View the Library Staff`s Summer Picks

 Haverford College Libraries
Summer 2013 Staff Picks
Diana Franzusoff Peterson
Generations of Winter (Vintage, 1995) by Vasilii Aksenov
[fiction]
The book is part of a trilogy called “Moscow Saga,” which
examines the lives of three generations of Russians living during
the Stalinist period. The detailed descriptions of daily life allow
the reader an opportunity to vicariously experience events during
this extraordinary time in Russian history. Furthermore,
Aksenov’s use of slang makes for a realistic picture created by
someone who experienced some of the more brutal aspects of
life under Stalin. One doesn’t necessarily agree entirely with the
picture Aksenov presents, but it certainly is a fascinating read.
Laurie Allen
Servants of the Map (W. W. Norton & Company, 2003) by Andrea Barret
[fiction]
This is a collection of short stories that are roughly related to one
another and to the history of science since the 19th century. The
stories are varied from the past and the present, but each one
touches on issues of curiosity and longing, and each is entirely
engaging.
Sea of Poppies (Picador; Reprint edition, 2009) by Amitov Ghosh
[fiction]
I've read this book twice now. A beautiful story about a
collection of travelers in the Indian Ocean before the outbreak
of the Opium Wars. While a thoroughly engaging read, I also
learned a huge amount about the history of South Asia, about
the life of colonial India, and of the interconnectedness of the
world in the 18th Century. It's a rather simple story, but weaves
together a collection of totally new (to me) characters and
perspectives.
The Gold Bug Variations (Scribners, 1991) by Richard Power
[fiction]
This is the book that made me a librarian. It brings together a
pathological love of music with a sweet and engaging love
story. However, it is the presentation of the work of librarians,
as they intersect with community and intellectual questions that
fully drew me in. If you plan to read it, get a copy of the
Goldberg Variations performed by Glenn Gould to listen along
with.
Julie Coy
San Miguel (Viking Adult, 2012) by T.C. Boyle
[fiction]
A historical novel about two families who live on remote San
Miguel Island in the 19th and 20th centuries. Self-sufficiency,
resilience, the mystery of the island and its isolation as well as
the limits of its resources combine to create a captivating story.
Norm Mederios
The Instant Economist: Everything You Need to Know About How the Economy Works
(Plume, 2012) by Timothy Taylor (HC ’82)
[non-fiction]
Taylor’s book makes accessible the complex economic terms,
forces, and effects to which we are increasingly subjected. He
synthesizes the government’s appropriations and expenditures in
ways that help the layperson recognize the give-and-take nature
of the U.S. budget. Taylor teaches the reader a lot about fiscal
and monetary policy, and how these positions and their interplay
influence the economy. The brevity of each chapter keeps
Taylor focused on relating just the most essential information,
which contributes to the work’s accessibility and efficiency.
2 The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age (Nan A. Talese, 2012) by
Janet Wallach
[non-fiction]
Wallach’s book is a well-written and deeply researched
biography of America’s first female financier, Hetty Green. The
first biography of Green written by a woman, The Richest
Woman in America puts in context the challenges Green faced in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries building a fortune of
$100m in the male-dominated world of high finance. Wallach
does not shy away from detailing Hetty’s eccentricities and
shortcomings, but she recounts these without the embellishment
of earlier biographers. The book corrects many of the misrepresentations of Green
that were documented in the press during her lifetime and since.
Rich Aldred
Mists of Avalon (Penguin Books, 2008) by Marian Zimmer Bradley
[fiction]
It tells the King Arthur myth from the point of view of the
women involved, without all of the blood and guts of Morte
d'Arthur. An excellent read.
Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson [fiction]
It tells the story of settling Mars,
with believable science and human
interactions.
3 Ann Upton
The Last Runaway (Dutton Adult, 2013) by Tracy Chevalier
[fiction]
Tracy Chevalier’s most recent novel, The Last Runaway,
continues the author’s penchant for centering the story on a
woman’s experience. Like The Girl with a Pearl Earing, the
heroine, Honor Bright, exemplifies her time and situation as
struggles to negotiate through the challenges life brings to her.
Honor is a young Quaker woman living in central Ohio along a
main route of the Underground Railroad in the early 1850s.
She acts compassionately toward the runaway slaves who cross her path but in
opposition to the Quakers with whom she lives. Chevalier cleverly presents the
conflicting dynamics of anti-slavery and abolition within the Society of Friends of
the time through the actions and decisions of Honor Bright.
As in her earlier works Chevalier’s title reveals biography so the reader should
have no doubt as to the identity of The Last Runaway.
Theresa Donahue
Le Petit Nicolas (French & European Pubns, 2005) by Goscinny and Sempe
[fiction]
If you want to keep up with your French, could use a few
chuckles, but feel that your brain might need a respite, check out
Le Petit Nicolas by Goscinny and Sempe. This is a collection of
very short and very funny stories about the adventures of, who
else - Nicolas. He's a little boy of about eight who wants his
autonomy but who also has a charmingly naive view of the
world. This is an easy read for anyone with some reading
ability in French, and if you zip through this first book, there are
several others in this delightful series: Le Rentrée du Petit Nichols, Le Petit
Nicolas a des ennuis, etc.
4 Kayla Hoskinson
Autobiography of my Mother (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013) and Lucy (Farrar, Straus
and Giroux; Reprint edition, 2002) by Jamaica Kincaid
[fiction]
Both of these novels follow young, unsatisfied
and highly educated Caribbean women based
ever so loosely on the author's life and
experiences. Kincaid's refreshing and
unapologetic honesty presents a kind of
womanhood both like and unlike anything
offered up by many of her contemporaries.
White Teeth (Vintage, 2001) by Zadie Smith
[fiction]
White Teeth begins with the friendship between a Bangladeshi
and a British man formed during WWII and expands to
encompass wider issues of their immigrant families confronting
Western society in London. Smith's prose travels deep into the
mundane thoughts and troubling questions of the human mind,
yet she is infinitely more accessible and captivating than some
obvious comparisons (Joyce for one).
Margaret Schaus
The Golden Mean (Knopf, 2010) by Annabel Lyon
[fiction]
This novel recounts Aristotle's life as the teacher of Alexander
the Great. The lyrical descriptions lend an immediacy to the
distant past. A sequel, The Sweet Girl, concerning Aristotle's
daughter, was published in June.
5 The Hangman's Daughter (Mariner Books, 2011) by Oliver Pötzsch
[fiction]
This is the first in a series of novels chronicling the life and
adventures of Jakob Kuisl, 17th century Schongau's
hangman. Medical, philosophical, and religious questions arise
as he and his family identify thieves, save an accused witch, and
thwart a murderer.
Dawn Heckert
A Song of Ice and Fire series (Bantam, 2011) by George R.R. Martin
[fiction]
Enjoy reading the series that inspired the HBO tv series
Game of Thrones. In this fantasy series you will find
intricately woven characters who are neither entirely
good nor evil living in a world of political intrigue,
dragons and wildings.
Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (Crown, 2012) by
Susan Cain
[non-fiction]
This book sheds insight on the Introverted personality type as
categorized by the Meyers-Briggs Personality Test. And
interesting and enlightening read.
6 Jeremiah Mercurio
Pulphead: Essays (FSG Originals, 2011) by John Jeremiah Sullivan
[fiction]
A captivating trip through both the center and outer reaches of
American life. Covering topics from the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina to the party circuits of former Real World contestants,
Sullivan's essays—which have previously appeared in venues
such as The New York Times, GQ, The Paris Review, and Oxford
American—explore the fascinating connections between highand low-brow culture, largely with an emphasis on his native
Southern United States. Taken as a whole, these essays yolk the
strangeness of our cultural moment to the longer arc of our
idiosyncratic social history. But one can just as easily derive a perfect sense of
Sullivan's humanism and historical scope from any given essay; in particular, I
might recommend the Pushcart Prize-winning "Mr. Lytle: An Essay," about the
author's apprenticeship with the notable Southern Agrarian Andrew Nelson Lytle.
Dora Wong
Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us (Random House, 2013) by Michael
Moss
[non-fiction]
In peppering the pages with combat-related metaphors, Moss
might have sent a subliminal warning: All is fair in love and
war. For the love of profit and competition, Big Food
unleashed upon the public the most wily of schemes to drive
over-consumption. Packed with digestible facts and rare
interviews with former CEOs, top execs and renowned
scientists, this book lays bare the precise engineering,
marketing, political dealing and psychological tricks that have
progressively corrupted our eating habits over the past 50
years.
I highly recommend this meticulously researched and engaging cultural history of
convenience foods, told with objectivity and respect for human dignity. In this
battle for public health, we are better armed with information for having read it.
7 Mike Persick
Just Kids (Ecco, 2010) by Patti Smith
[non-fiction]
This is a wonderfully written book about the relationship and
artistic careers of two notable artists, photographer Robert
Mapplethorpe and musician/poet Patti Smith, who met in the
1960s and, as their relationship developed, both became
successful in their fields. The array of interesting and notable
New York artists, authors, and musicians the two knew,
worked with, or had relationships with is amazing. The book
would be of particular interest to fans of either of the subjects
but also to someone interested in the New York scene from the
late '60s through the '70s or for someone wanting to know what a young artist
lives through to become successful.
Rob Haley
Mr. Churchill's Secretary (Bantam, 2012) by Susan Elia MacNeal.
[fiction]
The years of the Blitz are my favorite literary theme, and this is
the most recent novel of that era that I've read. The plot walks a
deft balance between murder mystery and dark spy novel.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (Little, Brown and Company, 2012) by Maria Semple
[fiction]
You start off the novel thinking it's a satire on Seattle's
hipocrats, and at some point you see it as a deeper story about
creativity and devotion. It's brilliantly told in a series of emails,
letters, and—police reports.
8 The Killer Angels (Modern Library, 2004 ) by Michael Shaara
[fiction]
If you need another reason to read it other than it won a Pulitzer,
and has a perfect balance of historical detail and rich characters,
then remember that this July is the 150th anniversary of the
Battle of Gettysburg (the novel's subject).
Among Others (Tor Books, 2012 ) by Jo Walton
[fiction]
This is a novel about a girl ensnared in magic, enchanted by
novels of fantasy and science fiction, and battling an evil power
generated by her witch mother. She also sees, and talks to,
faeries. Takes place in the utterly unfantastic Wales of the
1970s.
Adam Crandell
Thomas Adès: Tevot - Violin Concerto - Three Studies from Couperin - Dances from
Powder Her Face (EMI Classics, 2010)
[music recording]
Adès is a modern composer with a powerful voice. Though all
are significant pieces, the real gem on this recording is the
Violin Concerto, which is compositionally breath-taking and a
real tour de force for the violinist.
Antonio Vivaldi and Àstor Piazzolla: Eight Seasons (Nonesuch, 2011) [music recording]
This recoding by violinist Gideon Kremer and the Kremerata
Baltica is both something old (Vivaldi) and something new
(Piazzolla). The latter is a liberal tango re-imagining of the
Baroque classic, and both are equally enjoyable.
9 Arvo Pärt: Te Deum (ECM Records, 1999)
[music recording]
Even though this recording has been around for some time, it
really is hard to beat. To those who are unfamiliar with Pärt, this
will be a great introduction to his minimalist aesthetic. To those
who are already familiar with his music, this particular
recording has a nuance of performance (particularly of Silouans
Song and the Berliner Messe), which is still fresh and yet to be
surpassed.
Terry Snyder
Carry the One (Simon & Schuster, 2012) by Carol Anshaw
[fiction]
Though the title may suggest it, this is not an account of teaching
mathematic skills. Nevertheless, there is something of a story of
“adding it all up.” The book opens with a joyful wedding
celebration that is soon followed by a calamitous and tragic
accident. The narrative examines the impact of that accident on
three siblings and their friends. The story chronicles the guilt,
damage, passion, addiction, love, and family relationships that
follow. The writing is smart, funny, sympathetic, and poignant
in its description of ordinary lives affected by events both in and
out of their control. The novel, simultaneously, explores and offers a portrait of
the American left during the 1980s through the attack on 9/11.
Unless (Fourth Estate / HarperCollins, 2002) by Carol Shields
[fiction]
This final and semi-autobiographical novel by Shields will draw
you in immediately. Narrated by Reta Winters, a 44-year old
writer and translator, the book centers on the inexplicable
decision of her college-aged daughter to drop out of school and
live on the street wearing a cardboard sign reading: Goodness.
Though not a mystery per say, the novel does unravel the
question, and does so compellingly. It also speaks to the
relationships of women, both personal and professional, and
their relationships in literature. Though the chapter titles are
fragmented (therefore, else, instead), the story most certainly is not.
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