Books we like 2005
The librarians assembly has released its list of "Books We Like" from 2005. The annual list has been published in previous years as an insert to the libraries' holiday greeting card. Following the chancellor's lead in 2005, the libraries did not produce holiday cards because of budget constraints. In lieu of this insert, the 2004 and recently released 2005 lists are available in this newsletter.
- Abu-Jaber, Diana. The Language of Baklava. 1st ed.
New York: Pantheon Books, 2005.
The author shares her family history as delectably flavored by its culinary traditions.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; TX725 M628 A28 2005.
- Ali, Muhammad. The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
A reflection on a life of growth and service from a spiritual man known first as a pugilist, then as a protestor and now as a philosopher. Although Parkinson's disease has slowed Ali's voice and movement in recent years, his mind is still active and reflective.
Historical Society Library Stacks; GV1132.A4 A3 2004.
- Bensten, Cheryl. Maasai Days.
New York: Anchor Books1991, 1989.
College Library Main Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3191; DT433.545 M33 B45 1991.
- Boylan, Jennifer Finney. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. 1st ed.
New York: Broadway Books, 2003.
The true story of an English professor at Colby College who realizes that he was really meant to be a woman. The touching memoir recounts the physical and psychological changes each step of the way as James makes the transition to Jenny.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3552 O914 Z477 2003.
- Bryson, Bill. A Short History of nearly Everything. 1st trade pbk ed.
New York: Broadway Books, 2004.
Bryson explores the most intriguing and consequential questions that science seeks to answer and attempts to understand everything that has transpired from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization. His challenge is to see if there is a way to render complex sciences comprehensible to people, like himself, who were bored or scared by science in school.
College Library Open Book General, 1st Floor, Room 1250; Q162 B88 2004.
- Bryson, Reid A. Climates of Hunger: Mankind and the World's Changing Weather.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977.
College Library Inactive Reserves, 1st Fl. West, Rm 1191; QC981.8 C5 B77.
- Burroughs, Augusten. Running with Scissors: A Memoir. 1st Picador ed.
New York: Picador2003, 2002.
College Library Open Book General, 1st Floor, Room 1250; PS3552 U745 Z477 2003.
- Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone does My Shirts.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2004.
In 1934, Moose Flanagan moves to Alcatraz Island with his family so they can afford to send his autistic sister to a special school. This well written, historically accurate rendering looks at the impact of living close to the infamous Al Capone as well as the impact on family life of the uniquely challenging environment.
CCBC Current Fiction (Non-circulating);
CIMC PreK-12 Stacks (LTy);
School of Library/Info Studies. General Collection; Choldenko; PZ3 C43186 Al 2004; C+ C453a.
- Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. 1st U.S. ed.
New York: Bloomsbury: Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2004.
Napoleonic era magic is experiencing a serious decline after centuries of prominence. Only a recluse named Gilbert Norrell still practices until the charismatic Jonathan Strange comes along, a natural who has never formally studied magic. Clarke transports the reader into a parallel universe where magic is considered seriously by everyone, even the government.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6103 L375 J65 2004.
- Conant, Jennet. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
This book captures the drama of 27 perilous months at Los Alamos, a secret city cut off from the rest of society, ringed by barbed wire, where Oppenheimer and his young recruits lived as virtual prisoners of the U.S. government, racing to build the first atomic bomb before Germany could.
Historical Society Library Stacks; QC773.A1 C66 2005.
- Crandell, Doug. Pig Boy's Wicked Bird: A Memoir. 1st ed.
Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2004.
This memoir recounts a single year, 1976, when a seven-year-old boy on an Indiana hog farm finds inspiration in Jimmy Carter's candidacy for the presidency during a year of family crisis and change.
LC: PS3603.R377; Dewey: 818/.603; B.
- Cutler, Richard W. Counterspy: Memoirs of a Counterintelligence Officer in World War II and the Cold War. 1st ed.
Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, 2004.
Historical Society Library Stacks; D810.S8 C88 2004.
- Ellis, Joseph J. His Excellency: George Washington. 1st ed.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Drawing from the newly catalogued Washington papers at the University of Virginia, the author paints a full portrait of Washington's life and career, richly detailing his private life and illustrating the ways in which it influenced his public persona.
Historical Society Library Stacks; E312 .E245 2004.
- Ellis, Warren, and Darick Robertson. Transmetropolitan: Back on the Street.
New York, NY: DC Comics, 1998.
A graphic novel series about a reporter in a gritty near future city. Gun-toting and chain-smoking, it has lots of noir elements and style. Excellent comic art.
- Fletcher, Susan. Eve Green.
London; New York: Fourth Estate, 2004.
With the death of her mother, Eve is sent to live with her kindly grandparents in rural Wales. As an adult, she will recount this arrival and her childhood amidst the fear that will descend when another child from the community vanishes.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; Catalog; PR6106 L48 E95 2004b.
- Flint, Eric. 1632.
Riverdale, N.Y.: Baen Books, 2000.
Impact of a 21st-century West Virginia small town transported to Thuringia during the Thirty Years War on its residents and their new neighbors. First novel in a fascinating new series.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; Catalog: UW-Madison;
PS3556 L548 A616 2000.
- Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization.
New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Each chapter of this book is devoted to a different country and the role that soccer plays in politics, the media, and the history of the country. This is not a sports book, but rather a fascinating interpretation of current events in many parts of the world.
College Library Main Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3191; Catalog
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; JZ1318 F64 2004; JZ1318 F64 2004.
- Furst, Alan. Dark Voyage: A Novel. 1st ed.
New York: Random House, 2004.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3556 U76 D373 2004.
- Gaiman, Neil. American Gods: A Novel. 1st Perennial ed.
New York: Perennial, 2003.
The author imagines the fate of various gods of old, including deities from Norse, Celtic, African and Slavic mythology, who were transplanted to the less hospitable climes of America. Much of the action takes place in Wisconsin.
College Library Open Book Sci Fi/Fantasy, Room 1250; PR6057 A319 A84 2003.
- Gaiman, Neil. Anansi Boys. 1st ed.
New York: William Morrow, 2005.
While not exactly a sequel to American Gods, the author follows one of the characters first introduced in his earlier work and explores the meaning of fraternity, identity, reality and fate — all inspired by the trickiest of all trickster gods, Anansi the Spider.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6057 A319 A85 2005.
- Gaines, Jim. Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment.
London New York: Fourth Estate, 2005. --VH
Music Library (Mills); ML410 B1 G348 2005.
- Godden, Rumer. Kitchen Madonna. Illustrated.
New York: Viking Press, 1967.
A boy's efforts to create an icon to please the family's new maid helps him to make new friends and discover an artistic talent.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving;
School of Library/Info Studies. General Collection;
School of Library/Info Studies. General Collection; PZ7 G54 Ki; C+ G54k; C+ G54k.
- Hall, Tarquin. Salaam Brick Lane: A Year in the New East End.
London: John Murray, 2005.
Engaging and very personal narrative of the history and contemporary tapestry of London's East End - as experienced, researched and compassionately documented by the author in residence.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; DA685 E1 H34 2005.
- Hill, Ingrid. Ursula, Under.
London: Jonathan Cape, 2005.
Story of much-loved Ursula, who falls into a mine shaft. As the rescue attracts media attention, the book takes issue with those who would question the heroic efforts made for this child. Ursula proves a lovely metaphor for that which is exceptional in everyday people.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3558 I3886 U77 2005.
- Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. 1st Riverhead trade pbk. ed.
New York: Riverhead Books2004, 2003.
The story of Kabul before and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan centers around the fictional characters Hassan and Baba.
College Library Open Book Fiction, 1st Floor, Room 1250;
PS3608 O832 K58 2004; PS3608 O832 K58 2004.
- Hunter, Tab. Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star. 1st ed.
Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PN2287 H82 A3 2005.
- Jernigan, Jackie. Miserable on Purpose. 2005, (2005): 205 pages.
Short personal essays, illustrated with charming doodles, originally posted on the personal blog of a 60-year-old Tennessee writer/mother/grandmother and then self-published as a print-on-demand book. Whimsical, gentle and very funny, even when bittersweet.
- Keuning-Tichelaar, An. Passing on the Comfort: The War, the Quilts, and the Women Who made a Difference.
Intercourse, PA: Good Books, 2005.
The powerful narrative of a Dutch resistance operation during World War II conducted by Keuning-Tichelaar and her husband, Herman, a Mennonite minister. With the support of their townspeople, the two young newlyweds sheltered and saved the lives of those in danger from the Nazis.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; On Order
- Laskin, David. The Children's Blizzard. 1st ed.
New York: HarperCollins, 2004.
A riveting account of the January 12, 1888 blizzard that killed more than 100 school children on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. This title interweaves the fledgling science of meteorology and the social structures of immigrant life on the prairie with personal narrative.
LC: F595; Dewey: 977/.031.
- Leon, Donna. Death at La Fenice. 1st ed.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992.
Excellent series of mysteries set in Venice.
LC: PS3562.E534; Dewey: 813/.54.
- Levy, Andrea. Every Light in the House Burnin'.
London: Headline Review, 1994.
Levy's debut novel of a contemporary, first-generation, Jamaican-English childhoodthe character's memoir sparked by an ageing father's chronic illness.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6062 E923 E84 1994.
- Levy, Andrea. Small Island.
London: Review, 2004.
This book takes place in Jamaica and England in 1948. Gilbert Joseph, a Jamaican man who serves in the RAF during World War II, returns to England after the war and finds rampant poverty and prejudice. Levy adroitly tackles heavy themes like empire, prejudice, war and love.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6062 E923 S53 2004.
- Lewycka, Marina. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
New York: Penguin Press, 2005.
Estranged sisters reunite to rescue their father from the lacquered talons of a buxom gold-digger. Infuriating though this initial situation is, their father would rather wax lyrical about his passion for the history of tractors than address his daughters' growing concerns- an amusing novel about ageing, legacy and family responsibility.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6112 E895 S47 2005.
- MacLeod, Alistair. No Great Mischief. 1st American ed.
New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.
The story of a tightly knit clan of Scots settled in Nova Scotia since the 1700s but remembering their roots in the Highlands as if it were yesterday. Beautiful descriptive passages and an air of the inevitability of tragedy make this a lovely melancholy read.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR9199.3 M3342 N6 2000.
- McKibben, B. Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's most Hopeful Landscape, Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks. 1st ed.
New York: Crown Journeys, 2005.
This travelogue and environmental essay details a hike through the mountains bordering Vermont and New York. This entertaining and thought provoking work is a quick read but should be savored for its rich descriptions and deep sense of home.
Historical Society Library Stacks; F127.A2 M357 2005.
- Miller, Robert M. The Revolution in Horsemanship: And what it Means to Mankind.
Guilford, Conn.: Lyon's Press, 2005.
A favorite book about natural horsemanship.
Steenbock Library; SF309 M594 2005.
- Morrison, Grant, and Frank Quitely. We3.
New York, NY: DC Comics, 2005.
A graphic novel, the reader must interpret the art carefully to understand the story. The characters, three pets who have been transformed into weapons (WEapon 3), become wonderful protagonists. The tension in the story is between people who love and care for the animals, and those who see them as tools to be used and discarded.
- Mortimer, John Clifford. Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. 1st American ed.
New York: Viking, 2004.
At long last, the Old Bailey barrister Rumpole gives us the details of his first case and greatest triumph, the case he has been referring to in all the Rumpole stories. In this typically witty and satisfying mystery, we also learn how he came to be married to She Who Must Be Obeyed. All this "back story" is welcome to both newcomers and long term Rumpole fans.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6025 O7552 R785 2004.
- Niven, Jennifer. Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic. 1st ed.
New York: Hyperion, 2003.
In 1921, 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for an Arctic expedition, accompanying four earnest young explorers. Two years later, she emerged as the only survivor, despite having no previous wilderness experience. All of the characters come alive in this well-researched and readable account of the expedition and its aftermath.
Historical Society Library Stacks; E99.E7 B6563 2003.
- Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. 1st ed.
San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2004.
The autobiography of a man paid to study the economies of developing countries and write reports that grossly inflated the future energy and infrastructure needs of those countries. These reports were used to justify enormous World Bank loans that prevent actual development in Third World countries to this day.
College Library Main Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3191;
College Library Main Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3191;
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; UB271 U52 P47 2004.
- Rawles, Nancy. My Jim: A Novel. 1st ed.
New York: Crown Publishers, 2005.
This story of Jim, from Huckleberry Finn, reveals his life before he ran away and tells of the family he left behind. A revealing look at the emotional impact of slavery on families is provided through our familiarity with a major character in American literature.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3568 A844 M9 2005.
- Roberts, Cokie. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. 1st ed.
New York: William Morrow, 2004.
The women who were most influential in the American Revolution wielded most of that influence through the written word. Since most of this work was to the Founding Fathers, their power was seldom explored before this title looked at this correspondence through the eyes of the Founding Mothers.
Historical Society Library Stacks; E176 .R63 2004.
- Saitoti, Tepilit Ole. The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior: An Autobiography.
New York: Random House, 1986.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; DT433.545 M33 S25 1986.
- Schwarzenegger, Arnold and Douglas Kent Hall. Arnold's Bodyshaping for Women.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
"It is one of the best pure women bodybuilding books for females available. And who is more qualified than the greatest bodybuilder of all time? Arnold ... was one of the first to promote bodybuilding for women to develop a shapely figure." —Amazon.com.
- Sebold, Alice. Lucky.
1st Back Bay pbk. ed. Boston: Back Bay Books2002, 1999.
Sebold reveals how her life was transformed when at age 18 she was raped and beaten in a park near her college campus. A story of a college student's rape, the trial and the people who helped and hindered her recovery from the crime.
College Library Open Book General, 1st Floor, Room 1250;
College Library Women's Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3250; HV6561 S44 2002; HV6561 S44 2002.
- Seidel, Michael. Ted Williams: A Baseball Life.
Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1991.
A good biography of Williams' four decades in baseball.
Historical Society Library Stacks; GV865 W5 S44 1991.
- Shriver, Lionel. We Need to Talk about Kevin.
New York: Counterpoint, 2003.
In a series of letters to her estranged husband Franklin, Eva tries to come to grips with the fact that their 17-year-old son, Kevin, has killed seven students and two adults at his school. She relates her doubts about becoming a mother in the first place and Kevin's difficult behavior all through his childhood.
College Library Open Book Fiction, 1st Floor, Room 1250;
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3569 H742 W4 2003.
- Smith, Zadie. On Beauty: A Novel.
London; New York: Hamish Hamilton, 2005.
Smith skewers pretentious academics, adultery, unrequited and undeserved love, middle-class African American use of ghetto speak and more in her first novel set in America.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6069 M59 O5 2005.
- Tyson, Timothy B. Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story. 1st ed.
New York: Crown Publishers, 2004.
Tyson describes the racial hatred and unquestioned discrimination of 1960s Oxford, Ga. The book centers on the unprovoked murder of a black man by the father of one of the author's friends.
Historical Society Library Stacks; F264.O95 T97 2004.
- Umutesi, Marie BeŽatrice. Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.
Umutesi's personal account of the bloody ethnic confrontations between Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda and neighboring Zaire, culminating in the 1994 slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutus. There were two genocides, this book argues, with barbaric acts committed by and against Hutus and permitted by the international community.
College Library Inactive Reserves, 1st Fl. West, Rm 1191;
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; DT450.435 U513 2004.
- Van Gieson, Judith. Land of Burning Heat: A Claire Reynier Mystery. 1st ed.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
Features a rare books librarian at the University of New Mexico. A present-day mystery involving the history of Spanish and Jewish settlers in 17th-century New Mexico.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PS3572 A42224 L36 2003.
- Vaughan, Brian K. and Pia Guerra. Y: The Last Man.
New York, N.Y: DC Comics, 2003.
This graphic novel explores the story of the one known male who survived a world wide catastrophe. Issues include disaster recovery, mysterious federal agents who discover and protect this last man, and feminist issues about life in a world without men.
- Walls, Jeannette. Glass Castle: A Memoir.
New York: Scribner, 2005.
"Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. ... She describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family"--Amazon.com
College Library Main Book Collection, 3rd Floor, Room 3191;
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; HV5132 W35 2005.
- Wilson, Laura. The Lover.
London: Orion, 2004.
A taut suspense thriller about a serial killer operating in London during World War II. Its research, vivid period detail and strong characterizations raise this novel well above the usual genre offering.
Memorial Library Stacks Regular Size Shelving; PR6073 I4716 L68 2004.