LIBRARY

Alverno librarians recommend the following books for your summer reading:

Fiction

• The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
  Ford’s perennial character Frank Bascombe returns to grapple with a myriad of personal issues including a potential reconciliation with his ex-wife, colon cancer and the coming second millennium – all within the week before Thanksgiving. Ford’s book is both a rollicking narrative and a wry commentary on contemporary American society and politics.
• The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin
  Set in Instanbul in the 1830’s in the shrinking Ottoman Empire, Goodwin introduces readers to Inspector Yashim, an eunuch-sleuth who has unique access to all areas of the Sultan’s palace, including his harem. Yashim must find out why elite officers in the Sultan’s New Guard are being murdered by particularly grisly methods. Packed with rich descriptions of Ottoman society and culture, Goodwin’s debut mystery carries the reader along with entertaining twists and turns and succeeds in illuminating the history of the Ottomans in the twilight of their empire.
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (e-book available from the Alverno College Library)
  Get away from the hectic pace of 21st century life by spending some time with the English landed gentry of 19th century bucolic England. Bronte’s elegant prose and leisurely pacing is a perfect tonic at the end of another busy semester.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Alverno call number: 813.6 H829)
  Tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.
• Empire Falls by Richard Russo (the selected book for the fall Alverno Reads Book Club)
  A small, fictional mill town in Maine called Empire Falls, though once booming in industry, is quickly deteriorating. Owned by the powerful Whiting family, the town can no longer sustain itself. Seen through the eyes of Miles Roby, the manager of the Empire Grill, which is also owned by Mrs. Whiting, his struggles with family, including his divorce and his troubled teenage daughter, greatly mirror the condition of the town. As prospects for the town's future dwindle, the past is visited to explain Miles' history as well as those around him and the town itself.
• Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
  Sadly, Kurt Vonnegut passed away in April of this year. One of Vonnegut's most entertaining novels, Cat’s Cradle is filled with scientists and G-men and ordinary folks. These assorted characters chase each other around in search of the world's most important and dangerous substance, a new form of ice that freezes at room temperature. At one time, this novel could probably be found on the bookshelf of every college kid in America; it's still a fabulous read and a great place to start if you're young enough to have missed the first Vonnegut craze.
• Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy (Alverno call number: 813.54 P618gs)
  Set during World War II, this is the story of six women and four men, who fought and died, worked and worried, and moved through the whirlwind of the war. It is a compelling chronicle of humans in conflict with inhuman events and a moving tribute to the human power of survival.
• Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
  It’s 1964 in Lexington, KY. As Norah Henry goes into labor, there’s a paralyzing snowstorm raging. Her husband, David, is an orthopedic surgeon so he and his nurse deliver the baby in their office. Baby Paul is born healthy, but just as the new parents are rejoicing, more labor pains start. A fateful decision follows that changes the lives of all the characters. What decisions have you made that changed you and your family forever? This book is electrifying. It’ll keep you up long past bedtime.
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
  Want to run away and join the circus? You’ll find out what life was like under the big top during the Depression in this book. Jacob, now 93 years old, tells the story of how he became the circus veterinarian. You’ll see what the living and working conditions were at the time. Jacob’s life was filled with danger, adventure, friendship and love.
• City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin
  This is historical fiction at its best. It is set in Berlin, Germany in 1922. Hitler was just beginning his rise to power. Prince Nick, Russian immigrant and casino owner, finds a woman patient in an asylum whom he wants his assistant Esther to take under her wing and eventually pass off as the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Murder, mystery, intrigue, the foreshadowing of the rise of Nazism – all combine to make this a whirlwind of a great read.
• In the Drink by Kate Christensen
  The smart, urban and aimless have found their heroine in this charmingly original debut novel. Claudia Steiner is a funny, pretty, cynical 29-year-old who has "failed to connect" and who's disillusioned with her spotty employment history and restless, rootless existence. Though often poignant, her memorable story never cloys and is enlivened with refreshingly unsentimental humor and a sparkling ensemble of skillfully drawn contemporary urban characters.
• The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
  Hilarious and sexy, meandering and melancholy, full of inside jokes about Latin American literati that you don't have to understand to enjoy, The Savage Detectives is a companionable and complicated road trip through Mexico City, Barcelona, Israel, Liberia, and finally the desert of northern Mexico.

Non-Fiction

• In the Heart of the Sea: the tragedy of the whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick
  This is the chilling tale of the Essex, a whaling ship that was sunk in the middle of the Pacific by an 80-foot sperm whale in 1820. The narrative details the fate of the 20 sailors who attempted to sail several thousand miles back to Chile using only three open boats. Amazing read about human endurance in a well-crafted story.
• The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey
  This is a challenging and erudite exploration of the explosion in "map culture" and the damage wrought by one determined con man with cartographic passions. A good book about theft and obsession.
• The Mormon Murders by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith
  This book is more than an investigative piece or police procedural – it’s a complex and fascinating tale of greed.
• Power, faith, and fantasy : America in the Middle East, 1776 to the present by Michael B. Oren
  A great read and an informative history of the US’s long involvement and ambivalent relationship with the reality and fantasy of the Middle East.
• Sex in the snow: Canadian social values at the end of the millennium by Michael Adams
  Adams claims that "demography is no longer destiny," that the contribution/influence of any group or tribe is not intrinsically tied to their numbers, and that self-determination and self-identification plays a powerful role in constructing society. Although the thrust of the book is Canadian demographics, those south of the border will find the comparison between Canadians and their counterparts in the U.S. quite enlightening, too.
• The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
  This gripping account of how America and the world found out about the Civil Rights movement is written by two veteran journalists of the "race beat" from 1954 to 1965. Building on an exhaustive base of interviews, oral histories and memoirs, news stories and editorials, they reveal how prescient Gunnar Myrdal was in asserting that "to get publicity is of the highest strategic importance to the Negro people." Enlivened with anecdotes, the book is a real page-turner.
• The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate
  Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) was an immensely famous minister, abolitionist and public intellectual whose career was rocked by allegations of adultery that made nationwide headlines. In this engaging biography Applegate situates this modern 19th-century figure at the focus of epochal developments in American culture. He gives an insightful account of a contradictory, fascinating, rather Clintonesque figure who, in many ways, was America's first liberal.
• The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
  Wright, a New Yorker writer, brings exhaustive research and delightful prose to one of the best books yet on the history of terrorism. Wright shows that 9/11 could have been prevented if those agencies had worked together. As a fugitive, bin Ladin's days as a terror mastermind may be past, but his success has spawned swarms of imitators. This is an important, gripping and profoundly disheartening book.
• Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama
  Distinguished historian Schama has found a little-known story from this era that makes the Founding Fathers look not so glorious. The Revolution saw the first mass emancipation of slaves in the Americas—an emancipation, however, not done by the revolutionaries but by their enemies. Schama once again gives his readers something rare: history that is both well told and well documented.
• James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. by Julie Phillips
  Journalist Phillips provides an evenhanded, scrupulously documented, objective yet sympathetic portrait of a deliberately elusive personality: Alice Sheldon (1915–1987), who adopted the persona of science fiction writer James Tiptree Jr. In science fiction, Alice Sheldon's chief legacy is the James Tiptree Award, given annually for the best feminist science fiction. Her work blazed a trail that other women have followed. Julie Phillips does an excellent job in telling Sheldon's story.