to terms with her father’s sudden death. The encounters I’ve had with Maine’s birds of prey since my move here from …
I enjoy reading fiction because novels take me to places I have never been and want to go to. But sometimes there are places that I have never been that I have never wanted to go to, but I am curious about them just the same. After reading a starred review of it in “Library …
Continue reading “Roberta Schwartz, Library Technical Services Manager”
For anyone trying to wrap their minds around the ever-complex race relations in the U.S., I would highly recommend reading some of James Baldwin’s writing. This is a book of essays and vignettes, where he reflects on experiences he’s had and his opinions on anything from Uncle Tom’s Cabin to studying abroad. Despite the fact …
I have just finished reading Midnight in Siberia by NPR Morning Edition co-host and former Moscow bureau chief, David Greene, who takes us with him on a very long, very cold train ride across Russia through the cities and villages of Siberia (with quick detours to now war-torn Donetsk in Ukraine and Chelyabinsk, the “armpit …
I recently finished Moriarty’s The Husband’s Secret and was eager to start another one of her books as soon as I put the last one down. I enjoy how she weaves multiple story lines together in unexpected ways that are revealed over time. Each time a piece of the puzzle is discovered, I think, “Ah …
Continue reading “Sarah Cameron, Associate Director of Alumni Relations”
I work at the HL circulation desk and the cover of this book caught my eye while I was shelving. It’s written by someone whose background was originally in literature and creative writing, and who has also published a few novels, but discovered programming on the side and gradually fell in love with it. This …
I acquired this play by Cuban American author Nilo Cruz (2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) after a recent visit to Tampa, Florida, where I discovered the fascinating history of the cigar manufacturing that flourished there after Spanish Vicente Martínez Ybor founded Ybor City in 1885. The industry attracted thousands of Cuban, Spanish and Italian immigrants, …
This book fed my competitive spirit! Brown chronicles the story of the motley crew, University of Washington rowers and their unlikely success to win seats to the 1936 Olympics. As much a story of their individual characteristics and backgrounds, the book also depicts two powerfully disturbing backgrounds of the time: Seattle during the Great Depression …
Over the summer, I decided to pick up Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I had been avoiding reading the classic, despite recommendations from numerous friends, out of fear that it would be strictly about war, hardship, and strategy. However, the novel turned out to be surprisingly hilarious. Each and every page revealed the absurd nature of …
Salvadoran journalist Óscar Martínez’s book, The Beast, takes readers on a journey through hell. In Spanish, the book’s title is, Los Migrantes que no Importan, which captures its subject better than, The Beast. The migrants Martínez writes about don’t matter to anyone. Everything in the book flows from that fact. The Beast is a translated …