Summer Reading 2009
Every summer, the English Department here at Millikin
puts together a Summer Reading list.
For past lists, check out: Past Summer Reading.
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The Believers
by Zoe Heller
Request Book through Interlibrary Loan
ISBN: 978-0061430206
“Heller does sharp satire on contemporary themes. In The Believers, a politically activist family in New York encounters problems that defy ideological fixes. One daughter returns from Cuba disillusioned with the Revolution and (contrary to the family’s dogmatic atheism and much to her mother’s disgust) begins to attend an Orthodox synagogue. Heller is Jane Austen for the 21st century.”
- Andy Matthews
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The Big Sleep
by Raymond Chandler
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ISBN: 978-0394758282
“I admit it: over the last twelve months, I have read every Raymond Chandler novel. I couldn’t help myself. The age of hard-boiled, noir detective fiction: the seedy sides of life, police on the take, gorgeous society people compromising their images after hours, the tough detective with a bottle of whiskey in the desk to get him through the day. These stories are appealing as a type, and of that type Chandler’s are the best. The writing is clever and nuanced; the detective Phil Marlowe is thoughtful and can take a punch. The Big Sleep is my favorite of these novels, helps to clear up a few loose ends that had to be cut from the wonderful Bogart movie adaptation: cut for the sake of time and for the sake of prudish tastes. Yes, a little steam for the summer reading.
- Stephen Frech
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Blackhawk Down
by Mark Bowden
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ISBN: 978-0451203939
“With Somalia back in the news, I’m reminded of recent events when American soldiers were asked to assist UN relief efforts there, leading to the debacle of Blackhawk Down. As good as the movie was, the original book, a journalistic recreation of those 48 hours and the ultimate release of the US Blackhawk pilot, is riveting. Rather than glorify or condemn, the book chronicles the decisions and actions of soldiers and political players on both sides. The story telling here (the structuring of the narrative, the descriptive texture, the “characters” we’re allowed to know and care about) reads as a great novel- only this story is true.”
- Stephen Frech
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Chaos Theory
by Sandra McKenna
Library Call #: PS 571.13 .M33 2008
“Our very own Sandra McKenna has gathered into Chaos Theory poems from three sequences: Box of 64 (based on the Crayola 64 Crayons), Women Under the Influence, and Not Quite Haiku. For years at Millikin’s Literary Festival, Sandra has delighted the audience with these funny and candid poems. Many approached her afterward and asked where to find her book. Now those poems are available, fun favorites like “Medusa,” “Nude Haiku,” and “Sex After Fifty.” At other times, such as in the refrain of “Mary’s Lamentation,” her poems speak a lived, serious wisdom: “You did not speak of this,” Mary laments to God as she watches her son die.
- Stephen Frech
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Coraline
by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Dave McKean
Library Call #: JUV. PZ7 .G1273 Co 2002
ISBN: 978-0061139376
“Even if you’ve seen the film based on Gaiman’s young adult novel, the story is still most definitely worth the read and a great book to read aloud. Coraline is the story of a young girl who is bored in her home and practically forgotten by her working-from-home parents. Coraline discovers a door that opens into another world, a world similar to hers and yet distinctly different. For example, in the “other” world are all the clothes she would wear if she could pick out her own wardrobe, costumes instead of plain school clothes. She meets her “other” parents who play with her, dote upon her, and cook real food. Coraline is smart, and knowing something isn’t quite right she returns to her own flat. And then the real adventure begins. Gaiman’s pacing, descriptions and setting create a creepy atmosphere perfect for this scary story. I cannot praise this novel enough and I encourage you to spend an afternoon taking turns reading it aloud with friends.
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Forger
by Cioma Schonhaus
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ISBN: 978-0306817700
“The subtitle “An Extraordinary Story of Survival in Wartime Berlin” suggests a story much like other recent ones (“The Counterfeiter” for instance), but the “extraordinary” of this book isn’t only that a Jew survives Berlin during WWII. What will delight you here is the voice of one who lost so much and survived such ugliness and came out fully available for the joys in life. The author lived the rest of his life in France, married, raised a family, and looks back on his uncommon escape with a tone that is not burdened with grief or the gravity you might expect. He witnesses what we would expect of such a story (danger, fright, loss), but witness too the richness and the fun of living.
- Stephen Frech
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The Dark Villages of Childhood
by Stephen Frech
Library Call #: PS 3556 .R3655 D37 2009
“Stephen Frech’s latest collection of poetry draws his reader into this series of searing vignettes with lovely, tangible imagery. Each poem moves gently from image to meaning with a lithe, cleft touch, and the final surprise gives the reader something larger to ponder. The title poem begins with images of a squeaky wooden wagon on rough terrain, moves seamlessly to “a fox stepping into the road” and concludes with the thought-provoking notion that it is “a brilliant/and dangerous game pretending to be what one is.” But the heart and soul of the chapbook is “Like the Ghost of Him,” a celebration of the life of a childhood friend who dies too young. He introduces the two of them playing “war,” playing with death, hiding from each other in deep grasses. It is a scene of childhood innocence that resonates with the reader. The scenes slowly become less playful, more frightening as the poetry and the imagery foreshadow the coming loss. It is a pleasure to unwrap Frech’s poetic language and find, curled in a hidden corner, the wise and wonderful surprise.
- Sandra McKenna
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy
by Alison Bechdel
Library Call #: PN 6727.B3757 Z46 2006
ISBN: 978-0618871711
“This graphic novel-memoir documents Bechdel’s childhood, her heartbreaking and tenuous relationship with her father and her coming-of-age as a woman and lesbian. The graphic novel style allows for meta-narrative, asides, and a kind of commentary as the story develops. Bechdel’s humor allows for deep insight into the absurd world of an adolescent girl growing up in a funeral home who also happens to be struggling with her own sexuality while her father battles with his own. Tragicomic is the best way to describe this work; it’s a quick, but thoughtful, worthwhile read.”
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic– and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
by Stephen Johnson
Library Call #: RC 133.G6 J64 2006
ISBN: 978-1594482694
“The Ghost Map is a well-written and thoughtful exploration of medical detection and discovery. One might call it a medical detective story. Johnson explores the cholera epidemic which began in London in 1854. Because no one knew how the disease was being spread, fear moved through London almost as quickly as the epidemic. Dr. John Snow and Rev. Henry Whitehead suspected that water from the neighborhood pump played a major role in spreading the disease and their eventual investigation proved their suspicions correct, though many doctors and scientists were reluctant to accept this theory. Johnson tracks Snow’s scientific work and traces how the investigations lead to the development of the modern city. If you’re interested in history, science, sociology, and urban planning, this is the summer read for you.”
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Cholera Years: The United States in 1832, 1849, and 1866
by Charles E. Rosenberg
Library Call #: RC 131.A3 R6
ISBN: 978-0226726779
“Cholera was the classic epidemic disease of the nineteenth century, as the plague had been for the fourteenth. Its defeat was a reflection not only of progress in medical knowledge, but of enduring changes in American social thought. Rosenberg has focused his study on New York City, the most highly developed center of this new society. Carefully documented, full of descriptive detail, yet written with an urgent sense of the drama of the epidemic years, this narrative is an absorbing for general audiences as it is for the medical historian.”
- Kevin Murphy
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The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
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ISBN: 978-1416550532
“This story of the aristocratic Hartford family with a history of secrets is told in flashback by Grace Bradley, a servant who joins the family in 1914 at age 14. She becomes obsessively close to the family, especially the two daughters Hannah and Emmeline, and is witness to not only the eventual decline of a vanishing aristocratic lifestyle, but also the suicide of a young poet, whose death has a few other guilty witnesses as well. As a first novel, Morton’s story is smoothly paced and well-crafted, with intriguing details a close reader will appreciate.”
- Judi Crowe
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House of Leaves
by Mark Z. Danielewski
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ISBN: 978-0375703768
“This intriguing and genre-defying postmodern novel with its stories within stories is not a typical summer read. It is a novel that demands your full attention, however, and so summer is the best time to read this kind of book. The plot is difficult to describe, but it is essentially a story about a young man with a shady past who discovers a blind man’s life work: a scholarly criticism of a documentary that does not actually exist. The documentary, entitled “The NavidsonRecord,” tells the story of a photographer who moves with his family into a house only to discover that the house is bigger inside than it is on the outside. I recommend the novel for someone who wants something different out of their summer reading, someone who doesn’t mind a dark and struggling narrative and has an open mind. The format of the novel is less than straightforward with interviews, letters, appendices, footnotes, transcripts, bibliographies, photographs, and scraps of paper. You often have to turn the book upside down and sideways to follow the narrative, but your work will pay off.”
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Janissary Tree
by Jason Goodwin
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ISBN: 978-0312426132
“It turns out that I really like historically-informed mysteries of a certain kind, and this is one of the ones I like. Goodwin is a historian (try his book on the Ottoman Empire, The Lords of the Horizons), and here sets a mystery in 1836. The detective is the eunuch Yashim Togalu. This book made me want to learn more about the Ottoman Empire and about Istanbul- if it all goes well, I’ll be able to visit in May this year. Goodwin brings to life a city with amazing architecture, great food, and a fascinating history.”
- Jim Meyer
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Johnny and the Bomb
by Terry Pratchett
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ISBN: 978-0060541934
“Terry Pratchett- probably best known for the Discworld series- has written a fascinating time travel novel set in both 1990’s Britain and World War II. Johnny travels back to the Battle of Britain, arriving in his village just before a German bomb is dropped on it. The novel explores the complexities of time and gives contemporary adolescents a view of wartime Britain. There are alternate present-day scenarios (depending on what the time travelers do or don’t do back in the 1940’s), and of course it’s all imagined by Pratchett’s clever mind.”
- Jim Meyer
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Jurassic Park
by Michael Crichton
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ISBN: 978-0345370778
“A prolific and talented writer, Crichton’s novel differs vastly from the Spielberg film. The novel is not just the story of John Hammond’s amusement part. It is, rather, a critical look at the bioengineering industry and a frightening look at what he sees as inevitable if the industry is not regulated.”
- Mike George
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Kurt Wallander mysteries
by Henning Mannkel
To request these books through Interlibrary Loan, clickhere, and type “Kurt Wallander” into the search box.
“Compulsively readable police procedurals. Angst-ridden Swede solves the new kind of horrible crime typical of Swedish society in decline. Wonderful evocation of place- I’ve heard of tourists going to the small town outside of Malmo (near Copenhagen) where Wallander is based. Kenneth Branagh plays him in an upcoming series.”
- Andy Matthews
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Let the Right One In
by John Ajvide Lindqvist
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ISBN: 978-0312355296
“While the film (if you rent the one with accurate subtitles) isn’t bad, it doesn’t measure up to the intricacies and nuances of this very well told vampire story. In a suburb of Stockholm, twelve year old Oskar is struggling with unrelenting bullies and his own coming of age when he befriends Eli, who lives in his apartment complex and “has been twelve for a very long time.” Oskar’s gradual discovery as to who- or what- Eli really is, compounded by his fascination with a series of rather gruesome local murders, comes together in a tale that is as engagingly creepy as it is beautifully executed. Multiple perspectives add to the complexity of the story, and, while most horror stories (and make not mistake-this is a horror story) rely on the superficial and what Stephen King calls “the gross-out factor,” Lindqvist has carefully crafted this tale and its characters with subtly, believability, and sympathy. This is perhaps one of the best contemporary vampire stories written, and as you read, your imagination will do more to entertain you than the movie ever will.
- Judi Crowe
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Love Child: a Memoir of a Family Lost and Found
by Allegra Huston
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ISBN: 978-1416551577
“Allegra Huston’s memoir takes the reader from the loss of her mother, Ricki, when she was four through her growing up in Ireland, England, and the United States. After her mother’s death, Huston is moved from one temporary home to another, cared for by a series of kindly surrogates, and tossed in and out of her dad’s life at his whim and convenience. Though Huston is the daughter of legendary director John Huston and sister of actress Angelica, her story isn’t about Hollywood except as a sidelight in her quest for a place to find acceptance and love for simply being Allegra. In this thoughtfully written memoir, she moves her reader through each “home,” each happiness (however temporary), each loss, without bitterness or self-pity. She mulls the deceptive nature of memory but assures her reader these are her honest recollections- she strives most to tell the truth. When she learns, at age twelve, that John Huston is not her biological father, she takes it, frighteningly, in her stride. It’s just one more jolt to her feelings of alienation. But ultimately, Huston in rediscovering the past, discovers who she is and embraces her patchwork life and family- and asks her reader to do the same.
- Sandra McKenna
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Martian Time-Slip
by Philip K. Dick
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ISBN: 978-0679761679
“Another of Dick’s “Mars novels,” as Kim Stanley Robinson calls them, this one again deals with a colonized Mars. However, this one deals with intense mental illness, Martian indigenous people, and the corruption, conflict, and inerpersonal problems that he seems to see as inherent to interplantary colonization.
- Mike George
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Millikin University Haiku Anthology
edited by Dr. Randy Brooks, et. al.
Library Call #: PS 593 .H3 M55 2008
ISBN: 978-0978744168
“This is a collection of haiku written by the Millikin University haiku community. The editors are an interesting group of people– a professor, a physics and applied math major, and an english major. The poetry they have chosen for this anthology is equally diverse. This anthology will encourage you to enjoy the world around you, and maybe even write your own haiku!”
- Cindie Zelhart
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The Painter from Shanghai
by Jennifer Cody Epstein
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ISBN: 978-0393065282
“Jennifer Cody Epstein creates a riveting novel based on the life of Pan Yuliang, a real life woman who created scandal in her personal life and in her art. China at the turn of the 20th Century was a dismal, impoverished, and politically divided country. Young Pan Yuliang is sold into prostitution by her opium addicted uncle, rescued by an unlikely “hero”, and finally, launched into fame and notoriety through her art– largely nudes, many of them self-portraits. Epstein creates a vivid portrait of the dark Shanghai so realistically that your nostrils fill with the stench offilth, you flinch at the touch of the dark and greasy men Pan Yuliang must serve while she is still a young girl. Pan Yuliang’s artistry pales against the “life” Epstein creates in her novel. The erader is given a richly believeable and satisfying “biography” of Pan Yuliang and the real world in which she lived.
- Sandra McKenna
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The Paradise of All These Parts: A Natural History of Boston
by John Hanson Mitchell
ISBN: 978-0807071496
“This is a lover’s ode to Boston. And how much there is to love! First public library to allow readers to borrow books, first public schoolhouse in America, and on and on. This book may not be a “natural history” in a scientific sense, but Mitchell wanders around Boston, commenting on the geography, the native plants, the wildlife, the harbor, and the human history of the place. Althought I spent 15 years in Boston and can easily compose my own lover’s ode, Mitchell made me want to walk around the city again, more slowly, paying more attention to it.”
- Jim Meyer
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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
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ISBN: 978-1594743344
“As a fan of Jane Austen, women’s lit, the horror genre, etc. this was certainly an appealing title, yet I was a bit ambivalent when purchasing it– it could be gimmicky, silly, an affront to all that is classic and holy (which the subtitle The Classic Regency Romance– Now With Ultraviolet Zombie Mayhem! seems to suggest). However, Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies is a fun, entertaining parody, with yes, some “laugh-out-loud” moments. Grahame-Smith imitates Austen’s prose while retaining much of the original text (about 85%, as he points out, which explains the co-authorship credits), weaving in well-placed zombie moments. While I’m not yet sure I’d want this to blossom into a full-fledged subgenre, an occasional embellishment of a classic can certainly be refreshing. This one is.”
- Judi Crowe
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The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
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ISBN: 978-0307454898
“The plot of this story may be more familiar since the film’s 5 Oscar nominations, but the book, as one might expect, is much more compelling and certainly more rewarding. Fifteen year old Michael Berg meets up with Hanna, a woman twice his age, shortly after WWII, and their friendship turns into a romance abruptly ended one day when Hanna suddenly disappears. What happens, as Michael matures and attends law school, connects to Hanna once again as he witnesses her trial for war crimes against the POWs for whom she was responsible. A rather dark love story as well as one of guilt and responsibility, issues of culpability–on many levels–are much more powerful in the book, as are the characters and conclusion.”
- Judi Crowe
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Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
by Terry Tempest Williams
Library Call #: RC 280.B8 W47 1992
ISBN: 0679740244
“This book is unique among environmental literature. The writer observes the 1983-1990 flooding of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on the edge of the Great Salt Lake. Williams covers many topics like wildlife observation, Utah history and the impact of human settlement on the desert ecosystem. Intertwined is the story of her extended Mormon family coping with breast and ovarian cancer over 3 generations. The writer’s spiritual and polical journey inspires powerful prose. Finally there is the mystery of how her community came to be the “clan of one-breasted women” and connections to the long term effects of being down wind of nuclear testing in nearby Nevada.”
- Denise Green
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Robot Dreams
by Sara Varon
Library Call #: JUV. PZ7 .V4453 Ro 2007
ISBN: 978-1596431089
“Through the calm illustrations, this wordless graphic novel wonderfully portrays the loving, yet changing, relationship between dog and robot. The sentimental characters and situations parallel the courses taken by so many lovers and friends; this book is quick to tug the heartstrings, while ultimately bringing peace. I highly recommend it.”
- Debbie Campbell
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Sarah’s Key
by Tatiana de Rosnay
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ISBN: 978-0312370831
“This story begins when a young girl is arrested, with her family, by the French police during the German occupation in World War II. It is about the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, a true story in French history, and her experience in concentration camps, her survival and how a key plays an important part in her life. I couldn’t put this book down!”
- Jacque Wrigley
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The Secret Scriptures
by Sebastian Barry
ISBN: 978-0670019403
“This book, beautifully written, explores questions of memory and mental health in the context of modern Ireland. As an old mental instution is to be replaced with a modern facility, both the director of the instution and its oldest resident write their stories. The history of Ireland, the changing role of the Catholic church and its power, and the ways in which we judge others are all part of Barry’s novel.”
- Jim Meyer
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Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
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ISBN: 978-1439116883
“A story about a woman whose relationship with her husband, her family, and her work colleagues changes when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This compelling story is told from her perspective which begins with the early onset of the disease and the downward spiral. I would highly recommend this story to anyone who has a friend or family member dealing with Alzheimers.”
- Jacque Wrigley
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The Third Angel
by Alice Hoffman
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ISBN: 978-0307405951
“To say this novel is about love and the mistakes we make with our hearts would simplify Hoffman’s rich characters who span various time periods and places beginning with the most recent events and moving backward. Part 1, “The Heron’s Wife,” 1999; Part II, “Lion Park,” 1966; and Part III, “The Rules of Love,” 1952. The stories are connected through the characters’ experiences as well as the themes running through their stories. Ultimately, the novel is about love and loss, ghosts and forgiveness. Readers familiar with Hoffman’s work (The Ice Queen, Practical Magic) will notice similar themes particularly among the familial relationship themes. Those who haven’t read Hoffman before should start with this novel.”
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
by Scott Westerfield
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ISBN: 978-0679736660
“Recognized not only as a top science fiction writer but also as a postmodern pioneer, this novel, originally from 1964 imagines a future where Mars is colonized by a draft and where, to cope, the colonists turn to a mind-altering substance. The novel brilliantly presents several themes common to Dick’s fiction: the nature of reality, corruption, and altered states.”
- Mike George
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Uglies Series (The Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras)
by Scott Westerfield
Library Call #: JUV. PZ7 .W5197 Ugl 2005
ISBN: 978-0689865381, First book in series.
“Tally Youngblood lives in a world obsessed with beauty. On their sixteenth birthday, all teenagers undergo an operation to become pretty. Tally meets another Ugly who begins to tell her about a world outside of utopia and who wants Tally to escape with her. Tally questions why anyone would seek to avoid a world of fun, happiness, and beauty. Tally’s friendship causes a strain on her conscience and leads to heavy consequences. Ultimately Tally’s choices unravel deep, dark secrets which once unleashed change society as she knows it. Westerfield’s writing is skillful as he creates a different world with different rules. The later books move through the various societal levels and other isolated human societies. Westerfield infuses his series with moral dilemmas, cultural insights and satire as he raises questions about individual freedom, free will, and access to information. A warning though: you can’t read just one of the books, so be prepared to make some time for all four once you begin.”
- Devon Fitzgerald
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The Vagrants
by Li Yiyun
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ISBN: 978-1400063130
“Set during the Cultural Revolution, this first novel by a Chinese-American writer evokes a city in the throes of political insanity. Beginning with the communal denunciation and execution of a young woman who has veered from the party line, the novel traces the effects of her death on her family and others. An outstanding novel about “ordinary” lives in a totalitarian society.”
- Andy Matthews
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The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems
by Fritjof Capra
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ISBN: 978-0385476768
“Capra offers a new (at least for 1996) way of looking at the living world. Along the way, he offers excellent descriptions of systems theory (akin to chaos theory, the theory that Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park uses), chaos theory, and complexity theory. In doing so, Capra presents a unique theory about living systems, via use of the web metaphor.”
- Mike George
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Oops, Did I Say That?
by Sarah K. Johnson
Library Call #: RC 264.J64 O56 2009
ISBN: 978-0981959108
“Do you struggle with knowing what to say when talking with someone who is wrestling with the devastating effects of chemotherapy treatment for cancer? You want to say something that lets that person know you really care about them and what they are going through, but what? While Oops! appears to be a children’s book, its message is really intended for an audience of all ages. The message related in this little book can be applied not only to cancer, but to other situations we all encounter in our daily lives such as… other serious illness, death of a family member, friend or even a pet, victims of catastrophic events (accidents, fire, tornadoes) etc. It won’t take you long to read this book, but its powerful message will stay with you and make you think before you speak. Available through Bronze Man Books.”
- Mary Peters
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Century Cycle
by August Wilson
Library Call #: Several of these titles are available online to Millikin patrons.
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
The Piano Lesson
Seven Guitars
Fences
Two Trains Running
Jitney
ISBN: 978-1559363075
“August Wilson’s “century cycle”– one play for each decade of the twentieth century, published between 1985-2005– traces the experiences of African Americans as they struggle to give birth to a new culture that embraces both the painful history of slavery and the “wail and whelp of joy” and freedom. The ten plays– Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf– may be read according to the century’s chronology, but they are much more rewarding when read in the order in which Wilson wrote them. Fences, one of the first plays Wilson wrote, and for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, clearly draws on the mid-twentieth-century realism of Arthur Miller. Troy Maxson is Wilson’s version of Willy Loman; Maxson is an adulterous everyman whose fear of change damages his son’s faith in a more progressive society– and, thus, his faith in himself. With each play, Wilson increasingly turned to a more Afrocentric mystical tradition, culminating in Gem of the Ocean, whose main character must symbolically reenact the voyage through the Middle Passage to become spiritually and physically whole. By mixing genres (realism and magic) and time-frames (285-year-old Aunt Ester appears in a few of the plays, thus embodying Faulkner’s dictum that “the past isn’t dead; it isn’t even past), Wilson freely ranges among modes of representation, which allows him to find the truths that sometimes only imaginative literature can generate.”
- Anne Matthews
