Wednesday, January 6th, 2021
Each month, we will post a selection of recently-acquired books, from new releases to old classics, which have been added to our catalog and are available for use by the Loyola community. This series is inspired by The Seminary Co-op’s “The Front Table” publication: https://www.semcoop.com/.
This month’s edition includes ebooks only. Links are included in the descriptions.
May, Katherine. Wintering : the Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times First American edition. New York: Riverhead Books, 2021. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213823518802506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down. Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered. A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas. Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
Buggeln, Gretchen Townsend, and Barbara Franco. Interpreting Religion at Museums and Historic Sites Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213824812402506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
Interpreting Religion at Museums and Historic Sites encourages readers to consider the history of religion as integral to American culture and provides a practical guide for any museum to include interpretation of religious traditions in its programs and exhibits. Combining both theoretical essays and practical case studies from a wide cross section of the field, the book explores how museums are finding new ways to connect with audiences about this important aspect of American history. This book explores the practical and interpretive problems that museums encounter when they include religion in their interpretation: How do we make sure visitors don’t think the museum is taking the side of any particular religious group, or proselytizing, or crossing church-state boundaries? How do we spin out a rich story with the available artifact base? What are the opportunities and perils of telling particular religious stories in a multicultural context? These and other questions are addressed in a series of interpretive essays and case studies that capture the experimental and innovative religion programming that is beginning to find a place in American history museums. An introduction by Gretchen Buggeln places the subject of religion and museums in the intellectual context of national and international scholarship. Case studies cover a range of topics and venues that include outdoor museums, historic houses and exhibits; interpretive issues of secular and sacred contexts; and interpretive techniques like dialogue, music and first person accounts. A concluding essay suggests a publicly oriented historiography of religion for American museums and historic sites.
Cline, Ernest. Ready Player Two : a Novel First edition. New York: Ballantine Books, 2021. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213822646102506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who’ll kill millions to get what he wants. Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance. Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.
Mackay, Lauren. Among the Wolves of Court : the Untold Story of Thomas and George Boleyn London: I.B. Tauris, 2019. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213824101702506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
The tragic story of Anne Boleyn has been retold over the centuries, yet two key figures in Anne’s life-her father Thomas and brother George- are often relegated to the margins of Henry VIII’s turbulent reign. Well before Anne’s coronation in 1533, Thomas was regarded as one of Henry’s most skilled and experienced ambassadors, and George was a talented young courtier on the rise. But Anne’s downfall was to have a devastating effect on her family – ultimately costing her and her brother their lives. A family whose success and prestige had been shaped over generations was destroyed in a violent and brutal episode as the king sought a new wife and a male heir. In this first biography devoted to the Boleyn men, Lauren Mackay takes us beyond the stereotypes of Thomas and George to present a story that has almost been lost to history. This book follows the Boleyn men as they negotiated their way through the ruthless game of politics among the wolves of the court, and establishes their place in Tudor history.
Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous : a Novel New York: Penguin Press, 2020. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213822645602506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.
Winters, Mary-Frances. Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body, and Spirit. Black Fatigue. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Incorporated, 2020. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_askewsholts_vlebooks_9781523091317&context=PC&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en
This is the first book to define and explore Black fatigue, the intergenerational impact of systemic racism on the physical and psychological health of Black people–and explain why and how society needs to collectively do more to combat its pernicious effects. Black people, young and old, are fatigued, says award-winning diversity and inclusion leader Mary-Frances Winters. It is physically, mentally, and emotionally draining to continue to experience inequities and even atrocities, day after day, when justice is a God-given and legislated right. And it is exhausting to have to constantly explain this to white people, even–and especially–well-meaning white people, who fall prey to white fragility and too often are unwittingly complicit in upholding the very systems they say they want dismantled. This book, designed to illuminate the myriad dire consequences of “living while Black,” came at the urging of Winters’s Black friends and colleagues. Winters describes how in every aspect of life–from economics to education, work, criminal justice, and, very importantly, health outcomes–for the most part, the trajectory for Black people is not improving. It is paradoxical that, with all the attention focused over the last fifty years on social justice and diversity and inclusion, little progress has been made in actualizing the vision of an equitable society. Black people are quite literally sick and tired of being sick and tired. Winters writes that “my hope for this book is that it will provide a comprehensive summary of the consequences of Black fatigue, and awaken activism in those who care about equity and justice–those who care that intergenerational fatigue is tearing at the very core of a whole race of people who are simply asking for what they deserve.”
Dreyer, Benjamin. Dreyer’s English : an Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style First edition. New York: Random House, 2019. https://luc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99213822596702506&context=L&vid=01LUC_INST:01LUC&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&isFrbr=true&tab=Everything&lang=en
We all write, all the time: books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House’s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike—not to mention his followers on social media—for deconstructing the English language with playful erudition. Now he distills everything he has learned from the myriad books he has copyedited and overseen into a useful guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward. As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English offers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en dash; the rules and nonrules of grammar, including why it’s OK to begin a sentence with “And” or “But” and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it’s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including “very,” “rather,” “of course,” and the dreaded “actually.” Dreyer will let you know whether “alright” is all right (sometimes) and even help you brush up on your spelling—though, as he notes, “The problem with mnemonic devices is that I can never remember them.” And yes: “Only godless savages eschew the series comma.” Chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this book will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people’s prose, and—perhaps best of all—an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language.
