Hilda C. Landers Library & Archives

I have seen the movie and was looking forward to reading the book since movies tend to leave out some of the most exciting parts. I was not disappointed. I think this book took on special meaning for me since I read it just as I was arriving to work with elephants in Sri Lanka. For me, this book became not just a love story but also a story about the emotions and feelings of the animals themselves. I also enjoyed how the author moved back and forth between the present Jacob and how the present Jacob came to be.

Availability: COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Mandy Reinig
Rating: Highly Recommended

See Jordan Gaines’ review of Water for Elephants.

I’d heard that the movie adaptation of this book was “so-so,” which led me to believe that the book was incredible and the movie did no justice. After reading the review on this site several weeks ago, I was excited to buy the book, since my library hadn’t had the book on the shelves for weeks. I wish I’d saved my money.

My frustrations with the book are two-fold. Firstly, I never felt drawn into the book at ANY point. The book switches between 3rd-person narration and entries from Lincoln’s “secret journals,” oftentimes changing with every other paragraph. Grahame-Smith’s style, while unique, never allowed me to feel like I was experiencing the story. I felt like an observer, and I desperately wanted to feel included.

Secondly, while the vampire twist was a unique idea, Grahame-Smith’s storytelling ability was lacking. The book reads like a history lesson, and basically every hardship in Lincoln’s life (i.e. deaths in the family) was blamed on vampires. When the vampires aren’t playing a role in the book, the author seems to get lost in his research and ramble. (And when they ARE playing a role, there is a severe deficit of description). Grahame-Smith lacks the ability of many historical biographers to draw readers in to peoples’ lives—he simply recounts anything I could have Googled and adds in some vampire-killing. Indeed, he acknowledges Google and Wikipedia at the end for the “help” he had with writing his book. He doesn’t cite one historian, Lincoln biography, or primary source.

I did enjoy reading about Lincoln’s life, but was frustrated by its execution. The best takeaway from my reading was that Lincoln had a life that doesn’t require vampires for it to be incredible. It has inspired me to go read a real Lincoln biography now. I have yet to see the movie (and may only see it when it comes out on DVD), but this may be one instance where the movie may actually be better than the book.

Availability: USMAI and COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Jordan Gaines, SMCM Alum ’11
Rating:  Not recommended

Read Samantha Schwartz’s review of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross is the story of a woman, who, disguised as a man, rises to highest position in the Catholic Church. It is a novel, since the existence of Pope Joan is denied by the Catholic Church. However, this serves to make the book more interesting, since the author can fill in dramatic details. Joan’s downfall is sort of obvious and disappointing, but is apparently found in historical sources. The misogyny and brutality of the time (ninth century) is rather horrifying, but is accurate to the time period. Recommended.

Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Rebecca Thayer
Rating:  Recommended.

Join the College’s first-year students and read Julie Otsuka’s, When the Emperor Was Divine. Earn two points in July by posting your review on the Library Summer Reading blog.

See Tiko Mason’s review of Julie Otsuka’s The Buddha in the Attic.

Lauren Grey has won the monthly prize drawing for June.

Submit a review in July to be eligible for the our next drawing. Don’t forget prizes are available for all participants who submit a review between June 4 and August 17.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is the story of two young men who are sent to the countryside to be “re-educated” during China’s Cultural Revolution. There, they discover Chinese translations of forbidden Western books. The book’s description of the re-education of the two men is interesting, and the wonder that they feel upon reading these forbidden books is familiar to anyone with a love of reading. However, the last third of the book really falls off in quality, with a strange narrative change. I found the end to be confusing. The end of the book seems to have a deep meaning, but I could not figure out what it was.

Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Rebecca Thayer
Rating:  Recommended with Reservations.

This is the 12th book in “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series, which I love. Smith’s books are such a breath of fresh air—charming and interesting. And, in a strange way, calming. I find myself physically reading these books more slowly, savoring them.

The series takes place in Botswana and features Precious Ramotswe, the proprietor of the detective agency, and the people and events surrounding her life in and out of the business. I recommend the books if you want a quick, peaceful read!

Availability: USMAI
Review Submitted by: Jordan Gaines, Alum ’11
Rating:  Highly recommended

See reviews of Tea Time for the Traditionally Built and The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith.

This book starts out with the introduction of the main characters: Gemma, Pauline and Lallie. Gemma is a privileged child in a semi-broken home, whose life spirals from fairly normal to very odd in a short period of time. Pauline is from a terrible home, with no consistent parental figures, and lives in abject poverty. She occasionally engages in prostitution for money, but this fact is presented as a nonchalant, everyday occurrence. Lallie is a child movie star, on the brink of stardom in America. Lallie represents the dream life for a pre-adolescent, but her adult chaperons are mostly concerned with living through the vicarious experiences she provides, and she is rather alone. Her movie role is that of a child being molested, somewhat knowingly, by a pedophile.

As most books featuring young adults, the subjects are speaking in their own voice, which is pleasant. Amanda Coe is clearly a good writer, but there were elements within that failed to make this book worth a recommendation.

The story proceeds with some ancillary character details, some of which make sense (such as the scenes involving Lallie, the child star whose movie is shooting in Gemma and Pauline’s hometown). Other characters, like Lallie’s agent, also make sense. But the inclusion of the sexual encounters and drug abuse of the producer, Quentin, is odd and not useful to plot development. Presumably she represents the potential future of these three young girls – “desensitized to violence and sex at a young age, young woman becomes apathetic and addicted.” But it serves no purpose other than to be annoying.

You start to think you know what will happen, but then the ending takes a very dark, unexpected and not too agreeable turn in the last twenty or so pages. I felt the ending was hard to follow and unpleasantly discordant with the rest of the book. The subject of the abuse, Cynthia, is only minimally mentioned throughout the novel, and while Gemma appears to be sympathetic to her, this is lost in the last scene as Gemma and Pauline take bullying to the extreme.  It felt like the author beat around the bush about the action, by using dialogue to convey the horror of what’s going on, to the point that you aren’t sure what’s even happening. I had to re-read it twice – cringing all the while – to feel I followed the action. Then I wanted to scrub my brain with Lysol and forget I read it. I’m still not sure what the theme of this book was supposed to be. “Men are perverts and secret child molesters. But young girls can be too?” It was just plain weird and I would NOT recommend this book, especially to anyone under the age of twenty. Not for younger audiences or anyone looking for happy endings.

Availability: COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Emily Clifton Stump, former SMCM student in Physics
Rating:  Not Recommended

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is the story of the family of Wang Lung, a Chinese man living in the time before World War II. There is very little dialogue; the story is told through the thoughts of Wang Lung instead of conversations with other characters. However, the descriptions never felt boring, as can be the case with books with little dialogue. I really enjoyed the glimpse into everyday life in China at that time, but parts concerning the treatment of women were sometimes difficult to read.

Availability: SMCM Library
Review Submitted by: Rebecca Thayer
Rating:  Recommended

Goliath is the last volume in the steampunk trilogy, Leviathan by the author of the The Uglies. Recommended after reading the other books in the series.

A great ending to the series!!

Availability: COSMOS
Review Submitted by: Lisa Williams
Rating:  Recommended