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Each spring, the College Store solicits from members of the Bates community their suggestions for good summer reads: Blink — The Power of Thinking WithoutThinking by Malcolm Gladwell • • • Martin Andrucki, Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater: Just finished rereading J. Conrad's Secret Agent, a deeply ironic vision of suicide bombers, circa 1890, written in 1907. Read it and see how little has changed. • • • Aslaug Asgeirsdottir, Assistant Professor of Political Science:A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel A delightful book about an unusual child. Very funny. Appetite for Life: A Biography of Julia Child by Noel Riley Fitch • • • Pam Baker, Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biology: One I really liked was City of Djinns by a British travel writer named William Dalrymple. It was the best portrayal of the Delhi we were living in as any we came across. • • • Anna Bartel, Associate Director, Harward Center for Community Partnerships: I've been reading lately: • • • Terry Beckmann, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer: Mary Higgins Clark: Two Girls in Blue • • • Sarah Bernard, Programmer Analyst: I would like to recommend Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer (a Maine author). A very enjoyable read about an artist who inherits an island on the coast of Maine from her (great?) uncle. Great beach reading! • • • Jane Boyle, Library Assistant, Public Service: Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger • • •
The Mermaid's Chair, Sue Monk Kidd An enjoyable, relatively light and imaginative read that offers perspective and insights into the dynamics of long-term relationships and how they grow or die.
A timely distillation by an ordained Baptist minister and noted academic theologian of his decades of experience and observations of the inherent dangers in fundamentalist approaches to Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religions. • • • Marita Bryant, Assistant in Instruction in Geology: Roadside Geology of Maine by D. W. Caldwell Engel in Tiefflug by Heite Gerbig This is a mystery series set in post-war Berlin, an interesting series if you are into Berlin and read German. • • • Ann Bushmiller '79, Trustee: Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner Made me want to cook! • • • Sean Campbell, Director of Leadership Giving: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen I read it last summer — LOVED it. • • • Ned Carr, Assistant Treasurer: Gift of the Jews by Thomas Cahill It's about how the ancient Jews, through the development of a moral and legal code of conduct (Ten Commandments et al.), really set the tone and many of the specific details for the Western world's present-day moral, ethical, and legal framework. • • • James Charlesworth, Bookstore Stock Assistant: First, a couple Maine things: Fair, Clear, and Terrible by Shirley Nelson This non-fiction chronicles the Shiloh movement — a Christian-fundamentalist sect, the remnants of whose decrepit fortress still stand on the sand hills above the Androscoggin River in Durham. What makes the story interesting (aside from the local stuff and the megalomaniac at its center) is the personal approach: the author’s parents spent their adolescence as members of the group and met at the compound just after the turn of the century. (And no, this is not a shameless pitch to get people to buy the lovely hardcover copies on display at the college store for the astonishing price of only $9.95.) We’re All in This Together by Owen King I’m happy to be the first person ever to recommend this book without mentioning it’s by the son of Stephen King. (Oops.) The short stories that comprise the second half aren’t so hot, but the novella that kicks it off is pretty special. Set in Maine, it tells the story of George, teenage son of a single mother and grandson of a union organizer obsessed with the 2000 election. Anthony Doerr put it best when he called it “hilarious and frequently bizarre but always — somehow — deeply sincere.” And, I think it’s getting ready to come out in paperback. Some other older stuff I just got around to recently: Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres If you’re suspicious of any novel capable of spawning a big-trailer movie starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz, good for you. But don’t blame Louis if his book got Hollywood-ed. This one has all of his trademark humor and pathos and strangeness, and, unlike some of his other stuff, he manages to keep it all together right to the end. Salt by Earl Lovelace This one had me from the opening sentence: “Two months after they hanged his brother Gregoire, king of the Dreadnoughts band, and Louis and Nanton and Man Man, the other three leaders of African secret societies, who Hislop the governor claimed to be ringleaders of an insurrection that had a plan, according to the testimony of a mad white woman, to use the cover of the festivities of Christmas day to massacre the white and free coloured people of the island, Jo-Jo’s great-grandfather, Guinea John, with his black jacket on and a price of two hundred pounds sterling on his head, made his way to the East Coast, mounted the cliff at Mananilla, put two corn cobs under his armpits and flew away to Africa....” (Actually, that’s only the first half of the first sentence, but my fingers got tired.) The Fall of a Sparrow by Robert Hellenga. Hellenga seems to know a little bit about everything from classical literature to the blues, from Plato to NATO. Here he pulls it all together to tell the story of a Midwest classics professor overcoming the senseless death of his oldest daughter in an Italian terrorist bombing. (He also has a new novel out in hardcover called Philosophy Made Simple.) Last but not least, I’ll also pre-recommend two new novels coming out in the fall: A new one by Jane Hamilton, author of Map of the World, and Short History of a Prince, among others. And the new one by Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, who’s kept us waiting for a while. • • • Margaret Creighton, Professor of History: I have been listening to audio books and haven’t done much reading lately that I would recommend. However, my mother often recommends to others Saturday by Ian McEwan. • • • Marty Deschaines, Volunteer Office Coordinator: March by Geraldine Brooks Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson • • • Vicky Devlin, Vice President for Advancement: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion I was conflicted about wanting to read this book, but it was a gift so I decided to soldier through. Grief is not an easy topic. It is an amazing book; Didion is a magical thinker. While this is non-fiction, it reads like a detective story. It is the story of the discovery of a lost Carravaggio. The characters alone make it a book that is difficult not to read in one sitting. A beautifiully written novel set in small town Shirley Falls, Maine. A minister suffers through a personal crisis that changes not just him but his entire congregation. A crash course about the geology, settlement, social history, triumphs and challenges of life on the Maine coast. A great book of insights and information for someone "from away." • • • Elaine Dumont, Dining Services: Anything by Tom Robbins! • • • Ken Emerson, Associate Director of Human Resources: I submit for my wife Melinda two books she read this past year by Michael Ondaatje. In the Skin of a Lion which is a predecessor book to his more famousThe English Patient. She did not know he was the author of the English Patient when she read In the Skin of a Lion and was pleasantly surprised when The English Patient carried on the tale. • • • Melinda Emerson [spouse of Ken and submitting for herself!]: Just wanted to add a book to the "Must Read" list, if it hasn't been put there already. It’s called The Travelers Gift, by Andy Andrews. A great story and an even GREATER lesson, we could all take to heart. My father in-law gave it to us for Christmas. … Give Me a Break by John Stossel 1776 by David McCullough (like this one hasn't shown up on your lists) The River of Doubt by Candice Millard Applied Economics by Thomas Sowell (The Bates library has this one) Through a Howling Wilderness by Thomas Desjardin (I'm biased on this one. I went to high school with Tom. Tom's recent presentation at the Lewiston Public Library was very good.) • • • Rob Farnsworth, Visiting Assistant Professor of English: William Trevor,The Story of Lucy Gault (short novel) John Banville, Athena (novel) • • • Sylvia Frederico, Assistant Professor of English: I liked Elizabeth Strout's Abide with Me • • • Erin Foster Zsiga, Assistant Dean of Students: My book is one I read to my 22-month-old son every night. How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. It is a rhyming story about going to bed. These authors also write How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room and How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food. • • • Rebecca Fraser-Thill, Visiting Instructor in Psychology: Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri • • • Rebecca Gilden, Mellon Learning Associate: Fiction: • • • Lois Griffiths '51: All of my favorite books this year have a Maine twist! 1491: New Revelations of America Before Columbus by Charles Mann has a segment about northeast native culture, although it covers the whole hemisphere with fascinating new insights. The Lobster Coast by Colin Woodard is a human and natural history of the lobster industry, told by a native son, a real storyteller. Through a Howling Wilderness by Tom Desjardin is a masterful retelling of the story of the Arnold Expedition to Quebec in 1775, based on the mens' journals, and garnering uniformly glowing reviews (and his mother works for Bates!) Voyage of Archangell by James Rosier, annotated by David C. Morey, puts a new spin of the question of which river George Weymouth ascended in 1605, the Penobscot, the St. George or the Kennebec. And it all happened here! • • • Lorraine Groves, Sales Floor Supervisor, College Store: Daughters of the Earth by Carolyn Niethammer Chronology of the native American Women past and present. Explores their lives and legends. Reads like rich tapestry! Abram's Daughters a series of 5 books written by Beverly Lewis starting with THE COVENANT, THE BETRAYAL, THE SACRIFICE, THE PRODIGAL, and ends with THE REVELATION. Go right into the heart of the Amish in Lancaster County. Bittersweet with some suspense and romance. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian Very interesting and good story! Pineland’s Past by Richard Kimball Wonderful piece of history right in our back yard! • • • Ned Harwood, Associate Professor of Art & Visual Culture: Cat from Hue by John Laurence Laurence was a reporter for CBS in Vietnam. Any of Robert Goddard’s mysteries. • • • Tamara Heligman, Maine Campus Compact: If on a Winters Night a Travelerby Italo Calvino • • • Leslie Hill, Associate Professor of Political Science: For relaxing reading, anything by Alexander McCall Smith or Janet Evanovich. The audio version of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver was fabulous. • • • Bill Hiss '66, Vice President for External Affairs: Getting ready to teach a First Year Seminar involving Vietnam and going to Vietnam with our family this spring to let our adopted daughter Jessie see her home country, I have been reading a lot of Vietnamese fiction. A great deal has happened in the last two decades; perhaps since few Americans are aware of modern Vietnamese fiction, this can be a kind of beginner's punch-list. Only with the arrival of the French in the 1850's did the Vietnamese begin to write in forms other than poetry and in Vietnamese instead of Chinese. Then after over a century of literary repression by the French and communists, there was an explosion of wonderful fiction starting in the 1980's as the economic and cultural lids began to come off. Most of this work has only been translated into English in the last decade, and while some of it is about war (the Vietnamese fought five back-to-back wars from the late 1930's through early 1980's, including the "American war"), much deals with the complex and fascinating transformation of a feudal oligarchy with an emperor through the wars into the attempt to create a pure communist economy, and now into a cautious evolution into an international market economy. Dumb Luck, Vu Trong Phung Regarded as a Vietnamese classic, banned in Vietnam until 1986, a funny satire of the rage for modernization and aping of the French in the late Colonial era. Four expertly written novels about the last century in Vietnam, a loose series that are far more than historical novels, but collectively cover most of the time since WWII in Vietnam. 14 stories, some harrowing, from an author who was a girl sapper in a youth brigade. Written in the language of a patriotic soldier, but with painful and touching humor. Beautifully written winner of the national prize for fiction in Vietnam, widely read there, and often cited as the most authentic, in that lots of the Vietnamese have experienced the book's description of the movement of the son of a Confucian scholar in rural Vietnam through war service to trying to adapt to the postwar world of urban Hanoi. Fictional account of a young soldier in war, with brutal detail and great sorrow. Of 500 men in the author’s brigade, he was one of 10 survivors. Short stories dealing with the transformation of life in post-war Vietnam. The Women on the Island, Ho Anh Thai Dark humor about the bizarre economic redevelopment projects that tried to put people to work after the wars. The General Retires and Other Stories andCrossing the River, Nguyen Huy Thiep Stories by a rural writer with a deft hand--a kind of Vietnamese Faulkner who focuses on the world he knows well. Vietnam: A Traveler's Literary Companion, John Balaban and Nguyen Qui Duc, eds. Seventeen short stories, organized around the geography of Vietnam: the jungles, villages, rivers, Hanoi, HCM City, etc. Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam, Linh Kinh, ed. A collection of short fiction, some by authors living in Vietnam, but also including several ex-pats living elsewhere. Like the African-American literary diaspora in France in the early 20th century, a part of Vietnamese fiction is from writers who left for other countries, by choice or necessity. The Light of the Capital: Three Modern Vietnamese Classics, Greg and Monique Lockhard, edoitors and translators Two pieces of urban reportage and 1 autobiography. Interesting reading, but more essays on Vietnamese history or culture than fiction. • • • Kimberly Hokanson, Director of Alumni and Parent Programs: Pretending that it was work-related, I dug into Abide with Me, by Bates' own Elizabeth Strout '77. Loved it. (Also liked Liz's first book, Amy & Isabel, but like the new one better). Also recommend anything by Elizabeth Berg. For women approaching the half-century mark, I particularly recommend reading The Pull of the Moon. Also enjoyed Range of Motion, but would have read it at a less hormonally-influenced time of the month if I'd had more of an idea what it was about. Very heart wrenching. • • • Jim Hughes, Thomas Sowell Professor of Economics: Mao: The Unknown Storyby Jung Chang and Jon Halliday … Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace 1,000-plus pages of ingenious mayhem; set in the future, largely in Boston, in a time when even the calendar years themselves have corporate sponsors, such as 2012, "The Year of the Depends Adult Undergarment." Mind-boggling stuff. Not bad for a Williams College grad. Pacific Dream, by John Illig Review: editor D.W.St.John: "Unflinchingly honest, vividly told, funny, true, fascinating, exciting - - Pacific Dream is all these things. It's the best book I've read this year and I'll never forget it. John writes with a candor that's shockingly fresh and real." Review: Maine Sunday Telegram 8/7/05 L. Ferriss: "A fascinating, thought-provoking book that ranks with the very best literature on long-distance hiking." A narrative account of 2,657-mile Pacific Crest Trail hike. Book is available with reviews on Amazon; is also available 24 hours/day over the telephone at Book Clearing House: 1 (800) 431-1579. Green Tunnel, by John Illig Review: John Hanson Mitchell (Ceremonial Time; Trespassing; Living at the End of Time): "Just in time to counteract Bill Bryson's lumbering 'A Walk in the Woods,' here is a book by a guy who actually made it through. John Illig is light on his feet and writes with tripping prose." A narrative account of 2,147-mile Appalachian Trail hike (book formerly published by Windswept House as 'Trail Ways, Path Wise' - now out of print). Book is available with reviews on Amazon; is also available 24 hours/day over the telephone at Book Clearing House: 1 (800) 431-1579. • • • Rachel Jacques, Assistant to the VP for ILS: Beauman: Kate Remembered Julia Child-My Life in France Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain • • • Phyllis Graber Jensen, staff writer and photographer: Phone Ringsby Stephen Dixon • • • Charles Kovacs, Director of Career Services: Hand-Me-Down Dreams. How Families Influence Our Career Paths and How We Can Reclaim Them. Mary H. Jacobsen. Three River Press, New York, NY One of the more persistent issues in career counseling is the presence of the ‘gray eminence’ of family expectations. Students often express what their parents and family expect of them in terms of jobs, graduate schools, careers, and life. On occasion, some students express what their family expects them to major in! Clearly, students’ parents and families’ love and want only the best for the young folks in their lives. However, those expectations and hopes are often expressed in terms of what students ‘ought’ and ‘must’ do, become, think, and act. Living one’s own life is never easy; it is especially hard if you are living out another’s ideas and dreams. Mary H. Jacobsen, a psychotherapist and career counselor, presents in some outstanding insights into the transference of generational expectations and the negative effects they can have in a young person’s life. She explains the dynamic of feeling trapped or disappointed in a career or job when one tries to live up to your “family’s wishes, rather than your own natural talents, interests, and passions.” She also touches on critical topics such as: identifying a family system and web of relationships, breaking the cycle, sibling order and gender, family values and how they work for and against us, overcoming beliefs that block change and personal success, and an outstanding section on reclaiming your career. This book really should be required reading for every parent of a college age son or daughter or anyone who may feel the internal distress of an unhappy job. Or as a Wall Street Journal reviewer put it: “Any reader who has drifted into an unsatisfying career is likely to experience several shocks of recognition here, and to pick up helpful hints.” 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn In College. The Know-How You Need to Succeed. Bill Coplin. Ten Speed Press, Berkely, CA Type Talk at Work. How 16 Personality Types Determine Your Success on the Job. Otto Kroeger, Janet M. Thusesen, and Hile Rutledge. Dell Publishing, New York, NY • • • Paul Kuritz, Professor of Theater: The Second World War, Winston Churchill The Presence of the Future, George Eldon Ladd • • • Jim Lamontagne, Library Assistant-Cataloging: A tragic honesty: the life and work of Richard Yates/ Blake Bailey • • • Charlotte Lehmann, Research Technician in Geology: Wanderlust: The Story of Walking by Rebecca Solnit Holy Clues-The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes by Stephen Kendrick What the Bleep Do We Know!? By William Arntz et al • • • Lynne Lewis, Associate Professor of Economics: I have recently read, Marley and Me. And while it is very light reading it is immensely enjoyable for a dog lover. • • • Becky Lovett, Assistant Bookstore Manager: I recommend two books of the pioneer West: Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart gives a remarkable view of the challenges, joys and sorrows experienced by homesteaders during the early twentieth century. And from a fictional point-of-view, Willa Cather’s My Antonia takes you to Nebraska during the same time period. Cather’s descriptions of the weather and landscapes that defined daily life, as well as the immigrants struggling to manage, are so real that you feel the grit in your eyes. • • • Bill Low, Assistant Curator, Museum of Art: Snow by Orhan Pamuk A Turkish poet who spent 12 years as a political exile in Germany witnesses firsthand the clash between radical Islam and Western ideals in this enigmatically beautiful novel. March by Geraldine Brooks Brooks's luminous second novel imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. … March, by Geraldine Brooks Fforde's trilogy: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, Well of Lost Plots Elizabeth Strout, Abide with Me • • • Judy Marden '66, Director, Bates Morse Mountain/Shortridge: One of my Baxter-in-winter buddies let me take Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief after he was finished; a story of the MacDonald clan that settled on Cape Breton Island. It inspires me to go back to that lovely land for a visit --or farther, to find a few roots in Scotland. • • • Maggie Maurer-Fazio, Associate Dean of the Faculty:Two books on China: • • • Lisa Maurizio, Associate Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies: I recommend Sacred Country by Rose Tremain. Sigrid Nunez: A Feather on the Breadth of God • • • Laurie McConnell, Area Coordinator, Carnegie Science: The Dive from Clausen's Pierby Ann Packer • • • David McCullough, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and recipient of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Commencement, offered titles in his address: For your summer list let me recommend just three, none long, all marvelous: Wind, Sand and Stars, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, about the pioneer days in aviation and about responsibility as the core of morality; The Lives of a Cell, by Lewis Thomas, which is about fish and bats and social insects, birdsong, and the miracle of language; and read the funny, very wise essay on the devil and his ways called The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. • • • Monica McCusker, Office Coordinator, College Store: Cold Sassy Treeby Olive Ann Burns • • • Chris McDowell, Assistant Professor of Theater: Books I like, in no particular order: • • • Bryan McNulty, Director of Communication and Media Relations: Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. (Paperback came out in 2004.) Of all the Founders, I think that Franklin would be the least distressed by time travel to the present day. He was amazingly multifaceted, and had such a modern and practical approach to life. He was a skeptic and world-class scientist, an entrepreneur and editorial spinmeister. Most fortuitously for the new country, he was brilliant and wise in crafting compromise, and in building French support for the United States. All of this and a great sense of humor. This is the American historical figure that I would most like to invite to a party. This was written in 1933, but it's new to me. Brittain turned 18 in 1914, and she writes about her youth through 1925. I am not halfway through the book, but I find it fascinating to see World War I through the lens of her life, with all of its intensity, love and loss. There was certainly a more pronounced societal naiveté about the glory of war for king, kaiser and country. But we still go on making bad choices, don't we? • • • Jessica Mellen, Residence Life & Student Activities Assistant:
Nonfiction: • • • Erika Millstein, Biology Research Assistant: Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer • • • Michael Murray, Charles Franklin Phillips Professor of Economics: Handling Sinby Michael Malone - A rollicking, somewhat surreal road-trip and redemption novel. • • • Dan Nein, Assistant Director of Physical Plant: Outdoor Life Maine Sportsman Northland Journal All magazines— • • • Kerry O’Brien, Assistant Dean of the Faculty: I highly recommend anything written by Annie Proulx. Most recently I have read her not-new Accordion Crimes, a collection of stories about (mostly ill-fated) people linked together by their possession over the years of a certain accordion. • • • Karen Palin, Lecturer in Biology:Beach reads..... The Things They Carriedby Tim O'Brien • • • Carole Parker, Library Assistant-Acquisition: John Kennedy O’Toole: A Confederacy of Dunces Some people have really loved this book. I’ve been working my way through it, and I still am! It’s worth reading for the title alone. • • • Ellen Peters '87, Assistant Director for Institutional Research: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller I have just begun to read this book, but my husband, a gentle man with a distaste for the trite, thrust it under my nose and told me I must put it on the top of my stack of books to read. This is not a fairy tale. (Do not begin to read it aloud to your young children during a three hour layover in an airport after just having purchased it at the airport bookstore...) Wicked is often described as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz; however, this book is chock full of tongue-in-check commentary about society, and bears little resemblance to the musical running on Broadway. Maguire seems to leave few stones unturned, covering religion, politics, infidelity, beauty and racism while tackling the central question: What is the nature of evil? • • • Ray Potter, Environmental/Safety Coordinator: Still looking for some answers to the mysteries of college behavior, I found and read My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student by Rebekah Nathan. An ethnographer enrolls as a freshman in her own university during her sabbatical. It had to be difficult for a PhD professor in her 50s to fit herself into the student body but her years of training and experience in studying other cultures combined with her somewhat playful personality helped the author gain some insight into today’s academic and student culture. This is a quick, informative read…more anecdotal than statistical. For escapism with a little historical flavor here’s a series about a young man growing up in search of a secret in harsh times. A youthful archer leaves his destroyed coastal town in England to find the French raiders who killed his father and stole a religious artifact. He also wants to live a “simple” life as an English longbowman. Enviable plan but hardly realistic as our hero learns. Three novels by Bernard Cornwell follow the youth beginning in 1342 and incorporating historical battle facts as he encounters one challenge after another in his travels across France and England. The Archer’s Tale, The Vagabond, and The Heretic provide and engrossing story with characters you can care about, characters you can despise and a tour of France and England during a turbulent historical era. Thomas Friedman is well known for a number of books and for his Pulitzer Prize winning writing for The New York Times. I’m still playing catch up. I recently read The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Friedman’s attempt to explain globalization. Written in 1999 and updated in 2000, it provides analogies to help the reader get a grasp of the incredible financial and technological forces which are plunging us forward in what seems like uncontrollable and ever accelerating economics. I’m not an economist. I lack the breadth of knowledge to analyze Friedman’s assessment of the world. But I can certainly see threads of truth and logic to much of his explanation. It’s a powerful attempt to understand a phenomenon which is very large and extremely complex. I’m not sure whether to be excited or petrified about the future we are speeding into but I’m anxious to read his next book, written after September 11, 2001… The World Is Flat. • • • Sarah Potter '77, Bookstore Director: Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran Spicy new fiction! Three Iranian sisters set up shop in the Irish town of Ballinacroagh. Discover how the Babylon Café overcomes cultural differences with cooking — how the village priest, the local hairdresser and others are enchanted by cardamom and cinnamon. Desperate flight from Iran, spousal abuse, cultural ignorance and determined friendship are embraced in this magical first novel. Extra Innings by Doris Grumbach A memoir begun when Grumbach was nearly seventy-five years old, she muses (sometimes grumpily) about a number of things including birth and death, politics, religion and her life in Sangerville, Maine. Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood New and Selcetced Poems, Volume Two by Mary Oliver As with all Mary Oliver poetry — sublime. The Study of Hidden Animals by James Charlesworth Don’t look for this wonderful work (yet) in any bookstore. Our own bookstore colleague has written a very good read. I am lousy at book reviews, but I know what I like. This wonderfully quirky, coming-of-age novel deals with cryptozoology (among many other things) in Burlington, Vermont. The author may be willing to share his manuscript! • • •
The Kite Runner by Hosseini Very well written contemporary story. Its vivid imagery tugs at your emotions, making you shiver at many points. The best book I've read in the past year. East of Eden by Steinbeck Great story of two brothers--equates their relationship to that of Cain and Able. Waiting for Teddy Williams by Mosher Classic small-town baseball story about a father and son. A must read for all Red Sox fans. Devil in the White City by Larson Well-told history of the Chicago World's Fair and the serial killer that stalked the fair. The architectural feats are amazing and the brief insertions about the serial killer provide just enough detail to make your spine tingle. • • • Jack Pribram, Professor of Physics: Frank McCourt, Teacher man: A memoir David Lindley, Degrees Kelvin: A tale of genius, invention, and tragedy • • • Erica Rand, Professor of Art and Visual Culture: Dorothy Allison, Two or Three Things I know for Sure (1995) A moving and intense memoir with both fantastic insights about sex and class and the ability to surface what needs attention in your own head, heart, and histories. • • • Kirk Read, Associate Professor of French: Michel de Montaigne, The Essays Follow up on the scintillating quotations in the new general education preamble by exploring the winding, witty and trenchant prose of a renaissance staple. Don't miss, "Of Cannibals," "Of Friendship" and "Of custom, and not easily changing an accepted law." You've perhaps seen Brokeback Mountain, now read the story. And others in this wonderful collection. And then go back and read my all-time Proulx favorite, The Shipping News, on every list of this sort the country over. A "new historical" treatment of the works of Shakespeare in the context of his biography and the everyday realities of late 16th-early 17th century England. I don't always agree with Greenblatt's imaginings, but I always find them interesting. A tender and inspiring treatment of Mr. English Drama. Makes you want to reread Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet in the rest of your summer hours. Or perhaps alongside. It's in French, so you'll have to order it or buy it in Montreal or Paris, which has the added advantages of 1.) getting you way out of the house and 2.) brushing up your French. A beautiful portrait of a woman's colorful life as a mother, daughter, cross-dressing soldier in 17th century France. You could probably order it online too, if the mortgage or tuition payments or whatever make the first advantage entirely unreasonable. • • • Jill Reich, Dean of Faculty: My favorites this year are: An amazing story of three remarkable women who each played a central role in the thinking of their day. Not only does one learn about these three amazing women, but Marshall's story is a thoughtful and insightful look at what it was like to be an educated woman in nineteenth century Massachusetts. Another look at nineteenth century America. I have so much to learn about our early history. This time it is slavery that is front and center. In particular, in telling the story of how the three-fifths vote was central to Thomas Jefferson's' election in 1800, Wills provides a cogent analysis of this issue and puzzles about why a factor that so intensely influenced the economic and political decisions of this country's early history has so rarely been discussed, analyzed or studied. • • • Joel Richard, Coordinator for Alumni and Parent Programs All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter • • • Stephanie Richards, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology: Bury the Chains : Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild Sugar was the foundation of the European economy (similar to the place oil has for us today). Twelve men gathered in England a decided that the slave trade that was necessary to support sugar production was immoral and needed to be stopped. They succeeded. Astonishing book about how a few committed individuals changed our world.
Rascal by Sterling North A classic for a reason, based on the author's life. Our son wants a pet raccoon; we don't. Wonderful illustrations by John Schoenherr. • • • Sue Dunning Richard, Staff Assistant-Leadership Giving: Maine & Meand Outta My Way: A Life Lived Loudly - Elizabeth Peavey Thank You for Smoking– Christopher Buckley • • • Julie Rosenbach, Environmental Coordinator: A Problem From Hell by Samantha Powers and Gulag by Anne Applebaum • • • Michael Sargent, Associate Professor of Psychology: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 Firemen just aren't what they used to be in this one (and I chose the gender-specific noun intentionally). This short, dystopian novel--which I know I should have read before my 30s--actually makes a case for publicizing lists such as our list of "Good Reads for Leisure Moments," so especial thanks are due to Sarah P. If you're like me, the book will also leave you with second thoughts about keeping your TV and, if you have one, your X-BOX video game player. It's a short read that you can devour in a single afternoon or night--as I did the night before writing this recommendation. Stumbling on Happiness, a new book by Daniel Gilbert. If you want to understand why the pursuit of happiness is typically filled with wrong turns, then read this book. Throughout the book, Gilbert offers up clear and concise descriptions of studies in psychology (yes, I'm shamelessly promoting my own field), and he also discusses the implications of the research, doing so in entertaining fashion. As the book makes clear, predicting the future--at least one's own emotional future--is not something that most people are good at. But I stand by this prediction: Although Gilbert's book won't make you a happier person than you already are, it will help you understand why that new car/house/boat/romantic partner/winning lottery ticket didn't make you as happy as you expected that it would. • • • Steve Casentini, Sasaki Associates, architect for new dining Commons: A Perfect Red by Amy Butler Greenfield • • • Paula Schlax, Associate Professor of Chemistry: The Time Traveler's Wifeby Niffenegger was my favorite book of last year. Gilead (doesn't everyone who has read it have it on their list?) • • • Sagaree Sengupta , Asian Studies: Last summer, I wanted to read Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay • • • Joyce Seligman, Director of the Writing Workshop: MYSTERIES that take you to far away places: • • • Mark Semon, Professor of Physics: Ralph Leighton and Richard Feynman: Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character • • • Bonnie Shulman, Associate Professor of Mathematics: Christopher Paolini: Eragon and Eldest, 2 novels of the Inheritance Trilogy. Fantasy and Science Fiction, written by a home-schooled high school young man, now has a cult following, website and all. Kind of a cross between Anne McCaffrey dragon books, Lord of the Rings, and more, but he has synthesized it into his own creative world, and a lot of fun to read!
• • • Valerie Smith '75, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature and Director of the Program in African American Studies at Princeton March by Geraldine Brooks The Known World by Edward P. Jones Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri Drown by Junot Diaz • • • Ralph Sprague, Health Center: Pat Conroy:Winning Season Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds. Ralph Sprague, Health Center • • • Sarah Strong, Professor of Japanese: I don't have a new title to suggest, but here is an oldie but goodie. I am confident it is still in print and in paper. • • • Sawyer Sylvester, Professor of Sociology: Our Lady of the Lost and Found Diane Schoemperlen While the author was at home one day, she suddenly discovers, standing in her living room, a pleasant middle-aged woman in a neat black dress and sneakers. It’s Mary – yes, that Mary, the Mother of You-Know-Who. She’s tired, longs for some good home-cooked food, and asks if she might stay a week; and it’s a week of sparkling, book-length, conversation, relieved only by a visit to the Mall. And then, one day, she’s gone – having other things to do. The Book of Job Stephen Mitchell A good man unjustly punished as the result of a sucker bet in heaven is an event which just has to teach a lesson important enough to be worth the price. Mitchell’s telling of the tale makes it as clear as anyone could what the lesson is. Even Job is “comforted” in the end – and, of course, he gets all his stuff back. 1776 David McCullough McCullough is at it again. After his biography of John Adams, comes another biography, of a sort: a biography of a year. It was a year in which America as a nation would either defeat one of the best trained and equipped armies in the world — or be stillborn. His Excellency George Washington Joseph J. Ellis For many of us who can’t get out of our memory the vision of Washington standing improbably in the bow of an overladen skiff dodging chunks of ice in the Delaware, Ellis highlights the features of the real man that really mattered. He was a military genius and a masterful politician. Her Majesty’s Spymaster Stephen Budiansky Elizabeth I sat uneasily on the throne of England for much of her reign, being no match in military power for her persistent enemies: France and Spain. What she relied on mostly was the excellent political advice of her Principal Secretary, William Cecil. But even Cecil’s advice would have been empty without intelligence. That was supplied by Francis Walsingham, who had a far greater army than all of England’s adversaries – an army of spies. And finally, three excellent mysteries: Medusa by Michael Dibden Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon • • • Eben Sypitkowski '05, Biology Research Assistant Alastair MacLeod,Island (collection of short stories), and No Great Mischief (novel) Bare, down to earth Cape Breton writer examining the roots and the rooting of things. • • • Anne Thompson, Professor Emerita of English: I spent much of the past year reading books suggested in last year's list, so I don't have any brand new ideas. Instead I'm going to recommend two older books, one of which I reread specifically because of the list.Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, sent me back to her first and only other novel,Housekeeping, a beautiful and haunting book about two sisters living with a slightly demented aunt by a lake in Idaho. I mention the lake, which is called Fingerbone, because in some ways it's the central character and that name should draw you to the book if nothing else does.
• • • Andrew White, Director of Academic Technology Services: In Cold Blood, Truman Capote • • • Gene Wiemers, Vice President for ILS and Librarian: Jason DeParle. American Dream: Three women, ten kids and a nation’s drive to end welfare. Penguin Books, 2004 In a recent trip to Maine, Jason DeParle, the writer for the New York Times who spent more than ten years following three women’s lives as the nation ended “welfare as we know it,” was asked when he knew he needed to study more than just the story of welfare reform. He replied that when the mother of one of the women told her that she grew up on James Eastland’s plantation in Mississippi when black people were “just beginning to come out of slavery,” and he knew she was talking about the late 1930s, that there was something going on that went beyond the politics of Chicago and Milwaukee in the 1990s. This is an unvarnished and unsentimental look inside the nation’s policy to replace Aid to Families with Dependent Children with low-wage work. It is one of the few books I know that deftly moves from discussions of the lives of individuals, the functioning of local politics and welfare bureaucracies, through the aspirations of state and national leaders without missing a beat and without resorting to polemic. It also examines the cultural connections that tie urban poverty with its origins in sharecropper and slave culture, and the connections between slaveholders and patrimonial government programs that perpetuate poverty. Though this may not sound like a good book for the beach, you won’t find a better, and true, story. • • • Dick Williamson, Charles A. Dana Professor of French: Running the Bullsby Cathie Pelletier is an intriguing story of a 63-year old retiree who learns from his wife of many years that she had been unfaithful to him some twenty years earlier. He decides to leave her and travel to Pamplona to run the bulls, but doesn't make it any further than a Holiday Inn in small town Maine. A great read for aging Baby Boomers! • • • Michael Wisnewski, Assistant Director of Career Services: I'm happy to share (for the very first time!) a couple of books for our summer reading list: • • • Eric Wollman, Professor of Physics: Books I have enjoyed recently: Pompeii: A Novel by Robert Harris No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy |
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