From Wednesday, May 9, 2012 through Saturday, August 25, 2012, the library and Media Center will be open:
Monday – Friday
8:00am – 5:00pm
The library and Media Center will be closed Saturdays and Sundays and on Memorial Day (May 28) and Independence Day (July 4).
Access to the Archives is available by appointment. Please contact Kat Ryner at (240) 895-4196 or khryner@smcm.edu.
The SMCM Library is now offering up to 5 laptops for 2 week check-out periods to students. Stop by the circulation desk to find out if they are available. The library will continue to offer 5 additional laptops for the standard 3 hour loan period.
Also available for loan at the circulation desk:
The Media Center presents New Works by David Ellsworth, Justin Foreman and Nick Hughes in Library 321 on Tuesday, April 10th at 8:15pm. Refreshments will be served!
Curious about the Nook, Kindle, or iPad? Stop by the library Tuesday or Wednesday, April 10 & 11, to try them out and tell us what you think. Ereaders will be on display at the Circulation Desk.
If you haven’t completed the library’s eReader, eBooks, and Tablets Survey yet, there’s still time! It will only take a few minutes and your feedback will help us improve the library’s services and collection.
But the big prize goes to Kevin Oldfield (11 reviews) and Marissa Parlock (10 reviews). Both win a bag of library swag; books, pens, posters, bookmarks and more.
The winners of the monthly prize drawing are:
June: Kevin Oldfield
July: Marissa Parlock
August: Lauren Grey
Don’t forget to pick up your prizes (Library 126)
1. Submit one review and win a mini puzzle.
2. Submit three reviews and win a set of postcards.
3. Submit five reviews and win a poster from Unshelved.
4. Submit seven reviews and win a refrigerator magnet.
5. Submit 10 reviews and win a bag of library swag.
6. Monthly prize drawings.
This is the best novella I have read in recent memory. Haldeman’s The Hemingway Hoax won a Hugo and Nebula in the nineties. The tale concerns an English Professor named John Baird who meets a conman named Sylvester Castlemaine. Castlemaine, with a bit of help from Baird’s wife Lena, convinces Baird to help him fabricate Hemingway’s first novel, and several short stories stolen from Hadley Hemingway on a train ride to Lausanne in 1921. Baird soon discovers that his con will have a dramatic effect upon the future of humanity.
The Hemingway Hoax was a very good read; Haldeman excels at creating humor through incongruity. Haldeman borrows chapter titles from Hemingway’s novels and short stories then connects the content of his chapters with the content of Hemingway’s works in clever ways. For example, a chapter entitled Sun Also Rises deals with maiming and war injuries. The Hemingway Hoax also reveals several interesting facts about the life of Ernst Hemingway; namely that he rewrote his life story at least once and that he wasn’t always a rugged individualist. I highly recommend The Hemingway Hoax.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kevin Oldfield
Rating: Highly Recommended
It was a bit of a challenge to read The Maltese Falcon. Even though Hammett describes Spade as “a blond Satan” with “stooped shoulders” it was difficult for me not to envision Spade as Bogart. Secondly, The Maltese Falcon has been parodied so many times, by people like Woody Allen and Garrison Keillor, that sometimes it was difficult for me not to laugh when I read the scenes that inspired parody i.e. When “Miss Wonderly” hires Archer and Spade and when Gutman explains why he wants the Falcon.
Although, it was well worth the effort, just for the way Hammett describes spade rolling a cigarette. The ending is quite a bit different from the film. Lastly, The Maltese Falcon is also the story that started a genre; herein are double crosses, within double-crosses, a femme fatale, and potboiler suspense. I highly recommend The Maltese Falcon to anyone who is a fan of Noir or old movies.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kevin Oldfield
Rating: Highly Recommended
Thanks to all the readers who posted reviews on our Summer Reading blog. Reviews received before the deadline will be posted today.
This short story collection by Hugo and Nebula winning author Joe Haldeman contains some of his best short stories. “More Than the Sum of His Parts” is a science fiction horror story, in the vein of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. A man is badly burned in an accident and has an arm, half his face, and various other tissues and organs replaced with powerful prosthetic parts. Invariably, power corrupts him.
The most worthwhile read in the anthology is “You Can Never Go Home.” This short story is, in actuality, the second part of Haldeman’s novel The Forever War. Haldeman’s first draft was regarded as too depressing, by his editor. “You Can Never Go Home” is a Vietnam era narrative set on earth between linked war stories; it describes the alienation and confusion of soldiers returning to a homeland they scarce recognize. Haldeman’s anthology contains many other good reads, i.e. ” Lindsay and the Red City Blues” and “Manifest Destiny.” I highly recommend Dealing in Futures.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kevin Oldfield
Rating: Highly Recommended
Joe Haldeman has written many good novels during his career; although Camouflage has some entertaining anecdotes it seems a bit burdened with clichés. Indeed, the plot centers around two aliens; one of whom is nearly identical to Robert Patrick’s character in Terminator II. Secondly, there’s a great deal of gratuitous violence; the scene where the changeling is introduced to a lovely blond Dutch Painter is particularly disturbing.
There isn’t a great deal of character development and the plot reminded me of another James Cameron movie, The Abyss. Although, Haldeman’s prose is sharp, lucid, and witty; as always. If you are on a trip and you need something to read you could do a lot worse than Camouflage. So I recommend Camouflage with a word of warning about the gratuitous violence and the recycled plot.
Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Kevin Oldfield
Rating: Recommended with Reservations
