Leslie Madsen-Brooks is the Coordinator for Faculty and TA Programs at The Teaching Resource Center at U.C. Davis and a Grinnell alumna, class of 1997.
The Children's Hospital by Chris Adrian. San Francisco: McSweeney's Books, 2006
Smith Memorial PS3551.D75 C55x 2006
What happens when the entire world floods and all that remains is a specially-equipped, floating children’s hospital with 700 sick children, some of their families, and hospital staff? This book offers one vision of a post-apocalyptic world. It’s a long and quiet read, not a page-turner, but is especially thoughtful on the role of families (and their tragedies) in shaping people’s lives.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. New York: Riverhead Books, 2007
PS3608.O832 K58 2007
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Not for the faint of heart, this novel begins in 1960s and 1970s Afghanistan and takes us almost through the present day from the perspective of women and children.
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier. New York: Random House, 2006
Smith Memorial PS3556.R3599 T48 2006
I’m halfway through this one. It’s a pleasure to read. The scope and detail of Frazier’s research is impressive as he tells the tale of a man who has lived long enough to meet John C. Calhoun and complain about cars roaring by on the road in front of his house.
Everyday eBay: Culture, Collecting, and Desires. Edited by Ken Hillis, Michael Petit, and Nathan Scott Epley. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Fascinating stuff about collectors--their seeking, buying, and communities. Definitely recommended for material culture lovers and anyone who collects, well, anything.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Cheryl Neubert is very busy, but when she has time to read she is reading ...
Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005
Smith Memorial HM846 .F74 2005
Smith Memorial HM846 .F74 2005
Raji Pokhrel '08 read Amitav Ghosh over the summer ..
The Circle of Reason. New York: Viking, 1986
PR9499.3.G5346 C57 1986
and
Mistry Rohinton's Fine Balance. New York: Knopf, 1996
PR9199.3.M494 F56 1996
PR9499.3.G5346 C57 1986
and
Mistry Rohinton's Fine Balance. New York: Knopf, 1996
PR9199.3.M494 F56 1996
Hannah Yourd '09 is reading ...
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002
PS3555.U4 M53 2002
Raji Pokhrel '08 also thinks that this is an excellent book.
PS3555.U4 M53 2002
Raji Pokhrel '08 also thinks that this is an excellent book.
Virginia Andersen '10 is reading in her spare time and for her personal enjoyment...
Ellen Lambert '08 is enjoying reading ...
Brian Ladd's The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, c1997
HT169.G32 B4127 1997
Brian Ladd graduated from Grinnell in 1979.
She comments that this book is a great read, captivating, and a page turner. She is reading it for class and wants to be reading whenever she has the chance.
And this summer Ellen read Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Sheeres. New York: Counterpoint, 2005.
HT169.G32 B4127 1997
Brian Ladd graduated from Grinnell in 1979.
She comments that this book is a great read, captivating, and a page turner. She is reading it for class and wants to be reading whenever she has the chance.
And this summer Ellen read Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Sheeres. New York: Counterpoint, 2005.
Ben Good '10 read presidential biographies over the summer and recommends ...
Grant by Jean Edward Smith. New York: Simon & Schuster, c2001
E672 .S627 2001
and
Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995
E457 .D66 1995
E672 .S627 2001
and
Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. New York: Simon & Schuster, c1995
E457 .D66 1995
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Heather Parker is reading ...
Gabriel García Márquez. Cien años de soledad. Buenos Aires, Editorial Sud-americana, 1967.
PQ 8180,17 .A73 CF
PQ 8180,17 .A73 CF
Lindsey Taggart is enoying reading Civil War Novels
for English 330 with Professor Nestor.
Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty by John William de Forest
Burling has a 1955 edition
PS 1525 .D5 M57x 1955
The Bostonians by Henry James
Burling has a 1976 edition of this work
PS 2116 .B6 1976
and
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Burling has a number of editions of this work including a Norton edition
PS 1317 .B4 1980
Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty by John William de Forest
Burling has a 1955 edition
PS 1525 .D5 M57x 1955
The Bostonians by Henry James
Burling has a 1976 edition of this work
PS 2116 .B6 1976
and
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Burling has a number of editions of this work including a Norton edition
PS 1317 .B4 1980
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Murder in Samarkand
Murray, Craig. Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador’s Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror. Edinburgh/London: Mainstream Publishing 2007 [2006].
Reviewed by T. Hatch
If there is one book that persuasively argues that the War on Terror is a morally bankrupt metaphor run amuck, this is it. Ambassador Craig Murray was the Foreign and Common-wealth Office’s man on the scene in Tashkent Uzbekistan. With a reputation for women and whiskey Murray, hardly a radical, soon grew disenchanted with the repressive regime of Islam Karimov. As the Ambassador saw it, it could hardly be about a struggle between good and evil if the Karimov government was on your side.
The US and the UK both viewed President Karimov as an essential partner in the War on Terror. Karimov who had supported the hardliners in the coup against Gorbachev in 1991 shortly thereafter adopted the stance of national independence more as a means of keeping the Soviet system rather than destroying it. Most importantly to the US and the Rumsfeld policy of a “wider Middle East” the Karimov regime provided the use of Karshi Khanabad (K2) airbase. Three squadrons of the USAF guarded by several thousand troops were deep in the heart of Uzbekistan.
Murray, who is quite open about his infidelity and his nervous breakdown, was unable to overcome his moral hang-up about receiving information through torture. Despite tremendous pressure from high levels of the Blair government Murray refused to yield. Partly because of Murray’s loudly denouncing the Karimov government and partly because Gazprom was eventually awarded the natural gas and oil contract sought by western business interests, the US was asked to vacate their prized K2 airbase in November of 2004.
Reviewed by T. Hatch
If there is one book that persuasively argues that the War on Terror is a morally bankrupt metaphor run amuck, this is it. Ambassador Craig Murray was the Foreign and Common-wealth Office’s man on the scene in Tashkent Uzbekistan. With a reputation for women and whiskey Murray, hardly a radical, soon grew disenchanted with the repressive regime of Islam Karimov. As the Ambassador saw it, it could hardly be about a struggle between good and evil if the Karimov government was on your side.
The US and the UK both viewed President Karimov as an essential partner in the War on Terror. Karimov who had supported the hardliners in the coup against Gorbachev in 1991 shortly thereafter adopted the stance of national independence more as a means of keeping the Soviet system rather than destroying it. Most importantly to the US and the Rumsfeld policy of a “wider Middle East” the Karimov regime provided the use of Karshi Khanabad (K2) airbase. Three squadrons of the USAF guarded by several thousand troops were deep in the heart of Uzbekistan.
Murray, who is quite open about his infidelity and his nervous breakdown, was unable to overcome his moral hang-up about receiving information through torture. Despite tremendous pressure from high levels of the Blair government Murray refused to yield. Partly because of Murray’s loudly denouncing the Karimov government and partly because Gazprom was eventually awarded the natural gas and oil contract sought by western business interests, the US was asked to vacate their prized K2 airbase in November of 2004.
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