Ape House by Sara Gruen

Quick read for a beach outing or plane trip. Apes that have learned sign language through plot are then kidnapped to become stars of reality tv show. Water for Elephants was much better by Gruen.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection

Review submitted by: Pam Ames, Purchasing Director
Rating: Somewhat Recommended
 

10th Anniversary by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

This is the 10th book in the Women's Murder Club Series. The book opens with Lindsay getting married. However, the story really heats up when the club pools their resources to find a missing baby and to gather evidence in the case of a famous heart surgeon charged with killing her husband.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Cathy Elliott, Law Library
Rating: Highly Recommended

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Brought together by the death of their closest friend, Toru and Naoko find an unspoken comfort and understanding in their friendship. But while Toru tries to break from his quiet shell, Naoko sinks deeper into loneliness and isolation. This haunting story explores the deep bonds of relationships, and the pressures of growing up.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PL856.U673 N6713 2000
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Charlotte Hughes, Student
Rating: Recommended

The New Old Healing by Henry Wood

In these many brief essays Henry Wood sets forth an inspiring ministry of the healing power of thought energy which “may be counted as a divine endowment. . . The power of Spiritual optimism as a saving and healing force is yet but faintly appreciated.” He encourages us to “be alive to love, power, beauty , grandeur, health and harmony” and to break routine and live outside of our chosen profession or occupation; “Your being includes untold possibilities, but if they are latent, this amounts to present deadness.”

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: RZ401 .W829 1896
3rd Floor Science & Technology Library
Review submitted by: Tracie Hall, Serials & Acquisitions Librarian, Law Library
Rating: Highly Recommended

The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

Nicholson's character, poet Paul Chowder, tells us everything he knows about poetry while he struggles to write the introduction to his anthology. Full of humor, wordplay, insight, beauty and, of course, melancholy, this little novel made me laugh out loud many times over. A highly recommended read for lovers of poetry and language.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PS3552.A4325 A83 2010
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Chris Rynd, Senior Writer, University Advancement
Rating: Highly Recommended

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I really enjoyed this book. I've always been a fan of dystopian novels and this one certainly fits the bill. It really struck me that although the book was published 25 years ago, the political and social themes (specifically the book's focus on religious fundamentalism) seem more relevant now than ever. If you check it out from the Leatherby Libraries, make sure to get the 2006 edition and read the introduction by Valerie Martin.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PR9199.3.A8 H3 2006
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Hallie Nicholson, Development Writer, University AdvancementRating: Highly Recommended

Hell Gate by Linda Fairstein

After a ship capsizes and bodies wash ashore, Alex Cooper finds herself immersed in political intrigue as she tries to find the person responsible for the "human trafficing". Set in New York city, this book takes the reader inside some of the great historical mansions of the area.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Cathy Elliott, Law Library
Rating: Recommended

The Journey to The East by Hermann Hesse

Vivid, mystical description of a member of a league, making a pilgrimage east. He loses touch with his earlier spirituality at the loss of one of their servants only to discover that (SPOILER ALERT) that loss was a test (which he failed). Well written. Often slips into LSD-trip-like spiritual meanderings (which are very well done). It's quick and worth the read.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PT2617.E85 M713 2003
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Brett Fisher, Chair of Library Systems, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Recommended

The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasons, and The Discovery of The Secret Scrolls of Jesus by Christopher Knight

This book, if you can get past the angry anti- Christian, anti-Jewish comments that are thrown about, is very entertaining. Some of their conclusions seem to take great leaps, but it was worth the read anyway. Claims Qumran community and Jesus were early Freemasons following Egypt's king-making ceremonies and King Seqenenre Tao II (who they claim is the "original" Hiram Abif). Books by these authors always seem to be written in a style which carries the reader from discovery to discovery, building upon the previous ones. It is well written in that sense, but again, far-reaching.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: HS403 .K55 1998
2nd Floor Social Science Library
Review submitted by: Brett Fisher, Chair of Library Systems, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Somewhat Recommended

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Based on Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence, this novel is a poetic blending of philosophy and fiction. Throughout their daily lives, the characters struggle between the relationship of chance and meaning in their decisions, thus adding a sense of "heaviness" and "lightness" to their being.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PG5039.21.U6 N413 1991
4th Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Charlotte Hughes, Student
Rating: Highly Recommended

Fateless by Imre Kertész

Fateless is narrated by Georg Koves, a fourteen-year-old Hungarian boy, who is unceremoniously separated from his family in Budapest and sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Zeitz. Georg sees himself less as a victim and more as a participant in a life that unfolds as a series of disappointing and increasingly dire revelations. With this troubling, dispassionate, often apologist voice, Kertész seems to be painstakingly recounting his own formative notions of fate and agency – an adolescent's first struggle with the concept of meaning within the bewildering inhumanity of the Holocaust.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PH3281.K3815 S6713 1996  
4th Floor Holocaust Memorial Library
Review submitted by: Chris Rynd, Senior Writer, University Advancement
Rating: Recommended

Ideal Suggestion Through Mental Photography by Henry Wood

Henry Wood's instructive essays and exercises, on the restorative power in the contemplation of Spiritual aspirations and affirmations, aided by mental pictures, vigilantly practiced with the aim to overcome and replace thoughts that arise from such base emotions as anger, jealousy, pride, ambition, or fear (a process that restored his own health when allopathic practitioners could not); evoked praise from the critics of his day (at least by the reviewers included at the end of this book), who understandably dubbed him “the Emerson of the new Metaphysical thought.” 163 Pages.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: RZ401 .W829 1896
3rd Floor Science & Technology Library
Review submitted by: Tracie Hall, Serials & Acquisitions Librarian, Law Library
Rating: Highly Recommended

Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

This is the first Mankell novel I've read even though I'm a big Kurt Wallander fan. I will look for other Mankell books to read. The main character, Wallander - a Swedish cop, gets dragged into solving the disappearance of his daughter's future in laws and so begins the cat and mouse chase. I found this book to be well written and suspenseful. What else can you ask for in a good crime drama/spy thriller?

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Linda Corcoran, Anderson Center for Economic Research
Rating: Recommended

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

Boiling down the essence of Christianity, free of denominational debate, this man has a real gift for presenting logical and easy to follow arguments to make his case. “…a cold, self- righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.” “…a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you.” Speaks of evolution as taking unimaginable changes in course, recommending not to follow the timeline – armored creatures should lead to increased-armored creatures – but no, armorless beings with great minds. And the next step has already begun – “a change from being creatures of God to being sons of God.”

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: BT77 .L348 1984
2nd Floor Friedman Collection
Review submitted by: Brett Fisher, Chair of Library Systems, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Highly Recommended

American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center by William Langewiesche

This book is a compilation of Atlantic Monthly articles about the dismantling of the World Trade Center after September 11. It is an important piece of journalism. The details about the Sept. 11 attacks and the looting and conflicts between the policemen and firemen during the "unbuilding" process that make it hard to read at times as well. However, it is well worth it.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: HV6432 .L364 2002
2nd Floor Social Science Library
Review submitted by: Jennifer Bevan, Associate Professor, Communication Studies
Rating: Highly Recommended

A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans by Bruce W. Cameron

This book is a simple, quick tale told from the perpective of a dog who reincarnates through several lifetimes. It's very basic, but I was hooked by Cameron's insight into the canine mind. I would highly recommend this book for dog lovers and only somewhat recommend it to readers who require complexity.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Chris Rynd, Senior Writer, University Advancement
Rating: Recommended

Roots by Alex Haley

Somehow I never got around to reading this in 1974, but reading it and reflecting on how this book changed the United States was very interesting. The new edition has an essay that comments on these issues.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: E185.97.H24 A33 1977
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Nancy Brink, Director of Church Relations
Rating: Highly Recommended

Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag

Secrets to the Grave (2011) by Tami Hoag. This is second entry in what appears to be developing into a new crime/mystery series set in sunny SoCal in the mid 1980s in the fictional idyllic town of Oak Knoll – well, it would be idyllic except for all the serial killers which seem to be lurking, not to mention other random murders. A May-December romance established in the first book has developed into a marriage between a teacher and a profiler for the FBI who carries an unwanted souvenir in his head, and their relationship remains front and center in the story. By setting the novel in the 80s, the author limns a time just prior to the establishment of DNA as the gold standard in crime scene evidence.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Cheryl Highsmith, Coordinator of Electronic Resources & Serials, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Recommended

Conserving Migratory Pollinators and Nectar Corridors in Western North America edited by Gary Paul Nabhan

This book contains several reports of empirical research conducted on four specific pollinators; the Lesser Long Nosed Bats, Rufous Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds, White-Winged Doves, and Monarch Butterflies. It describes the diets, patterns, routes, and many stresses these pollinators encounter in their migration South to Mexico from the United States and Canada and the challenge of coordinating trinational conservation efforts. (190 pages)

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: QH 76.5 .W34 C64 2004
3rd Floor Science & Technology Library
Review submitted by: Tracie Hall, Serials & Acquisitions Librarian, Law Library
Rating: Recommended

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

The Fifth Witness (2011) by Michael Connelly. This is another entry in the Bosch-Haller line and is subtitled A Lincoln Lawyer Novel. It is reliably enjoyable and a good summer read. This is a Mickey Haller story, and Harry Bosch makes the briefest of cameos. The usual supporting characters appear as well, and Mickey's preferred mode of transportation continues to be in his trusty Lincoln, although (minor spoiler alert!) the crew actually takes up office space for this outing. The foreclosure crisis forms the backdrop for the case, giving the story a very contemporary feel. A client who is facing foreclosure is also charged with murder, ratcheting up the courtroom stakes substantially. The guilt/innocence of the client is finally revealed near the end of the story just as Mickey is charting a new course for his legal career trajectory.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Cheryl Highsmith, Coordinator of Electronic Resources & Serials, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Recommended

Other People's Trades by Primo Levi

After reading the The Monkey's Wrench, I couldn't wait to read another PL book. Other People's Trades was again a compilation of many short stories on a wide variety of subjects/trades. One main difference I saw between the two is that a least a quarter of these stories were well above my level of comprehension. Boo! But several were written about subjects from an interesting view point which were hilarious and thought provoking – several of my favorites: "Grandfather's Store," "The Scribe" (about the initial use of a computer), "Stable/Unstable" (about wood), "The Fear of Spiders," "The Mark of the Chemist" and "Animals." An example, in "Novels Dictated by Dickens," which is essentially about animal behavior he states “…particularly domestic animals are like us, but 'with the lid off'," meaning their behavior is similar to what our's would be if we lacked inhibitions. PL provides many examples to support this thought. I really enjoyed the parts of this book I understood.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PQ4872.E8 A4413 1989
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Linda Corcoran, Anderson Center for Economic Research
Rating: Somewhat Recommended

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sittenfeld captures the teenage girl's self-absorption, confusion, anxiety, and growth with honesty and no small amount of affection. This fictional account of middle-class, midwestern Lee Fiora's four years at a New England boarding school will not make anyone long to relive their own high school years, but readers will certainly recognize themselves somewhere in this novel.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PS 3619 .I94 P74 2005
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Nancy Stenerson Gonzales, Cataloger, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Recommended

Just Kids by Patti Smith

This memoir and National Book Award winner tells the story of Patti Smith's years in 1970s New York City as she experimented and developed herself as an artist in music, poetry, and visual works. It is also the story of the artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Patti and Robert shared a rich relationship as friends, lovers, and fellow artists. There are cameos throughout of famous people Patti came into contact with during this period, including Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Sam Shepard (also Patti's lover), Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. I agree with Joan Didion's statement about this book on the inside cover: "This book is so honest and pure as to count as a true rapture."

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: McNaughton
1st Floor McNaughton Collection
Review submitted by: Stacy Russo, Chair of Public Services, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Highly Recommended

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I thoroughly enjoyed The Hunger Games, the first book of the trilogy of the same name. For young adult fiction, it's a fairly dark and violent story. In the distant future, a cruel and corrupt government controls the 12 districts that make up what used to be the United States. Each year, citizens of every district must send two children into the Hunger Games, a televised death match. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is resourceful and tough but is she capable of murdering to stay alive in the Hunger Games arena?

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PS3603.O4558 H86 2008
3rd Floor Education Muth Library
Review submitted by: Hallie Nicholson, Development Writer, University Advancement
Rating: Highly Recommended

Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron

Chodron inspires her readers to use practical ways to work for peace in their lives, discussing how we as individuals can react to everyday situations in a way that promotes peace within ourselves and our relationships and interactions with others. While mostly focused on this individual aspect of peacemaking, Chodron eventually puts it in the bigger picture and concludes that peace in the hearts of individuals can work towards creating a culture of compassion rather than perpetuating a culture of violence and aggression. This book takes from Buddhist teachings, but people from all backgrounds can benefit from its simple message -- striving for peace in our everyday lives can eventually break the cycle of the seemingly endless wars that are raging all over the world and replace it with genuine compassion.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: BQ4570.P4 C56 2006
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Andrew Tessandori, Cataloging Assistant, Leatherby Libraries
Rating: Highly Recommended

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go is haunting and sad, with moments of sweetness. The creeping realization about the truth of the main characters' lives drives the first half of the book, but the heart of the story is the search for what makes us truly human.

Leatherby Libraries Call Number: PR6059.S5 N48 2005
2nd Floor Humanities Library
Review submitted by: Lacey Walswick, Admin Assistant, Wilkinson College
Rating: Highly Recommended