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The Year of Reading Library Staff Recommend . . .*
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"Our. . . 'best books' need not be yours, nor yours ours;
the essential thing is that in this brief interval between
darkness and darkness, which we call our life, we should be
thrillingly and passionately amused; innocently, if so it
can be arranged-and what better than books lend itself to
that?-and harmlessly, too, let us hope, God help us, but at
any rate, amused, for the only unpardonable sin is the sin
of taking this passing world too gravely. Our treasure is
not here; it is in the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom
of heaven is Imagination. Imagination! How all other ways
of escape from what is mediocre in our tangled lives grow
pale beside that high and burning star!"
One Hundred Best Books by John Cowper Powys (1872-1963). Little Blue Book No. 435, edited by E. Haldeman-Julius. Girard, Kansas, Haldeman-Julius Company, n.d. |
Peter Allison, Collections Services, recomends:
Black Sea by Neal Ascherson. Hill and Wang, 1995. (DJK66 .A83 1995) A vivid introduction to a little known region where central Asia met the Greek diaspora.
The Communitarian Moment: The Radical Challenge of the Northampton Association by Christopher Clark. Cornell University Press, 1995. (HX656.N75 C53 1995) The story of a utopian community that included both Sojourner Truth and failed silk entrepreneurs from Mansfield Connecticut.
Europe: A History by Norman Davies. Oxford University Press, 1996. (D57 .D28 1996) A general history of Europe from its first settlement written with attitude and a concerted attempt to make the picture include Eastern as well as Western Europe.
Powers of Congress: Poems by Alice Fulton. D.R. Godine, 1990. (PS3556.U515 P68 1986) Unimpeachably fine poetry by one of America's best.
The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics by George Lipsitz. Temple University Press, 1998. (E184.A1 L56 1998) For anyone who doubts that racism is still public policy in America.
About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory by Barry Lopez. Knopf, 1998. (PS3562.O67 Z464 1998) Restrained, elegant meditations on people and places and our relation to the natural world by one of our best writers and environmentalists.
Avatars of the Word: From Papyrus to Cyberspace by James J. O'Donnell. Harvard University Press, 1998. (P96.T42 O36 1998) A leading exponent of the educational use of digital technology uses snapshots from antiquity as a way of reflecting on the revolutionary changes he believes are in store.
Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb. Duffy & Snellgrove, 1996. (HV6453.I8 R63 1996) The story of the Mafia's penetration of the Italian government, set against the history, culture and cuisine of Sicily.
Dinner with Persephone by Patricia Storace. Pantheon Books, 1996. (DF728 .S76 1996) A fascinating look at modern Greece through the eyes of a Greek American writer.
The Beak of the Finch: The Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner. A.A. Knopf, 1994. (QL696.P246 W45 1994) An accessible account of evolution in action in the same harsh environment where Darwin first discovered it.
David Garnes, Research & Information Services, recommends:
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G.B. Edwards. Knopf, 1981. (PR 6055 D87 B6 1981) A unique and beautifully realized novel about the long life of a singular Channel Islander.& Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. I by Blanche Wiesen Cook. Viking, 1992. (E 807.1 R48 C661992) The first of a projected three-volume biography of an extraordinary woman.
The Heart of London by H.V. Morton. Methuen, 1925. (914.21 M84) A wonderful collection of sketches of London and Londoners by one of the best travel writers ever.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998. (PS 3553 U484 H68 1998) A brilliant novel, both an homage to Virginia Woolf's Mrs.Dalloway and a deeply-felt exploration of the need to connect.
In the Western Night: Collected Poems, 1965-90 by Frank Bidart. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1990. (PS 3552 I33 I5 1990) The best single volume of one of our most insightful contemporary poets.
The Other Side of Silence: Men's Lives and Gay Identities: A Twentieth Century History by John Loughery. H. Holt, 1998. (HQ 76.2 U5 L68 1998) An accessible, well-written survey that encompasses both the arts and the social sciences.
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen. Vintage, 1972. (DT 434 E2 B6 1972) Life on a coffee farm in colonial Kenya, and one of the memorable memoirs of this century.
Virginia Woolf: A Biography by Quentin Bell. Harcourt Brace, 1972. (PR 6045 O72 Z545 1972b) An outstanding book that does justice to Woolf and the Bloomsbury group that surrounded her.
Jan E. Heckman, Avery Point Campus Library, recommends:
Tsunami! by Walter C. Dudley & Min Lee. University of Hawaii Press, 1988. (Avery Point: GC222.H3 D84 1988) The central characters are the Hawaiian islands, the 1946 tsunami that hit Hilo, and the incredible power of the ocean. While the authors explain the science of tsunamis, the stories and photographs of the people who survived reveal much about human nature at its best and sometimes most foolish.
Paul Kobulnicky, Vice Chancellor, recommends:
System Effects by Robert Jervis. Princeton University Press, 1997. (HM131 .J44 1997) Understanding complexity in modern society is crucial if we are to address and resolve contemporary challenges. Jervis provides a philosophical framework and provides thousands of examples from politics to the environment.
Susan Martin, Collections Services, recommmends:
Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least Heat Moon. Little Brown, 1982. (E169.04 .H4 1982) Captures an America that, in many places, no longer exists. In a world where a traveler's primary concern is the destination, and getting there as quickly as possible, Blue Highway's destination is the journey. You'll never want to take the interstate again!
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb. Pocket Books, 1992 (PS3562.A433 S54 1992) Lamb's novel is not optimisitic, but hopeful.
Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvizdala by Vaclav Havel. Knopf, 1990. (DB2241.H38 A513 1990) Havel describes hope as that "which gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now."
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. McGraw-Hill, 1987. (Trecker: PS3556.L26 F7 1988) Don't read this book when you're hungry!
Fred Rick, Preservation Services, recommends:
The Landsmen by Peter Martin. Southern Illinois University Press, 1977. (PZ4.M382 Lan6) A series of interconnected stories told from the perspective of several residents of a Shtetl (Russian Jewish village) at the turn of the century. Unsentimental and at times harsh, yet moving, this is a glimpse into a lost world.
Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Doubleday, 1951. (PS3551.S5 F6 1951) Classic science fiction trilogy.
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Delacorte Press, 1969. (PZ4.V948 Sl) A man unstuck in time relives his life out of sequence. A novel about love, war and aliens.
We the Living by Ayn Rand. New American Library, 1959. (PS3535.A547 W4 1959) A novel of Soviet Russia's earliest days seen through the eyes of a young woman. Rand's first novel, much less pedantic, far more emotional than her later works.
The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Putnam, 1958. (823.912 W585o) A retelling of the Arthurian legend from Arthur's childhood through old age.
The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter Thompson. Warner Books, 1982. (E169.12 .T49 1982) Essays and articles by Dr. Gonzo himself covering the 60's and 70's from Kennedy to Carter. Includes the classic essay "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," and perhaps the best (and undoubtably the funniest and most savage) writing on Nixon and Watergate. Both profane and profound and, at times, screamingly funny. William Buckley's review said it best: "Hunter Thompson elicits the same kind of admiration one would feel for a streaker at Queen Victoria's funeral."
Darlene Waller, Research & Information Services, recommends:
Aqui Me Quedo: Puerto Ricans in Connecticut by Ruth Glasser. Connecticut Humanities Council, 1997. (F105.P85 G5 1997) Through research and oral histories the author tells the story of Puerto Ricans who emigrated to Connecticut from 1844 through the 20th century to work in the tobacco fields and other industries of the Connecticut Valley. Bilingual and readable.
* Call numbers are for Babbidge Library unless indicated otherwise.
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