Elizabeth Strout’s new novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize a few weeks ago, consists of a series of linked short stories that revolve around a cast of characters in a small town on the coast of Maine. Olive Kitteridge appears in almost all of them, sometimes as the main character, a large woman who finds herself alternately repelled and deeply in love with life, and sometimes as a background character, the fearsome teacher, for example, someone had for high school math. Olive represents all of the people who drift in and out of the novel, though, as well as ourselves, as we try to make sense of life on earth, as we make a mess of things, try to repair our mistakes, experience pain and loss, and occasionally discover the essence of joy. –Margi Rogal
Cranes and a Wish For Peace
The Tredway Library shared this cake, decorated with paper cranes, with the Augustana community on Monday, May 18, 2009.
Members of the Tredway Library staff and Augustana students gathered today to celebrate the making of 1000 cranes. Circulation student workers began this project last November. This spring, we asked students and members of the Augustana community to help us in this quest. Our combined efforts resulted in 1185 total cranes (1153 hanging, the remainder on display around the department).
In keeping with a tradition begun after the death of a young girl, Sadako, who developed leukemia as a result of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan, we made our “crane wish” for peace. We hope to be able to send the cranes with East Asia term students next spring, where they will be hung at Hiroshima (dependent on finding a feasible way to pack them).
To see more photos of this project, please see our earlier postings in the ”Paper Crane Project” section of this blog.
~Christine Aden
Summer Reading Plans
Across the Augustana campus, people are deciding what they’ll read over the summer break. Several students, faculty, and staff shared their summer reading plans with the library. Here are the books they are planning to read — and why they are choosing to read them:
|
| Maria Ford |
| Junior |
| My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates |
| I picked it up this week but I’ll have to finish it after finals. It’s a really unusual book which will (probably) make you feel like your family is downright normal compared to the dysfunctional one in the book. |
| Shawn Beattie |
| Faculty/staff member |
| Don’t Waste Your Life, by John Piper |
| To take some time to reflect on my vocation and calling in life. (eBook: http://tinyurl.com/33trag) |
| Stephanie Fuhr |
| Faculty/staff member |
| The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer & Barrows |
| It’s said to be a new classic in women’s fiction! Who doesn’t love a book about books? |
| Katie Lundell |
| First-Year |
| The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne |
| I’ve heard a lot of good things and saw Shane speak once. Also, I’m reading it with a friend so we can discuss while we work at a camp. |
| Dan Hearne |
| First-Year |
| Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope both by Barack Obama |
| I feel that it is important to understand our politicians, particularly our President, and one great way to do this is the read the books that he has written. |
| Robert Elfline |
| Faculty/staff member |
| “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” – Seth Grahame-Smith |
| Yes this is a real book. Who can resist Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy fighting with the undead? |
| River |
| Junior |
| I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe and The Aeneid by Vergil |
| The first title was recommended to me by all of my roommates so I thought I should discovered what all this hype was about. The second is one I think I should read since I have studied Latin for 7 years and never once read it. |
| Vanessa Nienhouse |
| Junior |
| A Thousand Splendid Suns |
| I just read “The Kite Runner” and it was really good! I’d love to read more from the same author. |
| Beth Whitty |
| Faculty/staff member |
| The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett |
| I got this as a gift and it is amazing! If you like historical fiction pick this one up! |
| Stephanie Hortsman |
| Senior |
| Angels & Demons by Dan Brown |
| I have a long list of books to read this summer, but this one is at the top because the movie is coming out soon, and I have to read it before I allow myself to see the movie! Plus I loved The DaVinci Code, so this seems like a good idea! |
| Margi Rogal |
| Faculty/staff member |
| The Shadow of Sirius by W. S. Merwin |
| This book of poetry just won the Pulitzer Prize, and I love Merwin. Each poem I read by him takes my breath away. |
| Karen Stein |
| First-Year |
| Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan |
| I plan on re-reading this series because it is the most intricate fantasy series I have ever read, and the next (and almost final) part of the series is being released soon! |
| Scott McAlonan |
| Junior |
| House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski |
| I read this book last summer and really enjoyed it. It’s a very complex book and I missed a lot the first time through, so I’m reading it again! |
| Audrey Lake |
| Faculty/staff member |
| Love Your Life |
| For encouragement, and it is working! |
| Becca Poock |
| Faculty/staff member |
| JK Rowling Harry Potter 7 Book Series |
| I have not read them, and EVERYONE says I must! I am finishing Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and I am in the middle of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. |
| Marge Cook |
| First-Year |
| Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton |
| “Skin Trade” is the 17th book in the Anita Black series by Laurell K. Hamilton, who has been on the New York Times bets seller list quite a few times. This series is about a female necromancer who struggles through her love triangle with the vampire of the city and the head werewolf of the local St. Louis pack while solving supernatural murder cases as a U.S. marshal. It is for sure not rater G, but Hamilton remains an awesome author. |
| Brianna Dyer |
| Junior |
| My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult |
| Jodi Picoult is my favorite author, and I want to read this particular book of hers next because the movie version will hit theaters on June 26th! — The cast will include Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, and Joan Cusack. I also want to read this book because it tackles an issue that is not commonly addressed… The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for her sister Kate, and she challenges the life and role that has been established for her as she, like most teenagers, begins to question who she truly is. Ruth Ann Hyser Faculty/staff member People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks This book was a gift I received from Australian friends last fall, and they are coming to visit this summer!
Umme Al-Wazedi
Jason Peters |
The Life You Can Save
This book explains the responsibilities of people living in “developed” countries to the rest of the world. Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton University, lays out an argument as to why we should all be giving money to help the poor of the world meet their most basic needs and it’s hard to find any flaws in what he says, especially since he anticipates — and then refutes — the most common objections to giving. Lest you wonder how best to give, Singer offers a guide to identifying the “best” charities — those that use donations most effectively to do enormous good in the lives of the people they serve. It is a very practical, accessible guide to helping people begin a culture of giving in their own lives, and it’s well-researched and quite interesting. A very important book.
–Amanda Makula
The Pleasure Was Mine
Tommy Hays has created a bittersweet novel of love and Alzheimer’s in The Pleasure Was Mine. Prate Marshbanks adores his wife, but has had to place her in a nursing home due to the progression of her Alzheimer’s. A crusty character, he begrudgingly accepts care of his grandson for the summer while his widowed son is working. The relationships that develop between Prate and his family are sweet and challenging, just like in real life. While reading this book, the pleasure was mine!
~Christine Aden
Never Let Me Go
This amazing novel is all the more devastating for being written in calm, lyrical manner. It tells the story of Kathy and her two friends, Tommy and Ruth, during their childhood at the exclusive boarding school Hailsham, where they are asked to produce art for mysterious purposes and told little about what their future holds, and their experiences after Hailsham. Set in an alternative Britain of the 1990s, this novel will draw you in to its characters’ world, and horrify you with what they discover there.
~Sarah
