O’Connor’s first book of short stories is hard to put down; it’s full of cultural insight into the post-bellum south and round, deeply flawed characters. “The River” is a germ about a child growing up in dysfunctional family. “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “Good Country People,” and “The Temple of the Holy Ghost” are must reads. “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” is a scornful condemnation a number of old men who lied about serving in the Civil War, after all of the real veterans were dead. O’Connor’s settings are grotesque and memorable, very few of her stories end happily although her stories possess a degree of verisimilitude many authors lack. “The Displaced Person,” the last story in her collection, is a chilling tale of bigotry and pettiness; a thought provoking and memorable yarn. It is difficult to forget the lead up and ending of The Displaced Person; arguably it’s the best crafted piece in the collection.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kevin Oldfield
Rating: Highly Recommended
Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship by Paul C. Vitz
Passing through the book aisles in WalMart or Barnes & Noble, I have scoffed at the self-help books wondering why their abundance of promises of a better you has not yet materialized into an abundance of happiness?
After spending an entire season watching American Idol or Jersey Shore, have you ever wondered – even for a moment – if it was worth investing that much of your time into the distant lives of others?
Have you, at home or at work, realized in dismay that you just spent an hour on Facebook? Worse yet, that half of that time was spent admiring your own profile?
In Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship (2nd Edition), psychologist Paul Vitz illuminates the problem of narcissism in our society and traces its roots in modern psychologies and philosophies – systems of thought, Vitz argues, that modern men and women have exalted as new secular religions, embedded in all facets of life including education, relationships and entertainment. Thinkers from Freud to Sartre are discussed, and their theories are critiqued against pre-modern (and post-post-modern) standards which make reference to the common good and the contributions of religious faith as opposed to the radical individualism and secularism of modern thought.
Lovers of psychology, philosophy and, even, education will find Vitz’s lucidly written critiques thought-provoking and, perhaps, life-changing.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Edward A. David, Teacher at Trinity School in Meadow View
Rating: Highly Recommended
Dracula by Bram Stoker
As a Western culture, we seem to have undergone bouts of literary amnesia when it comes to Vampires. In present day, usually the hallmark thirst for blood is offset by a romance. While this familiar undercurrent of darkness and sexuality is the driving force behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it is enveloped in the repressive and religious fervor that characterizes the Victorian era.
Stoker’s use of description, along with the narration style of journal entries, makes this a great read for someone looking for a decent horror/suspense novel. While readers may be put off by the melodramatic entreaties to God (that punctuate every other page) it also aids the supernatural tone of the story. To conclude: Dracula comes highly recommended, and I hope future readers enjoy it as much as I have.
Availability: SMCM
Review Submitted by: Katie Schreven
Rating: Highly Recommended
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by FitzGerald
This poem, composed of 110 quatrains, was translated from Persian into English by Edward FitzGerald during the Victorian age and, according to the introduction in my edition, was one of the most famous poems of that era. While I am not one to usually read poetry on my own, the Rubaiyat (meaning quatrains) is so beautiful that it is hard not to fall in love with its musicality. As with most poems, it deserves a second reading to consider the ideas of the poem which focus around a question of Fate; but even with such a heavy theme, the light, easy lines make one forget that they are being asked to think about destiny and “the Potter” (or Maker). While I do not think this is for everyone, it is a very light, fast, easy read and it’s musicality makes it a great read for any lover of words.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Lauren Grey
Rating: Recommended
The Haunted House by Charles Dickens
Number one: Do not read this book if you are expecting a tale of ghostly horrors and of things that go bump in the night. That is not what this book is about. Yes, there are “ghosts”, but you’re not going to be treated to a retelling of how a person was brutally murdered or how a main character was haunted by an unseen phantom. These stories are really just about social injustice, terror, or regret. And all of it is blanketed with a healthy dose of skepticism about the business of hauntings. No horror, nothing levitating by itself, nobody mysteriously vanishing. No ghost stories, even though it starts out with a man buying a seemingly haunted house (which is perhaps only the result of a trickster) and scared servants.
Number two: The book is not actually completely written by Charles Dickens. It was originally co-written with five collaborators in the weekly periodical, All the Year Round, in 1859. There were five different authors who each wrote their own tale (each one a different chapter) with Dickens writing the introduction, conclusion, and one of the chapters. The other writers were Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins, Adelaide Proctor, George Sala and Hesba Stretton. Three stories are really good, at least in my opinion, especially the one about the sailor haunted by a candle after a near-death experience. The others are alright.
What this book is about is a man is told to check out this house that has a reputation for being haunted by a friend of his. He decides to move in along with his sister, a deaf stableman, a dog, two servants, and a young girl that lives with them referred to as the Odd Girl. Soon unexplained noises and other strange occurrences scare the servants away, and every other servant they hired after. It leads to the man and his sister deciding to take care of the house themselves, though they enlist the help of their closest friends and family. Each person was assigned a specific room in the house that they would stay in. It was during Christmas, so they all decided to make a pact not to utter a word about any of the “ghosts” haunting their rooms until the 12th day of Christmas. It was that day over dinner that each person told their tale.
Despite the fact that it was not entirely written by Dickens, it was still a good read. As long as you are not expecting a scary story, that is.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Marissa Parlock
Rating: Recommended with Reservations
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
In anticipation of the final Harry Potter film coming out in just a few weeks, I decided to reread the final book, which I haven’t touched since it first came out. Wile I don’t really recommend reading this book if you haven’t read the rest of the series, I definitely recommend it. While it’s style is meant for a lower reading level, the brilliant characters and complex story line is enough to keep a reader of any age engaged in the story. Rowling’s story wonderfully twists past and present to weave important moments from Harry’s past with his present. The book was a fast read that kept me as hooked as the first time I read it. Any book in the Harry Potter series is a good, fun choice for summer.
Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Lauren Grey
Rating: Must Read
The University in Medieval Life: 1179 – 1499 by Hunt Janin
Already halfway through June, it’s summer break for many. Students and faculty are settling into summer routines. New graduates still have that glow of accomplishment and that “can-do” attitude of taking on the world. The last thing on many minds is school – in fact, our summer vacations are an escape from it! But against this instinct of escape, I invite the summer reader to bring a copy of Hunt Janin’s The University in Medieval Life to his or her next trip to the beach. In this readable work of scholarship, Janin blows the dust off of the seemingly dry history of universities. Beginning with the rise of universities in the early high Middle Ages and finishing with their educational changes during the Italian Renaissance, Janin pays special attention to the people who made the university, not to the university as an institution. The result is a book filled with the colorful cast of nobles, clerics and scholars who laid the foundations of our modern colleges and universities. In becoming acquainted with the shocking people and interesting events that shaped the medieval university, the summer reader will find Janin’s work more fulfilling than the latest gossip in People magazine and, surprisingly, more worthwhile than people-watching at the beach.
Janin’s work, however, does share something in common with most popular magazines: it is a collection of snapshots as opposed to a work that supports a major thesis. In a given edition of People magazine one may find a few articles on the latest pop sensations; Time magazine will have essays on various contemporary issues. The University in Medieval Life has a similar format: sections on various medieval universities and the people who made them. At the core of the book is discussion on the three major medieval universities, Bologna, Paris and Oxford. Janin also gives a brief summary of ten other notable universities. This includes the institutions at Cambridge, Padua, and Prague. This main body of the work is set between an introduction to life in the Middle Ages, particularly in the universities, and a conclusion which discusses both the introduction of humanism into the medieval curricula and the overall impact that universities had, and continue to have, in Western civilization.
Included in Janin’s treatment of the medieval university are many historical gems that, despite their ambition and beauty, make one grateful for the modern changes and developments in university life. Take for example the typical daily schedule of a university student (p. 49):
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Beauty, wealth, sex and God – all the makings of a Catholic novel.
Evelyn Waugh’s modern classic, Brideshead Revisited, is replete with all the ingredients of a Hollywood drama: handsome palaces filled with beautiful people adorned with the richest fabrics and idiosyncrasies of character; forbidden loves and casual encounters; carefree summers of youthful friendship and the isolation of war. However, Waugh’s novel takes us deeper into the heart of humankind, addressing what is merely of this earth while pointing to what transcends us.
Despite its 2008 adaptation to the silver screen, Brideshead Revisited is far from a mere drama of star-crossed lovers. Rather it is a novel concerning the human condition, of man’s alienation from God and others, and the relentless actions of divine grace which work to rescue man from himself. Rich in spirituality, vivid in its characters, and smart in its humor, Brideshead is no novel with little attention from generations of readers. Because of this, I will pass over a general synopsis (which can be easily found online) and turn our attention to the profound Catholicity of Waugh’s classic.
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris can best be described as a book of modern Aesop fables. It features all of the requisite talking animals-dogs, mice, bears, sheep, and yes squirrels and chipmunks-learning valuable life lessons a little too late. Very, very funny and thought provoking too, though not for the weak of heart. There are some gruesome scenes.
Availability: SMCM Library
Submitted by: Kevin Koeser
Rating: Highly Recommended
The Other End of Time by Frederik Pohl
In 2031, five people are brought together when Earth receives signals with extraterrestrial origins. Dan Dannerman is an operative with the National Bureau of Investigation, and he is sent to discover what his cousin, Dr. Patrice Addock, has been doing with the astrophysical observatory she runs. Three more scientists join this pair as they try to discover the causes of strange data received by the observatory’s Starlab. Looking for alien artifacts with which to get rich, these five instead become prisoners of an alien race. The aliens resemble those in a signal broadcast to Earth, but was the signal a warning, or a trick sent by enemies?
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Taren Parsons
Rating: Recommended (3.5)
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