Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

In 1960, the author John Steinbeck drove across the United States in a camper truck called Rocinante (after Don Quixote’s horse). Accompanied only by a 10-year-old French poodle named Charley, Steinbeck travels from Long Island north to Maine and across the upper Midwest to Seattle, down to his native Salinas Valley in California, across to Texas, and through the South. Steinbeck’s travelogue chronicles an America losing its regional distinctiveness in favor of putting “cleanliness first at the expense of taste.” He deftly explores issues of racism, rural-urban migration, and poverty throughout this journey.

In his introduction to the 50th anniversary edition, Jay Parini writes “it would be a mistake to take this travelogue too literally, as Steinbeck was at heart a novelist, and he added countless touches – changing the sequence of events, elaborating on scenes, inventing dialogue – that one associates more with fiction than nonfiction.” Regardless of its authenticity, Travels with Charley is an excellent example of Steinbeck’s excellent dialogue and warm prose. A perfect companion for a summer road trip!

Availability:  USMAI and SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Highly Recommended

This was a quick and enjoyable “beach read”. Taking place in Nantucket, it follows the ups and downs of lifetime best friends with some interesting twists. A short but enjoyable read.

Availability:  COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Tammy Cannon
Rating: Recommended

If you are looking for a good, old-fashioned vampire novel, look no further than Lauren Owen’s The Quick. For the first 150 pages, you may think that Owen’s novel (her first) will be a straightforward, conventional tale of orphaned siblings in Victorian England. Then, James Norbury finds himself a reluctant member of the Aegolius Club, a secret society for the wealthy (and undead). After James goes missing, his sister Charlotte travels to London to search for him. Like the heroine of any Gothic novel, Charlotte finds herself navigating a underground London populated by dangerous characters: child vampires, a pair of “Van Helsings,” and the mysterious Doctor Knife. Like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Owen plays with narrative and form to encompass the thoughts of both the (un)dead and the “quick.” Only the narrative of Charlotte, our virginal heroine, falls flat. Overall, however, Owen has written a dark, compelling story of the monsters within us all. No sparkly vampires in sight.

Availability:  COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Kaitlyn Grigsby
Rating: Highly Recommended

The Last Man is the story of Lionel Verney, told by himself, the last man alive on earth after a rapacious plague accompanies sudden, ill-fated climate change and interminable armed conflicts at the end of the 21st century.

No, I am not talking about Margaret Atwood’s Maddadam trilogy, nor Paolo Bacigalupi’s Wind Up Girl or even old-school books like Ballard’s Drowned World or Matheson’s The Omega Man. Those spring chickens are just derivative, it turns out. In The Last Man, in 1826, Mary Shelley’s novel of the waterless flood of plague blasts the contours through the imaginative plains by which modern apocalyptic fiction so easily traverses today.

Most know Mary Shelley as the author of the inimitable Frankenstein (1818), that foundational sci-fi novel of the monstrous Frankenstein and the piteous wretch he creates by arrogantly and selfishly flouting the laws of Nature. If your picture of the creature is large, green, and neck-bolt sporting, blame a century of adaptation and continued fascination with humanity’s new-found technological potential for playing god; but then do yourself a favor and go read Shelley’s masterpiece meditation on life, the universe, and everything. If you haven’t read Frankenstein, I cannot recommend it more highly. I remember reading it for the first time in Christine Wooley’s ENG 304 class, and have fondly revisited this rich text every year since graduating SMCM. But that’s Frankenstein, and I am writing this review of Shelley’s The Last Man.

The Last Man is narrated from the year 2100, detailing the events from 2092 onwards when a virulent plague accompanies uncanny changes in Earth’s typical climate to annihilate humanity. Looking forward from 1826, Shelley foretells the decolonization of England’s imperial ambitions, air travel, the flash-light, and the end of monarchy’s supreme hold on English politics. This is not to say Shelley plays at Sibyl, even though that’s how her author’s note frames her chilling tale. She is flat out, hilariously wrong about a number of things that seemed immutable in 1826 but fanciful in 2014. The Ottoman Empire is strong in her future, for example, the USA still has a uncolonized frontier, and people still ride horses to and fro and boast of motorized steam engines which make freighters reach “8 knots, at least!” traveling across quiet waters. But its remarkable to see how inventive and at times transgressive Shelley’s style and content are throughout the 340 page novel.

Episodic, and at times rapturously romantic in its florid depictions, The Last Man tends to drag at times and seem in want of an editor. But the depiction of Earth’s slow, tortured desolation is haunting despite its digressive and at times anachronistic flavor. One of the first science fiction novels, and certainly the first “cli-fi” novel, The Last Man is a fascinating, and bone-chilling, summer read.

Availability:  USMAI and SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Shane D. Hall
Rating: Recommended; This novel’s sick!

A twist on the familiar “group of super-powered teens/young adults get together in a down-trodden area to fight crime” story. I liked this a lot better than the most recent X-men comics. None of the powers are particularly new, in terms of comics, but the way they are portrayed, and how they are reflective of the character they belong to, is interesting to watch unfold. In this story, our group, “The Movement”, are fighting back against a Mongol who has essentially bought the city and planned to level it to build his fortune.

Volume 1 includes issues 1-6.

Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Matthew “No Non-Non-sense” Lachkovic
Rating: Highly Recommended

Finally, a time-travel book that actually makes sense! (Or at least as much sense as a time travel book can make.)

In this sequel to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, familiar characters Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian, and Marvin continue their adventures through space, dodging interstellar alien adversaries like Vogons and Frogstar Fighters while hunting down the man who controls the galaxy and striving to discover the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything. However, the crew discovers they cannot continue their quest on empty stomachs, so they venture to the five-star restaurant at the end of the universe to witness the greatest show in the galaxy: the apocalypse.

Though not as good as its predecessor, I found this novel very entertaining and quite clever, especially when it came to the concept of time travel and how it was portrayed. However, a lot of the questions that were answered were resolved with such levity that I did not know if that was truly the resolution or if Douglas Adams was just playing a trick on the reader, making it seem like the questions were not answered at all. Since the novel was humorous in general, though, I did not find this a very large problem and still greatly enjoyed the read. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or anyone who enjoys a clever twist on time travel.

Availability: USMAI, COSMOS and SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Brianna Glase
Rating: Highly Recommended

Read reviews of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Mostly Harmless.

I enjoyed this book mainly because I enjoy romance novels and this one had an edge to it, cancer. Green took a new and unique angle to writing a love story. In literature there are only so many topics an author can write about, it’s the twist and way that they write that keeps readers engaged. I felt that I was engaged, but almost just because it was a popular book that people said I had to read. I felt like it was a bit slow and sometimes even repetitive, but overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in something a little different than your average love story and something a bit main stream.

Read Jordan Gains’ review of The Fault in Our Stars.

Availability: SMCM Library, USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Sydney Larkin
Rating:  Highly Recommended

What a strange story, but I found myself entranced by it. A flight attendant who is scared of heights, a super-secret spy who constantly changing identities, flying serpents, Aztec artifacts, and a bunch of other craziness.

Book 1, G. Willow Wilson, writer; M.K. Perker, artist; Chris Chuckry, colorist; Jared K. Fletcher, letterer.

Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Matthew “That guy who works in the library, right?” Lachkovic
Rating: Highly Recommended

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of newer comics, however given that it was X-Men, I gave it a shot. It’s about par-for-the-course for standard Marvel comics. The storyline was somewhat original, and the characters were quite familiar. The only things that irked me were the portrayal of Beast and Emma Frost. Still, as it was, I still enjoyed it quite a bit, as it was fairly well written and kept my interest for about an hour and half.

Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection, Book 1 includes issues #1-12.

Availability: SMCM Library and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Matthew “Juggernaut” Lachkovic
Rating: Recommended with Reservations

I simply must break the first rule of Fight Club to talk about what a great book it was. A novel filled with anarchy and psychological disturbances written in a choppy style, Fight Club never failed to engage me and intrigue me. The narrator, who remains nameless, chronicles the story of himself, his friend Tyler Durden, and Tyler’s lover Marla Singer. The narrator, who suffers from insomnia and will do anything for a good night’s sleep, meets Marla at a support group for cancer that neither of them have, and their complicated relationship develops throughout the novel from sheer hate to some kind of messed up affection.

When the narrator meets Tyler, however, is when things heat up: one drunken night in a bar the two promise to hit each other as hard as they can, thus engaging in the first fight of the Fight Club that they will famously found. Fight Club escalates faster than the narrator could imagine as he finds himself in the midst of a web of anarchy and conspiracy that soon becomes too powerful to stop. With Fight Club expanding beyond control, the narrator’s turmoil and unease grows until a surprising twist at the end reveals the truth behind the founding of Fight Club.

A captivating read with surprises in every chapter, I would recommend Fight Club to anyone looking for a fast-paced thriller or a book laden with fascinating psychological unrest.

Availability: SMCM Library, USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Brianna Glase
Rating: Must Read