Friday Reads: Dandelion Wine

Most people have heard of Fahrenheit 451, but today Interim Library Director Adam Pellman tells us about one of Ray Bradbury's other books: Dandelion Wine.

 

I first encountered Ray Bradbury's stories as required reading in high school and college, and he's been a favorite of mine ever since. I've read most of his story collections, and novels like Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes still stand out as classics. For some reason, it's taken me this long to get to one of his most beloved books, Dandelion Wine, his semi-autobiographical novel about a childhood summer in a small town. This feels like the perfect time for me to read it. With school back in session, I need something to help me hold on to these last summer days, and this book fits the bill.

The novel takes place over the course of the summer of 1928, in fictional Green Town, Illinois (a setting modeled after Bradbury's own hometown of Waukegan). While the narrative returns time and again to the activities of twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding and his brother Tom, many other townspeople get their time in the spotlight, and Bradbury does a marvelous job of fleshing out these characters, even if it's only for a single chapter. As much as he excels at capturing the rhythms and concerns of childhood, Bradbury is equally adept at fashioning the town's adult citizens, whose joy, sadness, fear, hope, and reminiscences create such an affecting collective portrait. As grounded as much of the novel is, there are still the darker elements and sense of magic that I often associate with Bradbury's work, whether it's the brothers' fascination with a fortune-telling arcade automaton, or the series of local murders thought to be carried out by an otherworldly creature known as the Lonely One. It's been a real treat to revisit Bradbury's work after such a long time away.

Friday Reads: Major Labels

Our newly-minted Interim Library Director, Adam Pellman, has a Friday Reads for this last Friday before Fall Workshop! Today he tells us about his experience reading Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh.

I've been a casual music listener for most of my life, and my listening habits tended to be limited to classic rock or whatever happened to be on the radio in the car. It's only been over the past five years or so that I've made a conscious effort to expand my musical horizons, seeking out genres I had ignored in the past, and discovering new and old music by artists with whom I was previously unfamiliar. On the recommendation of a colleague, I even started a listening project using the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die album generator website, which randomly assigns an album each day for you to listen to, based on a list created by a panel of music critics. That's why this feels like the perfect time for me to read Sanneh's comprehensive and accessible book, which is essentially a history of American popular music since 1970. It's given me a lot of context to keep in mind as I listen to a new album from the list each day. Sanneh, a longtime music critic, draws heavily from contemporary criticism and journalism in music publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard, Source, and Creem, in addition to offering his own analysis and bits of autobiography, discussing, for example, how he fell in love with punk and hip-hop in his youth, or writing about his adoration of country music.

What I really love about this book is the way Sanneh dissects music culture, often drawing parallels between genres that might not seem obvious. As Sanneh writes, there's a sense of identity or culture associated with genres like punk and country, and terms like "rock 'n' roll" and "hip-hop" often evoke ideas of a certain lifestyle apart from the music itself. Musicians and fans embrace the distinctiveness of a particular genre and its cultural identity as part of its appeal, so when an artist or even a whole genre begins to have mainstream success or "crossover" appeal, that feeling of distinctiveness or specialness begins to fade. And yet, isn't greater success and broader appeal the goal of most musical artists? This tension is inherent in all of these genres, leading to constant evolution and the advent of new subgenres or strains like heavy metal, outlaw country, hardcore, trap, and house music. The book is a welcome reminder that music can be something we connect with on a deeply personal level, yet simultaneously something that can give us a real sense of community.

Fall 2023 Library Newsletter

The Library's Fall 2023 Newsletter is live! Check out the big changes happening at Reeves. https://mailchi.mp/bafa.../library-newsletter-summer-8290399

Celebrating David's Retirement

Today we celebrated David Stanley's 26 years of service to Seton Hill as the Director of Reeves Memorial Library. Dr. Stanley will be retiring at the end of next week and will be sorely missed by many on the Hill! (For those attending Fall Workshop, he does plan to attend the reception honoring retirees at the end of the second day.) Please join us in wishing him the best!

Friday Reads: To Kill a Mockingbird

This Friday, Dr. Stanley shares a book that is probably familiar to most of us and which always makes me (Kelly) think of summer: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. As with many classics, there is always something new to find with a re-read!

I like to spend some of my time during the summer re-reading books that I’ve read before. It doesn’t matter if I read it recently or many years ago. It doesn’t matter if I’ve read it just once before or more times than I can remember. It’s a great time to revisit old friends. One of my choices this summer has been To Kill a Mockingbird. This may have been one of the first novels I read growing up so it’s always held a special place for me. If you’ve seen the movie but not read the book, I think you’d be surprised how different they are. While the movie tells the general story the book is much more all-encompassing of the events that took place during that period in America. Granted there are some disturbing sections but it tells the story of the era. The past is not always pleasant as is pointed out in the plot. You get to learn more about Scout, Jem, and Dill; their personalities give you a more fleshed out perspective. Calpurnia is not just a background character; she interacts at a much deeper level and plays an active part in exploring the racial issues that arise. There are many subplots that are explored and they all work together to made this a difficult albeit excellent summer read.

Closed July 1 - 4th

The Library and the University will be CLOSED Saturday, 7/1 - Tuesday, 7/4 in observance of Independence Day. Have a safe and happy holiday!

Friday Reads: The Buried Giant

If you're looking for a misty, mysterious fantasy novel to read this summer, Adam's current book might fit the bill. Read on for his teaser of The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro!

Set in a mostly uncivilized post-Arthurian England, The Buried Giant tells the story of an elderly Briton couple, Axl and Beatrice, who live in a small hillside village. The England of the novel is a land shrouded in mist, where ogres and dragons roam the land, and where everyone is experiencing a mysterious sort of collective amnesia. Some believe it is the constant mists that cloud their memories. With vague recollections occasionally gnawing at the corners of their minds, Axl and Beatrice set out on a journey to visit their barely remembered son, and along the way they are joined by a fierce Saxon warrior, an orphaned boy with a strange bite wound, and the aging Arthurian knight, Sir Gawain. Facing peril from human and non-human threats alike, they continue on their way, slowly piecing together the truths about their shared past.

This is a different kind of fantasy novel than I've read before, borrowing genre iconography like dragons and ogres, but with a very grounded storyline and language that reads more like historical fiction, despite its mythic trappings. It's also a highly allegorical novel, and its examination of collective responses to guilt and trauma feels sadly relevant. Kazuo Ishiguro also wrote two of my favorite novels, The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both of which offer similarly slow, subtle builds to their respective story revelations. They're the kind of novels for which the phrase "quietly devastating" was coined, and The Buried Giant is another work that fits that description to a T.