Friday Reads: PCC: The Car that Fought Back

Dr. Stanley has an impressive collection of trolley/streetcar books, and today he tells us about one of them: PCC: The Car That Fought Back by Stephen P. Carlson, Fred W. Schneider III.

I recently had a reference question that dealt with a hobby of mine: streetcars (or trolleys). It’s
been a while since I looked through my collection but it made me remember how people got
from one place to another before cars. Trolleys were the mode of transportation for most people
to get to work, to shop, to visit friends or relatives. As cars became more affordable to the middle
class the trolley systems were dismantled just about everywhere. In a last-ditch effort to halt the
migration to cars and buses the PCC, or Presidents’ Conference Committee car, was designed. It
proved to be a saving grace for a few of the cities that used them. But since time marches on
their use continued to dwindle. Interestingly enough, many cities are now looking back to
installing trolley lines as a 21st century mode of public transportation. The pendulum swings both
ways!

Friday Reads: House of Leaves

You can't accuse Adam of backing down from a reading challenge! For this installment of Friday Reads, he tells us about another ambitious book, Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, and what makes it so unique and worth the effort. 

How to describe this book? It's an experimental novel, wholly unlike any work of fiction I've ever read. I chose it because I was looking for something scary to read in the run-up to Halloween, and while this book is certainly an unsettling work of horror, it's so much more than that, and I didn't realize how truly unusual this reading experience would be. After tackling War and Peace over the summer, and now this book (which, like War and Peace, also weighs a TON), I can say this has been a year when I've definitely challenged myself as a reader.

It's difficult to summarize the story of House of Leaves, due to its multiple layers of narrative, but I'll do my best. The premise of the book is that Los Angeles resident Johnny Truant discovered a manuscript in a trunk in the apartment of a recently deceased, elderly blind man named Zampano, and Truant ended up piecing it together and sending it off to be published. The manuscript, written by Zampano, is an academic treatise about a documentary called The Navidson Record, a film which was edited together from video footage by photographer Will Navidson after he and his family moved into a house in rural Virginia with, shall we say, strange properties. The dimensions of the inside of the house are larger than those of the outside, and when a dark corridor mysteriously appears off of one living room wall, leading into an unending, pitch-black labyrinth of corridors and massive chambers, a team is brought in to explore this impossible space, with deadly consequences. The catch, as Truant explains in his introduction to the manuscript, is that he can find no evidence this film or the Navidson family ever existed, in spite of the manuscript's extensive footnotes referencing scores of books, journal articles, magazine articles about the film, all of which are also sources that may not exist. Zampano's text and its footnotes are supplemented by Truant's own interjectory footnotes, through which we learn about Truant's life and personal history, and his increasing obsession with Zampano's manuscript. It is these two narratives, the story of The Navidson Record, as told by Zampano, and Johnny's story, that are woven together in the book, along with the hundreds of footnotes (many of which have their own footnotes) and lengthy appendices. The book even has an index.

It's such a high-concept piece of writing, often leading the reader down rabbit holes of footnotes and appendices that last for pages and pages. What makes the book even more unique is that this unusual narrative structure is paired with an array of inventive formal choices in the way the text is printed on the page. The word "house" is printed in blue ink, even on the book's cover. There are variations in the typography and spacing in many passages, with some pages only containing a single word or even one letter of a word. Text is sometimes printed diagonally, vertically, in a spiral, or even in reverse. There is one passage that is printed backwards, so you need a reflective surface to read it. While most novels can be seen as escapist, allowing you to lose yourself in the story, House of Leaves constantly pulls you out of the narrative and calls attention to the book's form. The author makes you work for it.

And yet, I've found it to be a very rewarding reading experience. This book has been billed as horror, but it's so much more than that. There is certainly a lot of uncanny stuff happening, but there's also an affecting love story with Navidson and his partner, Karen, and sometimes the book even feels like a satire of academic writing. There's so much happening, and some questions go unanswered. It's a challenging book to read, but well worth it.

Friday Reads: The Year of Living Danishly

Happy Friday! And if you're looking for ways to make all of your days a bit happier, Kelly's current read, The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell, attempts to dissect the contributing factors to Denmark's famed happiness. 

I don't remember what caught my attention about this book, but it was evidently enough that I downloaded it from the public library. I enjoy learning about different cultures through the eyes of long-term visitors, and the writer of this book (Helen Russell) is a London native who moved to a remote area of Denmark for a year so her husband could pursue a dream opportunity at Lego. As a freelance lifestyle writer, she knew that Denmark regularly ranks as the world's happiest nation, and she wanted to take an up-close look at the aspects of Danish life that contribute to this contentment. 

The author's time in Denmark begins, inauspiciously, in January. Russell is horrified by the "baltic" temperatures, which made me feel smug after I converted the numbers to Fahrenheit. The Danish are all holed up at home with their families and friends at this time of year, doing hygge things. She and her husband gradually learn more about their adopted land, furnish their rented home, and have an unfortunate run-in with the neighbors over recycling protocols. 

Russell terms her year in Denmark her "Danish happiness project." Though I don't think she references it by title, this book is clearly inspired by and patterned after Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Each month of her year is devoted to learning about and experimenting with one particular aspect of Danish life and culture. January, for instance, delves into the concept of hygge and the impact of interior design. In February, she looks at corporate cultures and workplace expectations. In March, she explores the importance Danes place on being involved in clubs. 

I doubt this book is going to be lifechanging for most, but it's an easy read and gives a glimpse into life in a country most of us probably know little about. 

Friday Reads: Pachinko

It's been a minute since our last Friday Reads post, but we haven't forgotten! Today, Adam tells us about Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and reflects on learning through historical fiction. 

One of the things I like about reading historical fiction, especially historical fiction written by authors from other parts of the world, is that I often learn for the first time about historical events that occurred outside of the United States. Before I started reading Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, I never knew that Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 until the end of World War II. To learn that Korea was not an independent nation for most of the first half of the twentieth century came as a surprise to me, and it helped spark my interest in this story right from the start.

Pachinko is a sprawling, multigenerational saga about a Korean family's experiences living in Japan during the twentieth century, exiled from their homeland and struggling to survive and thrive amid prejudice, hardship, and loss. The story begins with teenage Sunja, who becomes pregnant after falling for a wealthy businessman in her seaside Korean village. Refusing his offers of financial support after finding out he's already married, she instead accepts an offer of marriage from a kind minister passing through on his way to Osaka. Sunja moves to Japan to live with the minister and his family, and so begins an immigrant story that is rich with themes of sacrifice, ambition, and love. I'm usually a sucker for flowery or elaborate language in the fiction I read, but Pachinko is written in simple, straightforward prose that is nevertheless very affecting.

Friday Reads: War and Peace

Happy Friday! Let's all help Adam celebrate a significant undertaking -- the reading of a classic that everyone has heard of and most of us have not read (at least not entirely). This week, he tells us about Leo Tolstoy's opus, War and Peace. 

It's hard to remember a time before I started reading this book.

Just kidding! War and Peace has a reputation as one of the longest novels ever written, and it turns out that reputation is well deserved. The edition I'm reading is 1,215 pages, plus an introduction (which I did read) and other supplementary material (which I won't read). I'm pleased to say, though, that despite its length, War and Peace is a fantastic read, and far more accessible than other Russian fiction that I've read, such as The Brothers Karamazov. Grand in its storytelling ambitions, and truly sweeping in scope, War and Peace focuses primarily on the lives of members of two noble Russian families, the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, during the Napoleonic Wars. The extensive cast of characters even includes Napoleon himself. It's an interesting historical novel in that, while most of the chapters are written from a standard third-person point of view, Tolstoy will sometimes interrupt this flow with commentary about how later historians incorrectly described or misinterpreted a certain event or military decision.

One of the things that I appreciate about this particular edition, which is a more recent translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is that it includes a wonderful introduction by Pevear. Not only does it provide background about Tolstoy and the novel, but it also includes some comments about the translation itself. Pevear and Volokhonsky made it their mission not just to provide a translation in terms of the meanings of individual words and phrases, but also to try and preserve Tolstoy's writing style as much as possible. I feel like they were successful. I get a real sense of the author's style and voice in reading this novel, and it's given me a deep appreciation for the skills that a talented translator can bring to the table.

It makes me glad that I opted for this newer edition. In retrospect, though, an ebook may have been a wiser choice. This thing weighs a ton.

Friday Reads: American Psychosis

This week's Friday Reads is a Covid edition; Kelly finally succumbed to the virus and had a bit more time to read than usual. This week she tells us about American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System by E. Fuller Torrey.

For various reasons, I've had an interest for years in how the United States cares for (or does not care for) people with severe mental illness. On a visit to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV on vacation years ago, I was impressed with how much historical information was presented in their small museum area and at how compassionate the guides were when speaking of the former patients. We also learned a great deal about how the closure of the hospital in the '90s impacted the surrounding community as well as the former inhabitants and staff. 

American Psychosis explains how America went from an all-time high number of mental illness inpatients in the 1950s to our current situation, where often people with severe mental illness are shuttled from the streets to the emergency room or jail and back again. 

Well-intentioned figures such as JFK and Robert Felix (the first director of the National Institute of Mental Health - NIMH) set in motion a program that would close the hospitals in favor of community treatment. Torrey, who worked at NIMH as the changes were taking place, contends that the community treatment centers were incentivized to focus on community "wellness" measures rather than on treating discharged people with severe illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Torrey traces the changes of the mental health program from the 1960s to the 2010s, showing how funding sources were shifted, resulting in less oversight and coordination of care and allowing huge numbers of people to fall through the cracks. He considers the legal "right to be insane" and how this can harm both the individuals with severe mental illness and those in their communities. He examines the abuses and neglect that take place in many community living arrangements for people with mental illnesses. Finally, he presents suggestions for steps that could be tested and/or implemented to improve the quality of life for people with mental illness and the community as a whole. 

Nobody wants to go back to a time when someone could be institutionalized against their will for a vague diagnosis like "hysteria," but it is clear that much suffering has been shifted from the hospital ward to the jail cell or park bench rather than eliminated. I was particularly taken with a quote on page 125: "Our failure to protect such mentally ill people by ensuring that they receive treatment is a major miscarriage of our medical care system and a blot on our claims to be civilized." 

ALA in DC

Well, enough time has passed to allow me to come down from my "high" of attending this years American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. It's always amazing to see the latest innovations in all things library. Sort of made my mouth water! 

                                       

It was also nice to meet many of my vendors so I could put faces with some of the people I speak with quite often and have some discussions about their products. 

I heard John Cho being interviewed about his new book, "Troublemaker." It was amusing when the interviewer had a coughing spell and John Cho said with a couple hundred librarians in the room someone has to have a Ricola--of course quite a few made their way to the stage. 

And, of course, the best part of the trip was meeting Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. She was a professor at Pitt's library school when I attended but her classes were the most difficult to get into. 

So all in all it was reminiscent of looking through the Sears Christmas Catalog of my youth. Well see what Santa brings me this year!

New copyright small-claims "court"

 Recent legislation has instituted a new "small claims" board, or semi-official court, for copyright infringement issues. The Copyright Claims Board falls under the umbrella of the Copyright Office rather than in the judiciary branch of the federal government. 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation presents an overview of what this new body is and why, for many defendants, declining to have the case managed by the CCB in favor of the traditional route through the federal courts may be a smart move. Read more here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/copyright-small-claims-quasi-court-opens-heres-why-many-defendants-will-opt-out 

Friday Reads: The Second Amendment; A Biography

Happy summer Friday (and aren't summer Fridays the very best kind?)! This week, Adam tells us about a recent read from his ongoing Dewey Decimal Reading Challenge -- The Second Amendment: A Biography by Michael Waldman.

The Second Amendment has been the subject of much debate in recent years. This book, rather than being about guns or gun control, is a constitutional and legal history of the controversial and often misunderstood amendment. Waldman devotes the first part of the book to the historical context of the American Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, revealing much of what we know (and don't know) about the Framers' thoughts and intentions around this provision, most of which were focused on the need to maintain armed militias. Waldman also shows how judicial decisions and political advocacy have, over the past two hundred years, transformed a relatively obscure and minor constitutional amendment into one of the most fiercely-debated legal topics of the current moment. The book offers an eye-opening history that reveals how much our country has changed since its founding, and how our views on individual rights and civic duty have evolved over the decades.

Catherine Cole Celli Children's Room

Many thanks to the Seton Hill students who used the children's library as their canvas to display their talents.

Friday Reads: The Godfather

We'll be doing Friday Reads periodically throughout the summer. On this last Friday of the Spring 2022 semester, Adam has selected a nice, feel-good novel to kick off beach-read season -- The Godfather by Mario Puzo. 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie The Godfather, a hugely popular and influential film that is also arguably the best American film ever made. Given the film's vaunted place in our cultural imagination, it's easy to forget what a cultural phenomenon the source novel by Mario Puzo was after its publication in 1969. The novel sold millions of copies, and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for well over a year. Reading the novel now, decades after its original publication, it's easy to see why it was so popular. Puzo's novel is a salacious, violent story, and a peek behind the curtain of the Mafia, a subject that has long fascinated Americans.

The novel tells the story of the Corleones, a Mafia family in New York, in the decade after the end of World War II. Patriarch Vito Corleone is feared and respected by many, but after a botched assassination attempt leaves him hospitalized, his sons Sonny and Michael, with the help of consigliere Tom Hagen, must try and keep the family in power amid a mob war. It's a story about the corrupting influence of power, and like many classic works of twentieth century American fiction, the American Dream looms large in the background.

It's a book I've been meaning to read for years and years, but I kept putting it off. I guess the opportunity to read it now, during the movie's 50th anniversary, was an offer I just couldn't refuse.

Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books

 

The Greater Pittsburgh Festival of Books is quickly approaching! This inaugural event promises to be a vibrant celebration of reading and literary culture in Southwestern PA.

The Details:

Saturday, May 14, 2022

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 

East Liberty

Learn about the full slate of programs for kids, teens, and adults and register for specific events at pittsburghbookfestival.org

Friday Reads: A Tale of Two Cities

 Happy Friday! This week, Kelly finally gets around to reading a classic: Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. 

A few paragraphs past the famous opening line ("It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."), I looked up from this book and told my husband "I forgot how much I hate Dickens." 

It helped a lot that A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens' more plot-driven novels. All of the peril and gore helped to distract me from everything about his writing style that never clicked for me.

Eventually I also began to care about the characters; despite myself, I felt protective of that Victorian golden-haired angel of the house, Lucie Manette. Then I began hoping for a grim death for anyone who threatened the well-being of good old Mr. Lorry. I wished futilely that there were such a thing as 18th-century AA for Sidney Carton. My growing acquaintance with Madame Defarge became a growing horror. 

I knew the ending before I began the book, but spoilers didn't stop me from turning the pages. A grim end feels as inevitable as the next drop of La Guillotine's blade, but in the literal shadow of death, hope and goodness still peek defiantly. A Tale of Two Cities shows us both the best and worst of human nature and reminds us that, while we can't always choose our fate, we can choose how we will meet it. 

March DVD Spotlight: Selections from the National Film Registry

The National Film Preservation Board was established in 1988 to "ensure the survival, conservation and increased public availability of America's film heritage" (NFPB website).  One of the program's most important roles includes advising the Library of Congress in its annual selection of 25 films to be added to the National Film Registry.  With hundreds of films dating back to 1891 in the Registry, it's no surprise that Reeves Memorial Library's extensive DVD collection includes well over 100 of these landmark works of American cinema.  From silent classics like The Gold Rush (1925) and The General (1926), to modern masterpieces like Fargo (1996) and The Dark Knight (2008), our March DVD display includes only a portion of Registry titles in our collection, but there's something for everyone.

Featured titles include:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick's monumental science fiction epic is a challenging, beautiful work of cinematic art that still inspires awe 50 years after its release.

The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Coen brothers' goofy cult classic, a noir-tinged comic caper about a lazy, Southern California stoner who gets sucked into a kidnapping plot after being mistaken for a millionaire with the same name, has inspired hordes of devotees over the past two decades.

Citizen Kane (1941)
Still possibly the best film ever made, Orson Welles's groundbreaking and hugely influential portrait of a newspaper tycoon's rise and fall is a dazzlingly complex American masterpiece.

The Godfather (1972)
Far more than just a simple gangster film, Francis Ford Coppola's great mafia epic is both a sweeping family saga and an incisive examination of the corrupting influence of power.

The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

This unsettling film noir from pioneering female director Ida Lupino follows two Americans on a fishing trip in Mexico, where they pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be a psychopathic serial killer.

A League of Their Own (1992)

Batter up!  Penny Marshall directs this winning sports comedy about the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Malcolm X (1992)
Spike Lee's stylish, sprawling biopic about the influential civil rights leader gives the great Denzel Washington the lead role of a lifetime.

Shadows (1959)
Maverick filmmaker John Cassavetes's exploration of interracial romance and sibling relationships is a landmark work of American independent film.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)
This glorious ode to Hollywood moviemaking, set during the transition from silent to sound film, remains the high-water mark of the American musical.

Stop by the library today and check one out!

Friday Reads: Seductive Poison

Happy Friday! This week, Dr. Stanley is reading a book about one of the most infamous events in modern history, the Jonestown tragedy. Read on for his thoughts about Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple by Deborah Layton.

This is an interesting take on Jim Jones and the People’s Temple in Guyana. What type of hold does Jones have on his followers that could result in the suicides of 913 people? In this first-hand telling of her experiences with the People’s Temple, Deborah Layton explores how she became involved with the group and eventually escaped. She attempts to dissect Jones’ psyche to expose his deepening mental illness that led him to believe and act the way he did until his supposed paranoia completely took over. She also shares some stories of various members to help us understand how he could have such devout believers. One person’s story does not cover all aspects of what happened in Jonestown but I feel it certainly give an overall view of the dangers of falling under the spell of a person who promises a better life to those who feel marginalized and are looking for something better.

Friday Reads: The Kiss Quotient

We have another romance review for you this week, but no, the librarian reading it is not Kelly! Adam tells us about reading The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang.

Over the past few years, I've tried to make a deliberate effort to read more broadly, moving outside of my comfort zone and choosing fiction and non-fiction that I wouldn't normally read. For non-fiction, I've started a Dewey Decimal reading challenge, where I'll read one book from each of the 100 divisions of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, including topics related to philosophy, religion, language, and the natural sciences that I wouldn't usually read about. For my fiction reading, I've decided to try some genres that are new to me. First up, and just in time for Valentine's Day: contemporary romance. When I was younger, I think I was always dismissive of popular romance novels, and while my attitude has certainly changed over the years, I've still never taken the time to read in the genre, until now. I decided to go with a recent romance novel from our Fiction collection here at Reeves, Helen Hoang's The Kiss Quotient.

The novel is about thirty-year-old Stella Lane, an econometrician who loves her job creating algorithms for online retailers. Stella is on the autism spectrum, and her difficulties with touching and understanding other people have made her unsuccessful in the dating department. Deciding that she needs more practice, she hires male escort Michael Phan to help her overcome her inexperience and her issues with physical intimacy. Finding himself genuinely attracted to the gorgeous, smart, and intriguing Stella, Michael accepts her offer, but maybe their partnership will turn into something more.

I'm not far into the book, but I'm really enjoying it so far. The author has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, so I think she brings a genuine and possibly more unique perspective to the genre. Plus, it's pretty steamy, which is atypical for the novels I usually read. I feel like I've been reading a lot of end-of-the-world fiction since the pandemic began, and the last novel I read dealt with murder, police corruption, drug addiction, and family dysfunction, so The Kiss Quotient is a welcome change of pace.

February DVD Spotlight: Romantic Films

Another Valentine's Day is nearly upon us, so there's no better time to highlight some of the many romantic films in the Reeves Memorial Library DVD collection.  All through the month of February, we're featuring the best in silver screen romance, from classics like Casablanca (1942) and West Side Story (1961), to contemporary favorites like Titanic (1997), The Wedding Singer (1998) and Pride & Prejudice (2005).

Other featured titles include:

Brief Encounter (1945)
This classic British tearjerker tells the story of a housewife and a married doctor who meet in a railway station cafe and fall deeply in love, even though they know their love is impossible.

Bull Durham (1988)
Sports and romance meld perfectly in this hilarious film about an aging minor league catcher who is brought in to "mature" a young pitching prospect, and who falls for a local baseball groupie.

Her (2013)
In this fascinating glimpse at humans' relationship with technology, a lonely, recently-divorced writer falls in love with his artificially intelligent operating system.

In the Mood for Love (2000)
This gorgeous, swooningly romantic period drama, directed by the great Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai, chronicles the relationship between two neighbors who realize their spouses are having an extramarital affair.

The Princess Bride (1987)
This cheeky, beloved fairy tale movie has it all: true love, giants, pirates, kidnapping, sword fighting, deception, revenge, rescues, and, yes, kissing.

Sweet Land (2005)
In this underseen gem, a young German mail order bride travels to post-WWI Minnesota to marry a Norwegian immigrant farmer, and the two fall in love as they struggle to overcome prejudice and injustice.

Trouble in Paradise (1932)
A mischievous, sophisticated romantic comedy about a thief and a pickpocket who fall in love, then scheme to rob a beautiful perfume company executive.

Check one out today, and watch it with someone special.

Friday Reads: Cottage at the Beach

Though the January residency for the Writing Popular Fiction program has ended, we still have books by program faculty and alumni on display in the Reading Room downstairs. Kelly is currently reading a novel that isn't featured in that collection, but which was written by one of our SHU faculty. Read on for more about Cottage at the Beach by Lee McClain...

Between the January weather and the surge in Covid cases, I've been needing a pick-me-up. I love Dr. McClain's romances because they're hopeful without being sickly-sweet; she manages to strike that delicate balance between wholesome and a little bit of spice. 

Cottage on the Beach is the first book in The Off Season series, but it's the second one I've read; I started with #3, Christmas on the Coast. I guess I'll have to read the middle installment next (Reunion at the Shore)! The good thing about reading genre romance novels is that you're pretty much guaranteed a happily-ever-after ending, so already knowing the outcome for this couple doesn't spoil the journey.

This book has everything I needed: a cop who looks like Chris Hemsworth, a crazy dog, a bookstore, a matchmaking sister, a courageous teen, and hints of spring. It's like a cup of a tea and a cozy blanket -- with which, by the way, it pairs perfectly. 

Spring 2022 Newsletter

 The Spring 2022 Library newsletter is online!

Catch up on what's new in the Library here. 

January Reading Theme: WPF Faculty & Alumni

We’re delighted to welcome faculty and students from SHU’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program to campus for the January residency! This month, we’re featuring books by WPF faculty and alumni -- as well as Gangsterland, a thriller by our visiting author, Tod Goldberg, who will teaching a session and presenting a lecture while he is here with us.

Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash

(YA Collection) It’s All About Us by Shelley Adina (WPF alum)
“Tall, blonde Lissa Mansfield is used to being one of the "in" crowd--but being accepted by the popular girls at posh Spencer Academy boarding school in San Francisco is turning out to be harder than she thought. And then there's her New-York-loudmouth roommate, Gillian Chang, who's not just happy to be a Christian herself--she's determined to out Lissa, too! If Lissa can just keep her faith under wraps long enough to hook Callum McCloud, the hottest guy in school, she'll be golden. But when Callum pressures her to go all the way with him, Lissa has to decide for herself how far is too far. How can she see that line when he's so gorgeous and popular and she's so dazzled? And besides, she's too busy shopping for a Valentino and booking the hottest celeb for the Benefactors Ball. Who knew finding a place at Spencer Academy would be so complicated?” --Amazon


Grave Markings by Michael Arnzen (WPF faculty)
“Grave Markings follows the tortured mental breakdown of Mark Michael Kilpatrick-an artist driven to purge visions of hell from his tainted mind by permanently working his ink into the skins of unwilling victims...the flesh of both the living and freshly dead. News reporter Roy Roberts finds himself drawn into an obsession with tattoo culture, at the same time as Kilpatrick's own compulsions produce sicker and sicker masterpieces that attract media attention, twisting in a spiral that inevitably brings Roberts and his loved ones into Kilpatrick's morbidly perverse universe, and the artist's deadly inkgun turns toward them…” --Publisher’s summary


Pocketful of Pearls by Shelley Bates (WPF alum)
“At a crossroads in his life, college professor Matthew Nicholas goes wandering. Penniless and malnourished, he comes to the back step of a remote ranch house, where a reserved young woman, Dinah Traynell, feeds him, then hires him as a handyman. Matthew soon finds himself drawn into Dinah's awful story: for years, she's been the mistress of a self-annointed, monstrously smug prophet. She can hardly imagine life outside the cult, but Matthew opens her eyes, and together they overcome their unhappy histories in this affecting story that rips away hypocrisy and replaces it with trust.” --John Mort, Booklist


Rolling in Clover by Penny Dawn (WPF alum)
“Kimberley Roderick has it all -- a healthy daughter, a beautiful home, hired help, and a husband with addictions. Unfortunately, his compulsions don't include family life. He spends his weeks on the road and his weekends in the fast lane, leaving Kimberly to wonder "What if?" and wallow in regret for choices made long ago… Luke Jackson has problems of his own. The only woman he's ever loved can't stand to look at him, but he holds it together for the sake of their eight-year-old son, and the hope that he can win back her affection. All that changes when, after a chance meeting, Kimberley and Luke enter into a relationship that evolves from attraction and temptation into a powerful and undeniable love.” --Publisher’s summary


Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg (January residency speaker)
“Sal Cupertine is a legendary hit man for the Chicago Mafia, known for his ability to get in and out of a crime without a trace. Until now, that is. His first-ever mistake forces Sal to botch an assassination, killing three undercover FBI agents in the process. This puts too much heat on Sal, and he knows this botched job will be his death sentence to the Mafia. So he agrees to their radical idea to save his own skin. A few surgeries and some intensive training later, and Sal Cupertine is gone, disappeared into the identity of Rabbi David Cohen. Leading his growing congregation in Las Vegas, overseeing the population and the temple and the new cemetery, Rabbi Cohen feels his wicked past slipping away from him, surprising even himself as he spouts quotes from the Torah or the Old Testament. Yet, as it turns out, the Mafia isn't quite done with him yet. Soon the new cemetery is being used as both a money and body-laundering scheme for the Chicago family. And that rogue FBI agent on his trail, seeking vengeance for the murder of his three fellow agents, isn't going to let Sal fade so easily into the desert." --Amazon


Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson (WPF alum)
“Hopkinson has already captured readers with her unique combination of Caribbean folklore, sensual characters, and rhythmic prose. These stories further illustrate her broad range of subjects, from a Web designer who discovers an unusual ability to alter the pixels of real people to a young girl struggling to survive in a postapocalyptic world where the very air and water are suffused with ground glass.” --Booklist review


(YA Collection) My Abnormal Life by Lee McClain (WPF faculty)
“Fifteen-year-old Rose Graham has never been to school. She's never had a date. She certainly never knew she was gorgeous. She's been too busy shoplifting food, keeping Social Services off her family's case, and taking care of her little sister, Dani. Now, living with a foster family in affluent Linden Falls, Rose is supposed to act normal. But high school parties, first kisses, and writing for the school newspaper seem so trivial when all Rose wants is to get her family back together.” --Publisher’s summary

Governess for a Week by Barbara Miller (WPF faculty)
“Governess Marian Greenway feels she's been hired by a lunatic when her employer demands she wear a revealing dress to dinner then introduces her to his relatives as his fiance. She realizes his behavior may be rooted in his war wounds, so she agrees. Captain David Armstead, Lord Wyle, wants to fob off his interfering aunts, and a fake engagement seemed a good idea when he was in his cups. But the next day the woman he thought was a hired actress takes over his household and his children become devoted to her. After only a few days he is falling in love with Marian, but she has vowed never to marry a soldier. Marian and Wyle face the dilemma of what is more important, the welfare of the children or their own happiness. They find the answer when a threat to those children vaults them into a plot where only Marian's resourcefulness and Wyle's faith in her can bring them all home safe.” --Publisher’s summary


Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler (WPF faculty)
“Living in small town Rockabill, Maine, Jane True always knew she didn't quite fit in with so-called normal society. During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures that are terrifying, beautiful, and deadly--all of which perfectly describe her new 'friend,' Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire. It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never--ever--rub the genie's lamp.” --Publisher’s summary


Poison Study by Maria Snyder (WPF faculty)
“Convicted of murdering a general's son, Yelena faces death by hanging until she is offered a reprieve by Valek, the commander of Ixia's chief of security. He will spare her life if she will become his poison taster. As Yelena learns to discern the slightest hint of poison in food and drink, she also discovers that some people want her dead. As tensions mount in Ixia, from rebels within and enemies without, Yelena discovers a growing magical talent within her that she cannot control.” --Library Journal


Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson (WPF alum)
“After a routine delivery, midwife Sarah Brandt visits her patient in a rooming house and discovers that another boarder, a young girl, has been killed. At the request of Sergeant Frank Malloy, she searches the girl's room, and discovers that the victim is from one of the most prominent families in New York and the sister of an old friend. The powerful family, fearful of scandal, refuses to permit an investigation. But with Malloy's help, Sarah begins a dangerous quest to bring the killer to justice before death claims another victim.” --Publisher’s summary