Leisure Reading at SUNY New Paltz

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

2011-12-05T09:38:00.003-05:00

Call Number: Stacks: PS3527.A15 L6 1992
Recommended by: Ogerta Lala, International student from Albania

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta”

Awesome , written by an evil inspired brain. The first part of the book is poetry, the second, is delirium and insanity. This book is the place where the perversion turns into a mythological picture, the forbidden sensual desire turns into a demonic girl. The story begins in Europe where the depressed Humbert lives his secret passions that comes from his roots. America is the magical land where he meets Dolores Haze. The protagonist has a dream: to join his young soul mate, Lolita. But the difficulties are huge: his personality, his insane passion, his tremendous jealousy and of course, the society of 1960. That’s why Humbert decides to marry Ms. Haze, the mother of Lolita, who very soon dies in a tragic car accident. Humber pretends to be the natural father of the girl and that’s how their long dangerous adventure on the highways of the U.S starts. During the reading of the book we will know the mature, the shy, the selfish Humbert and at the same time we will know his insane and unnatural love for Lolita. On the other side is the little Lolita, orphaned, alone, without a childhood and family. A little girl who knows very well her seductive power, her sensual skills while continuing to be innocent. This book is one of those books that should be read and discovered.

Andy Warhol: Prince of Pop by Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan

2011-12-05T09:28:00.005-05:00

Call Number: Juvenile Young Adult Collection N6537.W28 G74 2004
Recommended by: Jiseon Yun, International student from Korea, Haggerty English Language Program

This book was written by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan about Andy Warhol (1928-1987), the well-known pop artist. It tells his whole life from his birth to death. He was interested in art from when he was young. He has a different view of seeing things and it affected his work. He was an isolated person and he didn’t seem to have any problem with his life even when he was struggling with financial problems. He had a great enthusiasm for art. His life wasn’t extraordinary but it was enough to attract others.

Before I read this book, I just liked some of his paintings and I didn’t know much about him. After reading this book, he inspired me to have lots of interest in not only him but also in art. I could enjoy reading this book from beginning to end as I couldn’t stop turning pages until a new story started. If you have seen any of his works and want to know more about him, I highly recommend you read this book. You will find something special that you didn’t know before.

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

2011-12-02T12:01:00.012-05:00

Call Number: Stacks RC464.K36 A3 1994
Recommended by: Jisoo Choi, International Student from Korea, Haggerty English Language Program

I first watched this book made as a movie and then decided to read this book because there seemed to be much more in the story than only 2 hours can capture on the screen. This author has a very unique history. She once was a mental patient. She was hospitalized for 18months for the diagnoses of borderline personality disorder. Now she is a one of America’s known authors. She wrote essays from biographies, memoirs, and fiction etc. This book is about her written thoughts when she was hospitalized. Her new friends in the hospital she observes and tries to figure out what craziness really is using witty words and sarcastic tones sometimes. The most inspiring part was where she depicts, so to speak, “crazy people”, into very understandable concepts, and blurs the line between craziness and normality. Quotes like “Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever” assured me. I suggest this book to someone who feels like you don’t fit in anywhere in the world. You might find a hint to find yourself quite secure than before.

In the garden of beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson.

2011-11-02T14:50:00.006-04:00

Stacks E748.D6 L37 2011
Recommended by Colleen Lougen, Librarian

Another riveting read from Erik Larson (Devil in the White City, Isaac's Storm, and Thunderstruck) about Hitler's ascent to power. Told through the real life accounts of William Dodd, the American ambassador to Germany (1933-1937) who moved his wife and two children to Berlin. The story is reconstructed from William and his daughter, Martha's diaries and letters. This book quickly draws you in and makes you feel like you are living in 1930's Berlin. The name of the book comes from the English translation of Tiergarten which is the Central Park of Berlin and where much of the book takes place. Great book for anyone interested in this period of history.

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

2011-10-20T09:46:00.007-04:00

Stacks PL248.P34 M3713 2009

Recommended by: Ogerta Lala, International student from Albania, Haggerty English Language Program

This special book is one of the most liked and appreciated by the literary critics but very soon it will be a literary icon like “Madam Bovary” and “Anna Karenina”. This novel takes place in Istanbul -- the Istanbul of 1975, divided between modern and archaic mentality. Kemal, a young boy, part of the high society, was engaged with Sibel. She was an aristocratic girl, educated in Paris. They were the perfect couple that had everything -- love, money, and entertainment. But a turning point happened in Kemal’s life when he met a very young girl called Fusun. She was so different from Sibel. She was only an 18-year-old shop girl with a lot of beauty and splendor that Kemal had become obsessed. All his world was overthrown and he became prisoner of his passion for Fusun. He never thought that his love for her was so immense that he could forget Sibel, his family, his business and everything else. This love was impossible as he went through pain, dreams and ended with a museum. The end of this destructive love was incredible and arduous. The book was wonderful and at the end of it you felt like you lost something special. That was what I felt after finishing this book. I felt I lost a best friend and Kemal lost her Fusun. It is a must-read.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2011-06-07T12:09:00.003-04:00

Recommended by: Emily, STL Information Desk student assistant
Call Number: Stacks PS3608.O832 T46 2007
Audiobook Media/Audio Computer Disk PS3608.O832 T456 2007c

This beautifully written novel takes place in Afghanistan
and chronicles two main characters: Miriam and Laila.
Miriam grew up with her mother, a former housekeeper to
the richest man in town who happened to be her father. She
only saw him occasionally, and after her mother committed
suicide he sold her to a man almost forty years older than
her for marriage. As if all she was going through was
not enough, her new husband mistreated her and abused her
repeatedly. Miriam’s husband lives in another village and
she is relocated against her desires to live with him. In
that village, a girl named Laila lives with her family.
She is a beautiful and smart young girl and is madly in
love with her best friend. She has her whole life ahead of
her with countless opportunities, but when war breaks out
in the village, her family is killed by bombs and she is
wounded, she must make the most difficult decision of her
life; in Afghanistan it is socially acceptable for a man
to have several wives, so she decides to marry Rasheed,
Miriam’s husband. After marriage, both women are
frequently abused and must work together to get along with
each other, and try to overcome society’s and their
husband’s harsh rule.

This novel gave great insight as to the struggles women
are forced to go through, and although the story may seem
bleak at times, it is a must-read.

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman

2010-12-06T14:08:00.004-05:00

Call Number: Stacks E169.12 .K56 2004
Recommended by: Rus Springer

In this collection of essays Chuck Klosterman explores popular culture as experienced by people coming of age in the 1980s and 1990s. For the rest of us, he gives insight into the ways in which who we are in reality is often only a reflection of who we are in popular culture.

Along the way he touches upon how, ultimately, no one is able to find real love because of John Cusack; how the Real World changed from being a sample of the youth of America to unintentionally creating the youth of America; the realization that Pamela Anderson, like Marilyn Monroe before her, is the sex symbol for our time largely because times change; that the 1980s rivalry between the Celtics and the Lakers represents not just race in American but “absolutely everything” about America; the fact that Saved by the Bell is an explanation of all things Generation X; and the relationships between the apocalyptic, Christian theology of the Left Behind series and NFL football and “America’s insipid Oprah Culture”—plus much more.

His irreverent and uniquely skewed take on such things may produce a chuckle but, ultimately, he delivers the ideal in criticism: it is less about a specific artifact and more about the culture itself.

Wolves Eat Dogs [sound recording] by Martin Cruz Smith

2010-11-30T14:18:00.004-05:00

Media/Audio Computer Disk PS3569.M5377 W65 2005
Recommended by: Susan Kraat, Librarian

Martin Cruz Smith’s Wolves Eat Dogs is a very good listen,
even as it is a sobering account of life in post-Chernobyl
Chernobyl, the Zone of Exclusion in the Ukraine commonly
referred to simply as the “Zone.” Detective Arkady Renko
(remember Gorky Park?) travels from Moscow to the Ukraine,
to solve a crime involving Russian gangsters and
radioactive chemicals. Smith describes the criminal world
of Moscow, the new Russian capitalism, and the regional
apocalypse in the Ukraine that remains since the 1986
nuclear meltdown. The despair is tangible and
unrelenting, bearable because of the author’s compelling
prose and bleak sense of humor. Ron McLarty reads with
exactly the right tone and has a clever ear for dialect.

Magic Land of Toys by Alberto Manguel

2010-11-24T14:14:00.003-05:00

Manguel is a prolific author, translator and anthologist whose interests range from art appreciation to classics to mystery. Magic Land of Toys, however, is really a picture book. Manguel collaborates with photographer Michel Pintado, set designer Jean Haas and (the real star of the show) the toy collection of the Paris Musee des Arts Decoratifs to present a series of vignettes that conjure our childhood playrooms.

The cinematically-rendered images of the toys, posed --sometimes suggestively-- in mid-action, provoke us to reflect on play, collectables, childhood and age-old questions like Are toys really alive? and What do our toys do when we’re not around? While the scenes speak vivdly by themselves, Manguel’s insightful texts comment on memory, identity, lost toys, and the importance of imagination. This is a splendid source of introspection and nostalgia. It also makes a great game of I Spy.

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

2010-07-28T10:17:00.004-04:00

Recommended by: Susan Kraat, Librarian
Call Number: PS3545.A748 A4 1963

I first read All the King’s Men, while vacationing in Maine this summer. No, I had never been assigned to read it, or picked it up until now. In preparation for our trip, I noticed that more than one “best novel” list included Robert Penn Warren’s classic tale of southern politics, based upon Huey Long, former governor (and senator) of Louisiana. It is a vivid story of ambition, blackmail, deception, hubris, and murder, told by a narrator who attempts to distance himself from the dirty nature of his work, as well as from his past. The poetic language draws you into a world of southern politics and competing ideologies from the first page, and never disappoints. This is a story about a man of humble origins who rises to power, uses his oratory skills and his influence to commit dark deeds in the name of idealism, and who must suffer for his sins in the end. It tells of the struggle between the old South and the new South, and lets us know that politics remains a dirty business. But after the turmoil and bloodshed there is still a bit of hope at the end. Penn Warren quotes Dante at the beginning of the book: “Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde” I did not look for the translation until the end and I am glad that I waited.

I'll sleep When I'm Dead: the Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon

2010-07-09T15:31:00.003-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Stacks ML420.Z475 Z58 2008

Poetry, joy and sarcasm flowed from Warren Zevon’s imagination. Zevon was a gifted and intelligent songwriter and performer whose depth goes far beyond “Werewolves of London.” He was admired by David Letterman, Linda Ronstadt and Hunter S. Thompson. Zevon had profound demons: substance abuse, womanizing, OCD and odd, paralyzing superstitions. Even as a recovering alcoholic, he rode an uneasy rollercoaster of family issues, touring, and middle-list record sales; he died of cancer in 2003, when many believe he was at the height of his powers. Zevon’s life is uniquely memorialized here by his former wife and longtime friend, Crystal Zevon. She lets Warren's story unfold through interviews and statements from his collaborators and friends (Bruce Springsteen, Stephen King, Dave Barry and Billy Bob Thornton, to name a few), his family and through Warren’s diaries. The result is an insightful and riveting picture of one of our greatest songwriters. Be sure to listen to Zevon’s impressive output while you read!

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

2010-05-24T11:03:00.007-04:00

Recommended by Gianna Cioffi (Theatre Major, NPblogger 09’-10’)
Call number: PS3612.E887 A75 2008

When I first saw this play performed it wasn’t August and I wasn’t anywhere near Osage County. In fact it was January and I was in London. It’s an American story that shows the American family at its absolute best as well as absolute worst. Even in the totality of its Uncle Samness, I was amazed how the humor and strife transcended cultural differences. Maybe it’s because families are the same whether they speak in Spanish, English or Tagalog, all families share the ability to be the best and worst things in life.

I then read it in the oppressive summer heat of New York in contrast to seeing it performed in the English cold. Once more I was swept up into the world of a family returning home to face the tragedy of a father lost to suicide. That only should suffice enough humor and drama for a play. However, Letts doesn’t stop there; instead he splinters the play into multiple plot lines. This makes for a story both complex and truthful. The main plot line centers on the relationship between prescription pill popping addict mother Violet and the oldest daughter Barbara whose own marriage is rapidly deteriorating. This relationship stands strongest amidst the swirling family dramas perhaps because it is clearest in its question that Letts seems to be asking all of us: Why do we destroy the things we love most? Quick, humorous, and thought provoking August: Osage County is the perfect summer read.

Water For Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

2010-05-03T14:16:00.005-04:00

Recommended by: Robin, Information Desk student assistant
Call Number: Stacks PS3607.R696 W38 2007

Sara Gruen has a vivid set of characters, to be sure. Jacob Jankowski recalls the most influential year of his life, one that began his career as a circus veterinarian, from his confines in a nursing home at the age of "90, or 93". He alternates between venting his frustration at being trapped in an old man's body, and vividly remembering his past experiences. I am 100% in love with this old man. Gruen did an exceptional job of wrenching my heart in every direction, aided no doubt by the fabulous voices of David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones. A moving, informative story not only about the circus but also about the Great Depression, growing old, and elephants. This book opened up an entirely unfamiliar topic for me, and I've enjoyed reading about it since I finished the book last week.

For more of Robin's book recommendations, visit her lovely blog at: http://robinmsills.blogspot.com/

Magnetic appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency by Kelly A. Joyce

2009-06-05T10:03:00.004-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks RC78.7.N83 J69 2008

Ever wonder why Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is today’s “go-to” diagnostic procedure? Why radiologists prefer black & white MRI images to color? Or why they prefer to look at the images instead of the equally revealing numerical data created by the same machines? Kelly’s investigation into MRI technologies uncover a number of myths about whether an MRI is always useful or required. Like the one perpetuated by movies and TV dramas, where MRI can see exactly what's wrong with patients, and even fix what ails them. Our own highly visual culture is also to blame for this misperception. And insurance companies, MRI and drug manufacturers, the legal system and even physicians themselves are also complicit in the overuse and over reliance on MRI technology. A very readable current history of MRI that may change the way you see the medical profession.

Schuyler’s Monster: A Father’s Journey with His Wordless Daughter by Robert Rummel-Hudson

2008-12-01T15:26:00.006-05:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks RJ506.D47 H83 2008

Robert and Julie’s daughter, Schuyler, was born with a malformation of the folds of the brain. It robs Schuyler of speech and fine motor control. Robert refers to her condition as a Monster: it is a very rare disease with dire consequences and a frightening name; it lay in wait from before Schuyler’s birth, only to manifest itself at age three. Schuyler, Robert and Julie endured years of testing before her diagnosis--Schuyler was originally thought to be autistic. After much research, consultations with leading experts and a series of unforgettably enervating meetings with school officials, Schuyler began special classes and was given an electronic speech device, paid for in part by readers of Robert’s blog. This book is as much about a father’s unconditional love for his daughter as it is about a child with a complicated disease. Robert is a fine storyteller and this memoir is an honest, inspiring and very real look at fatherhood, coping, and a family’s resilience.

What is the What : The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers

2008-10-01T15:47:00.005-04:00

Recommended by: Megan Coder, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks PS3605.G48 W43 2006

What is the What is a heartbreaking and heartwarming story about Valentino Achak Deng, a Lost Boy of Sudan. Dave Eggers tells his story through fact and some fictionalized accounts. It’s amazing to read all that Valentino went through during his flight from Sudan to escape the civil war where over two million people died. He had to leave his family without ever seeing them again, watch many of his dear friends die on the treks to Ethiopia and

Kenya

, endure countless days without food or water, and tolerate many trials and tribulations at various refugee camps. However, Valentino is a hopeful soul and though his tale is full of much sorrow What is the What is an inspirational read because of his positive attitude and resilience.

Nursing America: One year behind the nursing stations of an inner-city hospital by Sandy Balfour

2008-09-25T16:41:00.005-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks RT34 .B34 2005

UK-based TV producer and journalist Balfour shadowed the nursing staff at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Tennessee (“The Med”) for more than a year and a half beginning in 2003. The Med treats a disproportionate share of the region’s crime victims, suicide attempts, high-risk deliveries and accident casualties. Many patients cannot possibly pay for the services they receive. One thing that makes The Med so special is its nurses, whose knowledge, optimism and sense of humor enable them to heal others while coping with the trauma they see each shift. Balfour introduces us to their families, their spiritual lives and their hopes for the future; we learn why they stay so long at The Med. Despite different backgrounds, they all display an inspiring level of caring and joy in their work. An enlightening look at the urban poor, the state of American healthcare and the diversity of the nursing profession.

Sleeping Arrangements by Laura Shaine Cunningham

2008-08-05T08:59:00.006-04:00

Call Number: Stacks PS3553.U478 S5 2000

The One Book, One New Paltz selection for 2008.

This book, Laura Shaine Cunningham's childhood memoir, has been widely acclaimed. After her mother died of cancer when she was eight years old, Cunningham was raised and nurtured in a family made up of her two eccentric uncles and an equally unusual grandmother. Michiko Kautani in the New York Times described Sleeping Arrangements as a "wonderfully vivid chronicle of a young girl's coming of age...funny and sad, irreverent and generous...A model memoir."

Cunningham, who lives in the region and is a native New Yorker, is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and journalist. Her memoirs Sleeping Arrangements and A Place in the Country , were both excerpted in the New Yorker magazine. In addition, Cunningham has written for the Atlantic Monthly, Allure, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Times.

For more information about One Book, please visit: http://www.onebookonenewpaltz.org/

Hope in hell : inside the world of Doctors Without Borders by Dan Bortolotti

2008-07-29T11:46:00.004-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks RA390 .F8 B67 2004

Better known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Doctors Without Borders has led humanitarian missions to the world’s most dangerous places, including Rwanda, Angola, Chechnya and Iraq. Under unimaginable conditions, MSF personnel administer local clinics and deliver food, vaccines and clean water to the world’s refugees in an effort to restore their health and dignity. The work is perilous: MSF workers risk falling victim to infection, assault and kidnapping. They are often helpless to remedy otherwise treatable conditions, like starvation, malaria and cholera. After witnessing mass displacements and even genocide, many MSF workers simply cannot cope with post-mission home life, and MSF has become famous for speaking out against the injustices that give rise to disease and disaster. Hope in Hell tells MSF’s story through the eyes of its workers. Their stories are sometimes funny, sometimes shocking and heartbreaking. The volume includes an excerpt from the compelling and controversial Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by MSF leader James Orbinski. An enlightening read for anyone who’s ever thought about volunteerism, humanitarian aid, or the state of global affairs.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

2008-06-27T10:49:00.003-04:00

Recommended by: Heather Whalen Smith, librarian
Call Number: PR4494 .M62 2007

At his death, Colonel John Herncastle bequests the Moonstone, a cursed diamond of great value stolen from an Indian temple, to his niece, Miss Rachel Verinder. The diamond disappears, however, the night after Mr. Franklin Blake delivers it to Miss Rachel. Who stole it? Was it the Hindu Indians that devoted their lives to recovering the diamond? Was it a guest at Miss Rachel's birthday party? Was it one of the servants? Franklin Blake devotes himself to the mystery of the Moonstone in hopes of winning Miss Rachel's affections. The story is narrated by multiple characters concerned with the disappearnce of the Moonstone.

The professor and the madman by Simon Winchester

2008-05-28T11:35:00.003-04:00

Recommended by: Rachel Rigolino, Professor of English
Call Number: Audio Book PE1617.O94 W56 1998b

A great "listen" even if you are not especially interested in linguistics. Winchester has done a masterful job of telling this tale which would be considered unbelievable if it were a novel. Also, Winchester's accent is great and a pleasure to listen to!

Also available in print form: Stacks PE1617.O94 W56 1998

Medicine in the days of the pharaohs by Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind

2008-04-28T11:18:00.007-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks R137 .H3413 2005

Egyptian physicians were considered the best in the ancient world for more than a millennium: their work even influenced Hippocrates. They had an enormous herbal pharmacopoeia at their disposal, and they supplemented their prescriptions with religious practice and magic to address illnesses ranging from adolescent heartache to tetanus. Using CAT scans, ancient papyri, tomb illustrations and mummy autopsies, the authors uncover how Pharaonic physicians understood and treated disabilities, accident victims and congenital diseases.
Clever occupation-based chapters outline ailments common to farmers (serpents!), miners (scorpions!), fisherman (crocodiles!), scribes and even the mummy-making embalmers themselves. Halioua and Ziskind also offer a thought-provoking look at the pathology behind the plagues of the Old Testament. And, yes, they tell us how mummies were made. Enjoy!

The whistling season by Ivan Doig

2008-04-14T09:32:00.005-04:00

Recommended by: Millie Marino, STL staff
Call number: Stacks PS3554.O415 W48 2006

In 1909, the recently widowed father of the Milliron family, a farmer of the Montana Prairie, answers a newspaper ad for a housekeeper who "can't cook, but doesn't bite."
What follows is the charming and often humorous story of a one-room schoolhouse, its eloquent and unlikely teacher and an endearing set of characters that practically beg us to go back to those simpler days. These are days when children create scrapbooks from the daily newspaper, call adults 'sir', chop wood and clean stables and roll in mud. Could it be that these children are a bit too good to be true? But how refreshing! Doig 's leisurely paced novel has everything in small amounts: mystery, tragedy, romance, and even a well-crafted villain.

The worst hard time: the untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl by Timothy Egan

2008-03-03T08:56:00.006-05:00

Recommended by: Matt L., Student
Call Number: Stacks F595 .E38 2006

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families
and their communities through the rise and fall of America's High Plains during the Great Depression,
going from sod homes to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by
damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out. He follows their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, and the deaths of loved ones. Drawing on the voices of those who stayed and survived, Egan tells a story of endurance and heroism against the backdrop of the Great Depression.

The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power by Travis Hugh Culley

2008-02-28T14:53:00.009-05:00

Recommended by: Stephan J. Macaluso, Librarian

Call Number: Stacks HE 9751.C85 2001

Culley came to Chicago with thoughts of a career in art and theatre, and after rekindling his love of bicycles, he took a “day job” as a bike messenger. His newfound career consumed him. This lyrical memoir introduces us to the perilous life of a courier and urban cyclist: bike messengers have their own culture, honor code and language; the good ones, like Culley, live for speed and their passion for bikes runs deep. Culley vividly describes life at the intersection of art, physical labor, noise pollution, and [poor] urban planning. His descriptions of Critical Mass rides and urban racing are inspiring. His reflections on rage, fatigue, police altercations and the Chicago landscape are unforgettable. You need not be a cyclist nor a gearhead to approach this book, but if you aren’t one, it will surely entice you to ride!

Cuando era Puertorriqueña (When I was Puerto Rican) by Esmeralda

2008-02-11T16:06:00.002-05:00

Recommended by: Wilma Feliciano, Professor of Spanish
Call Number: F128.9.P85 S2718 1994 (Spanish)

Call Number: F128.9.P85 S27 1994 (English)

The bittersweet coming-of age story of a girl trapped in a conflicted cultural identity: Is she black or white, rural or urban, Puerto Rican or American? The story begins on the island with family turmoil and tenderness in an idyllic setting dotted by economic distress, then moves to New York where the protagonist suffers a bewildering transition to American culture and loss of innocence.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

2008-01-24T18:19:00.001-05:00

Recommended by: Megan Coder, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks PS3562.A316 N36 2003

The Namesake tells the story of a young Indian couple, arranged by marriage, who emigrate to Cambridge, Massachusetts in the mid-1970s. Of course this takes some adjustment, especially for the wife Ashima, while her husband Ashoke pursues his engineering degree. They soon start a family and their first born is a son that they name Gogol, after the Russian author Nikolai Gogol. In this coming of age story, the reader gets to know Gogol from childhood to adulthood and his struggle to identify with his Indian and American roots. You will have to read this book to find out why Ashoke holds Nikolai Gogol close to his heart and if Gogol ever learns to accept his namesake.

The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische

2008-01-14T10:25:00.001-05:00

Recommended by Peter D.G. Brown, Professor of German
Call Number: PS3554.I825 E47 2007

This is a debut novel written from the point of view of Dische's German grandmother, proudly "Aryan" and anti-Semitic, who marries a Jewish doctor and emigrates to New Jersey with him in the 1930s. It's a very funny and poignant semi-fictional account of three generations of this quirky German-American family of truly bizarre intellectuals.

El llano en llamas (The Burning Plain and Other Stories) by Juan Rulfo

2008-01-09T13:16:00.002-05:00

Recommended by Wilma Feliciano, Professor of Spanish

Call Number:
In English: PQ7297.R89 L2613 1982

El llano en llamas (The Burning Plain and Other Stories) by Juan Rulfo, debunks the myth that the Mexican Revolution resulted in significant benefits for the lower classes. Rulfo lost his parents and family hacienda to wars in early 20th c Mexico, leaving him as orphaned and anguished as his characters. His work counterposes the promises of the Revolution to the doleful reality of peasant life in Mexico. A master of concise and lyrical expression, Rulfo’s characters define themselves by their painful prose in a style that infuses nature ( moon, wind, murmurs, land) with violence and poetry.

Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)

2007-12-20T15:18:00.002-05:00

Recommended by Wilma Feliciano, Professor of Spanish
Call Number: PQ7298.15.S638 C66 1993

Set during the Mexican Revolution, Tita, the protagonist, starts a revolution for women's rights from the kitchen, heart and soul of the family. Her culinary wizardry unleashes uncontrollable forces with a mix of magical realism and quixotic characters. Intoxicating flavors of fantastic lust, grief, jealousy and passion permeate this sensual fanciful, earthy and sublime story that decries the limited options open to Mexican women. Poignant conclusion: Tita breaks tradition for herself and future generations with an ironic weapon: dishes that are sensual, ancestral and explosive.

Little Otik [videorecording]

2007-12-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

Recommended by: Valerie Mittenberg, Librarian
Call Number: Media/Video PN1997 .O74 2002

From the city that brought us the Golem, comes another frightful tale of monstrous progeny. A childless couple and their nosey neighbors dwell in a cramped old apartment building in a city that could be Prague before the opening of the iron curtain. Oppressed by his wife’s obsessive maternal longing, the husband unearths a tree stump and presents it to her as a surrogate baby. The wife receives the stump with mad glee, and soon nurses it to life. Written and directed by surrealist Jan Svankmajer, Little Otik is an un-sanitized fairy tale that will fascinate and horrify you.

Bless Me Ultima / Bendíceme, última

2007-11-20T10:18:00.002-05:00

Recommended by: Heather Whalen Smith, Librarian
Call Number: Stacks: PS3551.N27 B58 1972
Audio Book: Media/Audio: PS3551.N27 B58 2004c

In Spanish
Bendíceme, última
Call Number: Stacks: PS3551.N27 B5818 1994

Bless Me Ultima is the coming of age story of a six year old Chicano boy, Antonio Luna y Marez, growing up in New Mexico during and directly after World War II. The story starts with the arrival of Ultima, a curandera, to the Luna Marez household. Throughout the book, Antonio is faced with a number of tragedies, experiences the conflicting hopes of his parents and wrestles with issues of faith and doubt.

Not so quiet: stepdaughters of war by Helen Zenna Smith

2007-11-03T15:11:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Matt L., Student
Call Number: Stacks PR6031.R45 N6 1989

This novel, originally published in 1930, tells the story of Nellie Smith and her fellow ambulance drivers in the Volunteer Aid Detachment during the First World War as they transport wounded soldiers from the French battlefield, as well as find a way to cope with the agony, filth, exhaustion, and brutality of war they witness on a daily basis. At the same time, Nellie, the story's narrator, struggles with her family and their peers back home, who are extremely enthusiastic about the young women and their participation for the war effort. Anyone looking for a compelling war story should definitely check it out.

Orsinian Tales by Ursula K Le Guin

2007-10-03T17:57:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Jill S., student
Call Number: PS3562.E42 O7

While Ursula K Le Guin is well known for her science fiction writing (particularly Earthsea). This, however, is a collection of short stories that take place in the fictional eastern European nation, Orsinia. Each story follows an every day working person from the middle ages up to the 1960s. Her writing reminds me of Kafka or Anton Chekhov. It is a book that is probably overlooked by Earthsea fans since it is not science fiction or fantasy and also overlooked by those that don't like science fiction or fantasy since it is written by Ursula K. Le Guin, but both groups should read it!

Evening in the palace of reason: Bach meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment by James R. Gaines

2007-08-27T16:40:00.002-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan Macaluso, STL Librarian
Call Number: Stacks ML410 .B1 G28 2005

The legend is told in nearly every music appreciation class: King Frederick II (“The Great”) of Prussia—himself an amateur composer and flautist—practically falls over himself upon hearing that the great J.S. Bach has arrived to pay Frederick a visit. Gaines paints this meeting in much darker tones. History reveals Frederick to be a substantially more brutish, if not brutal, character. And so his challenge to Bach (that he compose a counterpoint to an unmelodic theme of Frederick’s) can be seen less as pleasurable Enlightenment discourse, and more as a stare-down. Bach’s response: The Musical Offering, a complete set of canons and fugues on the seemingly-impossible theme.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2007-08-20T08:15:00.001-04:00

Recommended by Colleen Lougen, STL Librarian
Call number: Stacks PS3563.C337 R63 2006

Wonder what the world would be like after a nuclear winter? McCarthy skillfully creates a post-apocalyptic wasteland where a father and son are left to scavenge in a dark and barren land. Transcends any book that I have read in awhile. It will haunt you for many months to come.. Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Garbage land: on the secret trail of trash by Elizabeth Royte

2007-08-03T14:14:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Alex Wojcik, Student Recycling Coordinator
Call Number: Stacks: HD4484.N7 R68 2005

You are what you throw away. Upon completion of Elizabeth Royte’s 'Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash,' the reader finds his or herself desperately sorting recyclables from the trash bin, and grocery shopping with an increasingly discerning eye. Royte’s beautifully written investigation of America’s trash can begins in her own kitchen and ends in the realization that our daily decisions regarding consumption and waste remain with us, even after dragging our trash bags out to the dumpster.

The omnivore’s dilemma: a natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan

2007-07-24T10:37:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Jeff Pollard, Institute for International Business
Call number: Stacks GT2850 .P65 2006

It is well written and really makes you think about our food industry -
and the ramifications it has on our environment and our bodies. Don't
read it unless you want to learn more about - and likely change the way
you approach your shopping and eating experience - join a CSA to help
eat local!

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

2007-07-18T15:09:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Jennifer Torres
Call number: Stacks PN6727.P4682 M684 2007

What is lovely about this book is that it is deceptively child concept of a mouse civilization and its defenders. Rather its a fantasy for adults, in which the heroes face betrayals, intrigue, and predators in fierce life or death struggles. The art is lush and detailed, making the fantasy all the more vivid. All in all a beautifully crafted book and a fine story

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander

2007-07-17T12:52:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Phyllis Freeman, Professor of Psychology
Call number: Stacks PS3555.N424 F67 1999

I just finished For Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander, a wonderful first volume of short stories. The volume opens with a story of the last night in prison of 26 celebrated Yiddish writers arrested during Stalin's purge and an unpublished loner picked up by mistake with them. He composes a work during their last evening on earth and recites this to the others. Another lighter story is about a rabbi who unhappily plays Santa each year at a department store. My favorite story is about a group of villagers who board the "wrong" passenger train instead of the cattle car to the concentration camp and then disguise themselves as circus performers. The book is wise, powerful, brilliantly ironic, and a must read. The stories and the issues they raise have stayed with me. The book earned him a PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
I decided to read the short stories after finishing his deeply satisfying first novel (which the Library should purchase) The Ministry of Special Cases, about the "disappeared" in Argentina. Unforgettable characters and heartbreaking situations very reminiscent of the best of Gogol, Kafka, and Singer.

Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything by Steven Levitt

2007-07-09T15:08:00.002-04:00

Recommended by: Dan G., student
Call number: Stacks HB74.P8 L479 2005

At just over 200 pages, Freakonomics is a quick read into the often overlooked gap between what conventional wisdom says is the case and what actually IS the case. With an easy writing style and incongruous teasers for chapter titles, like "What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?" and "How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?", the authors easily trap you into reading the entirety in one sitting.

Baudolino by Umberto Eco (trans. William Weaver)

2007-07-02T14:43:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Stephan Macaluso, STL Librarian
Call number: Stacks PQ 4865.C6 B3813 2002

I’m a big Umberto Eco fan, and this is really Eco at his best: a multilingual, atmospheric adventure that blends fantasy with historical detail. In 12th Italy, young Baudolino begins a quest that takes him through warring barbarians to a rediscovered Eden (so he thinks). Along the way he meets the most fantastic creatures. A memorable read.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

2007-07-02T13:40:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: David Agnardo, Community Member
Call Number Stacks: DP269 .O74 1955

I first read this book 30 years ago, but not until recently did I realize
or understand the divisions in Spain between the Catalan and the
Castilian languages. This book gives a small insight into these cultural and linguistic divisions.

No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

2007-06-27T15:11:00.000-04:00

Recommended by: Susan Kraat, STL Librarian
Call Number: Media/Audio Computer Disk PR6063 .C326 N6 2003

Perfect leisure reading, Alexander McCall Smith's series about Precious Ramotswe's sleuthing in Botswana, entertains as it informs. The audio versions are the way to go here, because narrator Lisette Lecat brings words to life which are enigmatic on the printed page (Mma, Rra...). These audio books can be addictive, and there seem to be more of them each year. Here are the original four titles, probably best read in this order.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency [sound recording]
Tears of the giraffe [sound recording]
The Kalahari typing school for men [sound recording]
Morality for beautiful girls [sound recording]

Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

2007-06-27T13:52:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Colleen, STL Librarian
Library owns the book and the audiobook.
Stacks PG5039.21.U6 N413 2004

A "novel of ideas" set in Czechoslovakia during the 1968 Soviet invasion. Very dreamlike and well written, it follows the lives of Tomas & Tereza and Sabina & Franz. In sum, this book is a political, metaphysical love story with a little bit of Nietzsche thrown in. Great book.

A prayer for the city by H.G. Bissinger

2007-06-27T10:56:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Andy Perry, Librarian

Call Number: Stacks F158.54.R46 B57 1997

The book is about Ed Rendell's term as mayor of Philadelphia but in a largersense is about the city itself. Ed Rendell is now the PA governor. The author is a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer who was "embedded" with the mayor's office. The book is
very powerful, funny, and also sad. You can't put it down and you won't forget it.

The legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods by Julia Butterfly Hill

2007-06-26T10:13:00.001-04:00

Recommended by: Megan, STL Librarian
Call Number: Stacks: SD129.H53 A3 2000

Julia Butterfly Hill lived in a California Redwood tree named Luna for 2 years. Hill
wanted to save Luna from being cut down by the Pacific Lumber Company. This is her
amazing and inspirational story. I recommend it to all especially
those interested in the daily life of a tree hugger.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

2007-05-25T15:13:00.001-04:00

Recommended by Heather C. Whalen, STL Librarian
Call Number: Stacks PR6057.A319 F73 2006

This book is a series of short stories and poems written by famed fantasy writer, Neil Gaiman. As a series of short stories, it is easy to pick up and read on and off throughout the semesters.

Interested in Reading Short Stories?

2007-05-20T10:16:00.000-04:00

Here are a few other short stories owned by the Sojourner Truth Library that may interest you.

Interested Reading Fantasy?

2007-05-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

For more choices of Fantasy Fiction at the Sojourner Truth Library, Go Here.

Interested in Reading Mystery?

2007-02-11T16:20:00.000-05:00

For more mystery novels available at the Sojourner Truth Library, go here.