Ex Libris brings recommendations from a broad cross-section of staff readers. Our goal is to showcase Raynor Memorial Libraries’ Browsing Collection and to identify a range of contemporary fiction and nonfiction for the general reader. In addition to staff choices, we selected new books by members of the faculty and recent winners of two prestigious literary prizes. All readers in the Marquette community are invited to suggest books, or better, to write a brief review for Ex Libris. If you missed an alert, earlier issues of Ex Libris are available online.
Clicking on the title or cover image will take you to the book's MARQCAT record; please note locations carefully as items may be in the Browsing Collection (Raynor 1st level) or in the Memorial stacks. Books that are checked out may be reserved by clicking on the blue recall/hold button at the top or bottom of the MARQCAT record.
Marie Phillips (Little, Brown, 2007)
Orpheus and Eurydice come to 21st century London and contrive a happy ending. There--that tells you the basic plot of this rather silly yet also delightful novel by first time author Marie Phillips. Now for some detail: Alice is a house cleaner, albeit an unusual one with a degree in linguistics, and she’s in love with Neil, an engineer. After being fired by a TV studio, Alice ends up cleaning house for a very peculiar Greek family--the Greek gods, exiled in London since the bubonic plague and reduced to odd jobs because their powers have been waning. A vengeful squabble that erupts between Apollo and Aphrodite (now a TV psychic and a phone sex operator respectively) leads to Apollo’s incapacitation. Since he is the god of the sun, this also means that the sun “goes out.” Artemis (now a dog-walker) then must persuade Neil to become a Hero and rescue the world from a new ice age. Character development is not the most complex, though some is quite satisfying, and the ending is a bit cheesy. Phillips sneaks in occasional bits of social commentary, but if you’re looking for deep meaning and insight, this is not the book for you. It is for you if you enjoy good dialogue, classical mythology, and odd juxtapositions of new and old. How about playing Scrabble in the Underworld, after getting there by motorbike and Tube?
Recommended by Valerie Beech, Business Reference Librarian
Richard Russo (Knopf, 2007)
Russo’s new novel returns to the setting of his 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning Empire Falls. Thomaston is a dingy, small, failing town in upstate New York that everyone except the central characters is eager to leave. The point-of-view shifts alternately between Lou C. Lynch (saddled with the nickname Lucy since a teacher first called roll in elementary school) and Robert Noonan, a world-renowned painter in Venice. Lucy, who married his high school sweetheart, Sarah, and continues to run the family convenience stores in the shadow of Wal Mart, is haunted by events in his childhood and suffers mysterious recurring “spells.” Noonan too seems not to have outgrown adolescence—womanizing, brawling, and suffering night terrors. Indeed, this novel’s broad narrative, covering more than 50 years, peers into the lives and family of three childhood friends—Lucy, Sarah, and Bobby Marconi. Everyone in the novel seems somehow damaged by their memories and dysfunctional families. The novel is least successful at tying all the stories together and is, in the end, dark in a way that seems less hopeful than Russo’s other works. However melancholy, the story also has nostalgia and warmth at its core, and is an important work by this great American writer.
Recommended by Susan Hopwood, Outreach Librarian
Annette Vallon: A Novel of the French Revolution
James Tipton (HarperCollins, 2007)
Set amid the terror and excitement of the French Revolution, James Tipton’s debut novel is the story of Annette Vallon, the young French woman who fell in love with and bore the child of English poet William Wordsworth. Wordsworth's relatively unknown mistress and muse comes alive in her own words, recounting her intellectual and emotional journey from naive, convent-educated schoolgirl to revolutionary heroine. Destined for life as a bourgeois wife in the Loire Valley, Annette proves to be anything but conventional. She believes in the idealized vision of happiness and true love found in the novels of Rousseau. Annette finds her soul mate in Wordsworth, who has come to France to perfect his French and attend sessions of the National Assembly and Jacobin Club. Their romance is cut short as Wordsworth is forced to leave France before the birth of his daughter, Caroline. Pregnant and on her own, Annette recalls early training in hunting and horsemanship to survive the Reign of Terror and beyond. Fans of Wordsworth and readers of literary historical fiction will enjoy Annette Vallon, a skillfully drawn portrait of a young idealistic woman, rich with the atmosphere of the times and locale.
Recommended by Elizabeth Horn, Library Intern
Cormac McCarthy (Knopf, 2006)
In his most recent novel, the Pulitzer Prize winning The Road, Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men and Blood Meridian) paints a devastating portrait of the world after an unnamed catastrophe has all but wiped out every living thing. No wildlife remains, the sun is blocked by permanent clouds of ash, nothing grows, few people are left, and scavenging or sometimes much worse are the only ways to survive. The story revolves around a man and his young son who, McCarthy writes, “are each the other’s world entire.” Their love for each other is intense and heartbreaking. The long road they travel together leads toward the coast and possible warmth and safety. The Road is stark and brutal. But in McCarthy’s deft hands it is also beautiful and touching, and in some way hopeful. The father and son’s desire to be good and to find good in what now appears to be a heartless world is what keeps them going and what keeps the reader mesmerized until the final page.
Recommended by Leslie Quade, Bindery Preparation Supervisor, Serials Department
Brian Hodge (Cemetery Dance, 2007)
When Jamey Sheppard pulls into a remote Stop-n-Gulp, he has no idea the drive to his imminent wedding is about to go terribly wrong. Jamey's last acting job was portraying wanted fugitive Duncan MacGregor for a TV re-enactment on one of those crime shows. But the boozed-up deputy who mistakes Jamey for the real MacGregor doesn't want his autograph--he wants a bust. While frisking Jamey, a freak accident occurs and the cop shoots himself dead. Almost before he knows it, Jamey's on the run for real, wanted for the deputy's murder. The whole world's watching and turning Jamey into a star, if he can only survive. Unfortunately, it's not just the police who are on his trail, but also a dysfunctional family of criminal opportunists, a revenge-driven friend of the dead cop, the real sword-wielding outlaw Duncan (who wants to meet his alter ego), and some rather incompetent but motivated hit men sent by ... but why spoil it? There's more to this zany novel than its surface action. It's a serio-comic road caper that screams nihilistic existentialism from every page while poking society for its cult of news and infotainment (and the blurred lines between them), short attention spans, and greed culture. Hodge's work (World of Hurt, Wild Horses, The Darker Saints) is always deeper than it seems, here recalling Bradley Denton's Laughin' Boy when examining how television and the media tend to shape our realities.
Recommended by Bill Gagliani, Stacks Supervisor
Nonfiction
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
Eric Weiner (Twelve, 2008)
Part travelogue, part philosophical and psychological exploration, and part personal reflection, this book is a small gem. After spending many years as an NPR journalist in places that are undeniably miserable due to war and other human scourges, the author decided to try to look for happy places instead. His hope for “this admittedly hare-brained experiment” was to see how geography and the cultural stew that is an inextricable part of human geography influence the happiness of people. In the course of one year, Weiner spent time in 10 countries, starting in the Netherlands (the home of scientific happiness research), and working his way through some of the happier countries (e.g. Iceland, Bhutan, Switzerland) and the least happy (Qatar and Moldova). He immerses himself in local culture, gives up coffee at an ashram, visits fortune tellers, and washes away the taste of rotten shark with a drink called black death. He learns that his personal god (Ambition) is illusory, that he prefers excessive politeness and smiles to excessive rudeness, and learns to say "never mind" (mai pen lai). His conclusions about the elements of happiness are ordinary (e.g. having family and friends, trust, some money, avoiding envy). Far more interesting are his insights into the different patterns of happiness people exhibit (e.g. laid-back and happy vs. uptight and happy), and the paradoxes of the happier places--higher suicide rates and sometimes higher murder rates. He makes brief reference to scholarly thought and works throughout, but it is his own very personal voice and stories that makes this book such a good read.
Recommended by Valerie Beech, Business Reference Librarian
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007)
Pulitzer Prize (Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation) and National Book Award (American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson) winner Joseph Ellis here turns his attention to the formative years of the Republic. Historian Ellis argues that America’s founding occurred between the beginning of the American Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Relying less on biography than in his earlier works, he describes the seminal issues facing the emerging new nation, presenting a balanced assessment of successes and failures. Prominent achievements include the first successful war for colonial independence, establishment of the first “nation-sized republic,” creation of the first entirely secular state, rejection of the principle that sovereignty was singular, and the creation of political parties to channel dissent within a democratic framework. Two regrettable failures were the inability or unwillingness to deal fairly with Native Americans and to confront the inherent contradiction of slavery in a democratic society. While much of this is not new, Ellis is able to make the story interesting and compelling, revealing just how much this mixed legacy was the product of peculiar circumstances, compromise, and improvisation, rather than of a unified vision of our founders. Ellis covers a lot of ground in brief compass, making for a brisk narrative.
Recommended by Nicholas Burckel, Dean of Libraries Emeritus
The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google
Nicholas G. Carr (Norton, 2008)
As a follow-up to his provocative Does IT Matter? (2004), Nicholas Carr is back at it with The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. According to Carr, the big switch is the replacement of in-house IT with an end user/computer utility model and the move from software and storage on personal computers to what Carr terms the “World Wide Computer.” This mirrors the switch from electric generators to electric utilities and will also have sweeping economic and social implications. Carr explores privacy issues, artificial intelligence, and the impact of Web 2.0, effectively setting the stage for the future by using the history of electricity as a backdrop. The Big Switch presents a thought-provoking argument that the world as we know it is about to change (for better or worse), making this book a must-read for techies and non-techies alike.
Recommended by Jean Zanoni, Associate Dean of Libraries
A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them
Buzzy Jackson (Norton, 2005)
Based on the author’s UC Berkeley doctoral dissertation, this book examines how notable blues women have challenged and helped change the perception and role of women in society. Blues singers such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Etta James, and Janis Joplin did not conform to their time period’s expectations of what a woman should be and how she should act. Although these strong, ambitious, and talented women experienced great personal challenges (sexism, racism, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken families, etc.), their success in the music industry helped to inspire social change and to pave the way for later female musical artists. This book is academic, entertaining, and most certainly enlightening--music fans and anyone interested in gender and race issues in 20th century U.S. history will find it fascinating.
Recommended by Rose Trupiano, Research & Outreach Librarian
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
James McBride (Riverhead Books, 1996)
Author/musician/journalist James McBride tells the remarkable story of growing up with his 11 siblings in a poor African-American neighborhood. His twice-widowed mother was a strong-willed, determined Christian woman who saw to it that each child attended and graduated from college. As a child McBride was baffled that his mother was so light-skinned, yet she denied that she was white and never spoke of her family. It was not until McBride was an adult that he learned the truth--she was a Jewish immigrant who came to the U.S. from Poland, then ran away from home because of her abusive father. In addition to recounting his own childhood, McBride tells the story of his mother and her struggles and challenges as she struck out on her own to begin a new life and family. This is a deeply moving and inspirational book which speaks of love, family, faith, and acceptance.
Recommended by Rose Trupiano, Research & Outreach Librarian
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace – One School at a Time
Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Viking, 2006)
Relin tells the story of Mortenson’s failed attempt to climb K2, the world’s second tallest mountain and part of the Karakoram Himalayan range in northern Pakistan. Exhausted and seriously ill, Mortenson was taken in, cared for, and nursed back to health by the people of a small, impoverished village. He promised to return and build their first school. Returning a year later, he began his journey of learning how to build relationships with the villagers and village elders while building the school. Along the way, he faced kidnapping, death threats, and other dangerous situations with the mujahedeen and Taliban. His personal mission grew to build more schools as a way to alleviate poverty and overcome cultural divides. He focused especially on schools for girls, so that they would be empowered to become village leaders who could improve basic hygiene, health care, and the high rate of infant mortality. One of the village elders teaches Mortenson the importance of respecting the ways of the people--to slow down and share three cups of tea--the first as a stranger, another as a guest, and the third as family. Mortenson is still committed to his mission; with the help of others during the past 14 years, he has built more than 60 schools in remote areas of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is an absorbing and uplifting story of the difference that one person can make in promoting peace and cultural understanding.
Recommended by Kristina Starkus, Head, Acquisitions Department
Spotlight on 2008 Manresa First-Year Reading Selection
Ann Patchett (HarperCollins, 2007)
Patchett, best known for her 2001 bestselling Bel Canto, has created a story that focuses on a fictional past mayor of Boston, Bernard Doyle. The middle-aged widower Doyle has a 30-something drifter of a son and two 20-something college-age boys, Tip and Teddy, who were adopted as children. Doyle wants nothing more than to have one (or both) of his younger kids follow in his political footsteps, but this looks doubtful since one is quite passionate about ichthyology and the other seems quite enamored with the priesthood. The story is set in motion after a Jesse Jackson speaking event, to which Doyle has wheedled Tip and Teddy into accompanying him. In the crowd outside the auditorium, in a blinding snowstorm, Tip is injured by an out-of-control SUV, but saved from worse injury by a passerby who pushes him out of harm’s way. A somewhat incredible convergence of family takes place during the following 24 hours but Patchett does a nice job of revealing the various characters. The story is about what makes a family, how family members look out for each other, and how children find their calling. While the novel is a deceptively easy read, there is more meat than first appears.
Recommended by Susan Hopwood, Outreach Librarian
Spotlight on Faculty Authors
Ethics and Business: An Introduction. Kevin Gibson, Department of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Reading the Bible as God's Own Story: A Catholic Approach for Binging Scripture to Life. William Kurz, S.J., Department of Theology (Word Among Us Press, 2007)
Calculated Futures: Theology, Ethics, and Economics. D. Stephen Long, Department of Theology, and Nancy Ruth Fox, (Baylor University Press, 2007)
Pius XII, the Holocaust, and the Cold War. Michael Phayer, Professor Emeritus, Department of History (Indiana University Press, 2007)
Spotlight on Prize Winners
The 2008 Pulitzer Prizes just this month cited the following distinguished contributions to letters and drama by American authors:
Fiction: Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Riverhead Books)
Drama: Tracy Letts, August: Osage County (Theatre Communications Group)
History: Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford University Press)
Biography: John Matteson, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father (Norton)
Poetry: Robert Haas, Time and Materials; Poems 1997-2005 (Ecco/HarperCollins)
General Nonfiction: Saul Friedlander, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 (HarperCollins)
The National
Book Critics Circle (NBCC) announced their 2007 prizewinners in March 2008. The NBCC
organization of 700 active book reviewers annually honors quality writing in six categories. More
suggestions of highly acclaimed books may be found at the NBCC's new blog, "Critical Mass."
Fiction: Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
(Riverhead Books)
General Nonfiction: Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid; The Dark
History of Medical Experiments on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
(Doubleday)
Biography: Tim Jeal, Stanley, the Impossible Life of Africa’s
Greatest Explorer (Yale)
Autobiography: Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I'm Dying (Knopf)
Criticism: Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth
Century (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Poetry: Mary Jo Bang, Elegy (Greywolf Press)