Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

E. Arnot Robertson’s Ordinary Families, originally published in 1933, depicts the life of a family living on the east coast of England whose life revolves around sailing. Events are depicted through the eyes of the second youngest daughter, Lallie. The author is especially good at showing the ways in which a child, although acutely observant, doesn’t always fully understand the adult significance of what she sees. The author is also excellent at distinguishing the personalities of a large cast of characters. The sequence of events, some sad, some funny and some with unanticipated consequences, over time gradually reveals how ordinary family life isn’t really ordinary and how the internal life of family members isn’t always obvious even to other members of the family. Robertson was a very popular and successful novelist during the 1930s and 1940s, and she also sailed with her husband and family. Her Four Frightened People is also a great read.

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Review Submitted by: Gail Savage
Rating: Highly Recommended                                                                          

I have previously read Saturday and Atonement by Ian McEwan, and am amazed by his ability to write an entire novel covering only the course of a day or so. His grasp of human nature is flawless, and his insights into his characters’ minds, rather than the plot of the book itself, are often what drive his novels; On Chesil Beach does not stray from this style.

The book introduces Florence and Edward on their wedding night in July 1962, both virgins and from different backgrounds, but nonetheless, they exclaim their love for one another. Edward is eager for what is to come later in the night; Florence, however, is terrified of and disgusted by sexual intimacy. The novel focuses on the discovery of their different attitudes towards not only sex, but their philosophies on life, and how rash decisions, impatience, and misunderstanding can change the course of one’s future.

It has been rumored that a screenplay is in the works, which concerns me. Although Atonement was a good film, I generally think that Ian McEwan novels, because of their internal nature, would make terrible movies.

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Review Submitted by: Jordan Gaines
Rating: Recommended                                                                                      

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist who became interested in the brain after learning, as a teenager, that her brother suffered from schizophrenia. On the morning of December 10, 1996, at the age of 37, Taylor awoke with a sharp pain by her left ear. Assuming it was a migraine, she hopped onto her exercise equipment, hoping that getting her blood flowing would ease the pain. When that didn’t work, she opted to take shower; that’s when she started noticing paralyzation of her right arm, the dulling of her senses, and an overall out-of-body feeling despite the worsening pain.

My Stroke of Insight details the morning of and recovery from her stroke caused by an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), the rarest cause of stroke. Taylor asserts that her deep understanding of the brain as a neuroanatomist was what allowed her to recognize the plasticity and boundless potential for her brain to recover. By identifying the portions of her brain affected and working specifically to exercise those areas, Jill made a full recovery. She now gives lectures about her journey, hoping to teach people, stroke victims and their loved ones alike, what they can and should do when faced with this unfortunate neurological dysfunction.

I was attracted to this book for two reasons. Firstly, I am a neuroscience minor (it’s the reason I chose St. Mary’s to begin with!) and plan to go to grad school for a career in research, and secondly, my interests lie in neurodegeneration. To read a first-hand account of neurodegeneration from a neuroscientist was nothing short of fascinating. The opportunity to know what somebody goes through when experiencing something so debilitating is extremely rare, almost invaluable.

I would, however, recommend this book with reservations. Although Taylor does her best to summarize the nervous system in layman’s terms for the first several chapters, I can see how it would still be a bit dense for those unfamiliar with the terminology, and much of the material she includes is not necessary to know when attempting to understand what happened in her brain during her stroke. As someone who read the book out of scientific interest, I was sometimes lost in her artistic and philosophical descriptions of what was going on in her mind and body, finding some of her phrases overused towards the end.

If anyone has any interest at all in stroke, or knows someone who suffered a stroke, this is a great read; just don’t worry if you don’t understand all of the jargon she throws at you.

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Review Submitted by: Jordan Gaines
Review: Recommend with Reservations                                                       

I think Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past gives an excellent and unbiased view of the life of Alexander the Great. It examines what sources are available and talks about both positive and negative interpretations before going into the author’s own views. The book presents a comprehensive historical overview with the appropriate contextual elements woven into it. It draws a lot from historical sources and makes very insightful conclusions. Every aspect of Alexander’s life is broken down into a chapter (for example: “Alexander and the Persians,” “The Divinity of Alexander,” etc.) and explored in depth, with references to events described earlier. Overall, I think this is a great picture of Alexander’s life that not only gives the reader an in-depth introduction to the man himself, but also to the historiography and controversy that surround him. For anyone interested in Alexander, this is a must read. Even for those without any great interest in history, this book presents a case where fact is often much more fantastic than fiction in a well-written (if occasionally very academic) way.

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Review Submitted by: Lex Cosenze
Rating: Highly Recommended                                                                         

Almost anything from Margaret Atwood is a good read. The world is heading in this direction. Fictional, but possible future if we keep messing around with DNA, GMOs and cloning while killing off species with our foolishness and need for more.

Editor’s note: Oryx and Crake is the prequel to The Year of the Flood.

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Review Submitted by: Kathy Lewin
Rating: Recommended                                                                                        

This book is pretty much the definition of a summer read. The story, written by the writer of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle (two of my favorite movies) follows Rachel, a pregnant mother of a two year old, as she tries to piece her life together after finding out that her husband is having an affair. While the story made me laugh, it also made me think. For the first time, I really began to think about what women give up to have a career and what women have left without the lives they built with their husbands.

What makes this book well worth the read is the way Ephron writes about food. In the novel, Rachel is a cookbook writer and her descriptions of food had my mouth watering from the first page to the last. Through the story, Ephron also works in actual recipes almost all of which I would be more than willing to try.

Ephron has a gift for telling a touching story in a way that makes you laugh.

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Review Submitted by: Lauren Grey
Rating: Recommended                                                                                      

The author of this memoir holds MFA from Sarah Lawrence University and teaches at SUNY Purchase. She also worked for four years as a professional dominatrix in New York City and was a heroine addict while earning a degree from the The New School University.

This fascinating memoir is challenging to read and definitely not for everyone. But the story was not written simply to shock. The author has interesting and provocative insights about the men she saw in her work and whose fantasies usually consisted of them role-playing as women. And she confronts her own fantasies and obsessions. As is often the case, the clients in the “dungeon” are mostly middle and upper middle class men, and the other “dommes” are educated women.

The story of how the author gets off drugs and finally leaves sex work (a line of work where the women rarely take off their clothes or have sex) is mostly a story of Febos learning about her own struggles with the need to control. She has written recently for the Chronicle of Higher Education and was a guest on NPR’s “Fresh Air” in March.

As noted above, this book is not for everyone. It is explicit in parts, and deals with the work of a dominatrix and of drug addiction in gritty detail. It was a risky, and honest, book to write as Febos begins her academic career.

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Review Submitted by: Celia Rabinowitz
Rating: Recommended                                                                                      

Organic Manifesto: How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe is a must read for anyone who wants to live on this planet. Cigarette packages come with a health warning on them. After reading this book, I think all chemically grown food should too.

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Review Submitted by: Kathy Lewin, Office Assistant II
Rating: Must Read                                                                                              

Maus tells the story of Art, a Jewish mouse, attempting to create a comic about his father, Vladek, a WWII survivor. There are so many gripping aspects to this story that it is it difficult to know where to begin. The most visually striking aspect is that the true story of Spiegelman’s father is told through Jewish mice, Polish pigs, and German cats. There are times when Vladek is pretending to be Polish to escape the Nazis, and he wears the mask of a pig, highlighting ethnicity as little more than a disguise. There are even moments when the reader sees the author, Spiegelman, drawn wearing a mouse mask.

But far beyond the visual effects, the story itself is equally striking. Vladek’s story shows human ugliness in all forms and the overwhelming strength. The story is not meant to create Vladek as a hero, but rather to show his struggle, and the lifelong effects of that struggle.

While reading both parts of this book, I had to constantly remind myself that this is a true story. The things a person will do to survive, both “good” and “bad” are absolutely extraordinary. A story like this is important, not only to tell the story of those who survived, but also so we never forget the story of those who didn’t.

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Review Submitted by: Lauren Grey
Rating: Highly Recommended                                                                         

I am a sucker for stories about peoples’ lives: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is my favorite book, and Forrest Gump is my favorite movie. The Time Traveler’s Wife does not disappoint; not only does this novel chronicle the lives of Clare Abshire and Henry DeTamble, but it does so tastefully, imaginatively, and, despite the science fiction aspect of the novel’s central theme, believably.

Henry suffers from a genetic disorder that causes him to time-travel, unexpectedly leaving his present and arriving in different times and places in his life, naked; as a result, he spends most of his time pick-pocketing, searching for clothes, and running from the police. It is only when, in his mid-30s, Henry is able to travel back to his wife Clare’s childhood that he is finally safe. From the ages of 6 to 18, Clare secretly meets her future husband in her backyard, hiding him from her family and getting to know a little more about him with each visit.

When they finally meet again in their 20s, Henry has no knowledge of Clare, although Clare has grown up with Henry. The book chronicles their lives together; the frustrations of time travel on Clare’s end, and the excitement on Henry’s. They face many challenges, including the fear of the unexpected, problems with conceiving a child, family struggles, and ultimately, the grave consequences of time travel.

This was Niffenegger’s debut novel; her second novel came out last year. Not only was this novel beautifully-written and fascinating, but it really made me reflect on aspects of my own life and how I can better appreciate what I have and accept the things that I don’t. This is a must-read (and not a “chick” novel, even if the 2009 movie version is)!

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Review Submitted by: Jordan Gaines
Rating: Must Read