Note: The perfect excuse to re-post* an excerpt from a previous book review of The Dispossessed by Szilárd Borbély is that his posthumously published novel Kafka fia (Kafka’s Son) has finally been published in Hungarian, the author’s native language, after its German version Kafkas Sohn. While the English translation is yet to come, we’d like … Read More
While browsing the Carr Library recreational reading collection recently, I eagerly picked up There, There by Tommy Orange. This book had been on my “to read” list but had proved difficult to get at my public library, so I was thrilled to get a copy. I began reading it that evening and was immediately wowed. Orange, … Read More
At this time of the semester, schedules begin to change in a strange way. It suddenly seems that meetings are thinning out and the calendar has more open spaces. Yet (curve ball!), the pressures of deadlines, of finality, of the holidays seem to squeeze those “extra” minutes dry. The vision of a vacation on the … Read More
When we bite into an apple or enjoy a dish of decadent vanilla ice cream, we’re typically not thinking about the backstories of these foods. We choose them for sustenance or simply because they taste delicious. But there is more than just nutrition and flavor behind many of the things we eat. As a food … Read More
I picked up Slaughterhouse Five to read a passage for the Rutgers Banned Books virtual event. Little did I know that this fun side-project would contribute to my academic papers this semester! Sometimes a good book seeps into the other areas of our lives. Much of the time, I pick up a book because it … Read More
A chance to go goofy and embrace our inner child for most, Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday. Even though I take pleasure in watching kids dressed up and testing their courage knocking on the doors of unfamiliar neighbors, even though I understand the holiday’s diverse and rich origins, the night will remain the … Read More
As I was fixing up a summary of the latest library challenge in Wyoming in Hungarian for KIT, a weekly newsletter on libraries, information, and society, it dawned on me how a picture of the threatened transgender magician can tell a thousand words. The issue, which points beyond the walls of the libraries, again, reminded me … Read More
Although ghoulishly entertaining, Spook is ironically not about the supernatural happenings of the spirit world as its title eerily suggests. Instead, famed science writer Mary Roach takes a fresh approach in her investigation of the afterlife, delving into scientific explanations of “life after death.” As with Roach’s other books, it is a fun, fact-filled romp … Read More
When I was asked to join the “Books We Read” team, I thought nothing of writing about the book I was reading at the time (sounds like the objective, right?). I had just started Amia Srinivasan’s “The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century,” recommended by the New York Times Book Review the week … Read More
This post starts with a confession: Middlemarch, by George Eliot (pen name of Mary Anne Evans), is widely considered one of the greatest novels ever written––certainly the odds-on favorite for greatest English novel. It is my fiancée’s favorite novel and she has written about it extensively. She’s not alone––many of the greatest literary critics of … Read More