Research Guides: What We Are Reading: Spring, 2021

Recreational Reading

Book suggestions gathered from members of our Benedictine University community.

If not available in our collection, these titles may be available through your public library.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Pilar Charmoli, College of Science. Genre: Non-fiction Indigenous American philosophy; Philosophy of Nature. "Non-fiction Indigenous American philosophy; Philosophy of Nature Kimmerer writes a poetic love letter to Mother Earth. It's made me interact with the environment with whole new philosophy. Plus, you learn some indigenous history and culture."
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by student, Gala Escareno.
Genre: Fiction
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by an anonymous librarian.
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Call Number: 520 S129c
Recommended by an anonymous student.
The First Mrs. Rothschild by Sara Aharoni
Recommended by Science Outreach Librarian, Swati Wagh.
"It talks about how Jews were treated as bad as the Untouchables in India. Opened my eyes to inhumanity of humans. Sad!"
The Four Agreements Companion Book by Don Miguel Ruiz
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by an anonymous student.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Pilar Charmoli, College of Science. Historical Fiction. "The backdrop story is inspired by a real group of librarians who between 1935 and 1943 delivered books to some of the most remote regions in the Appalachian Mountains. It is is well-written and introduces strong characters and their relationships."
Grace and Steel by J. Randy Taraborrelli
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by librarian, Joan Hopkins.
Just started to read this recently published work.
The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956 by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Call Number: 365.45 S692
Anonymous submission.
"The gulag archipelago is based on the testimony of 200 survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn's own eleven years in labor camps and exile, it chronicles the story of those at the heart of the Soviet Union who opposed Stalin, and for whom the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair."
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
Call Number: 823.9 T649L 1993
Recommended by student, Zohaib Zubair.
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by an anonymous librarian. Genre: Historical Fiction. "Pre World War II how escaping Jews were helped to hide by this architect in France. Again cannot imagine how Jews lived in fear and it still continues. Now we can add Asians,"
The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World by Mark Hyman
Recommended by Mesa librarian, Janet Forde.
Genre: Health & Nutrition
Quarks of Light by Rob Gentile
Publication Date: 2021
Recommended by Dr. Ovid Wong, Department of Education.
" It is on the best seller list on the day of its debut, and it is about near-death experience and life's endurance."
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Publication Date: 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction.
Recommended by Cheryl Antonich, Department of Nursing and Health.
"A beautifully executed novel involving three female codebreakers during WWII."
The Russian by James Patterson
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by anonymous Faculty/Staff.
Genre: Crime.
"This is book #13 in the Michael Bennett series."
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by an anonymous librarian.
Genre: Young Adult - Historial Fiction
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Call Number: 270.82 L58s
Recommended by an anonymous student.
Genre: Novel, Fantasy Fiction, Satire, Epistolary novel, Religious Fiction
Send for Me by Lauren Fox
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by librarian, Joan Hopkins.
Historical fiction based on the author's family letters.
This is the story of a family who fled from Nazi Germany to start a new life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Couldn't put it down!
Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Dr. Robert McCarthy, Department of Biological Sciences.
Genre: Science Fiction
"I'm reading this short story collection by Nalo Hopkinson for a science fiction book club I take part in that meets on a monthly basis at different places in the NW 'burbs'. The stories are written from an Afro-Caribbean perspective that is rare in modern-day science fiction and fantasy."
Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Chris Birks, Department of Communication Arts.
"Behind the scenes facts and stories from long-time Simpsons writer Mike Reiss"
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Chris Birks, Department of Communication Arts.
"Tells the real story of a man that walked away from society and lived 27 years in the woods in Maine with no human contact."
Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Dr. Brooks Maki, Department of Chemistry.
Genre: Non-fiction, environment, archaeology
The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by an anonymous librarian.
Genre: Biography.
"Biography of the Moghul queen set in the 1500-1600. Fascinating story of the poiwer of women!"
We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet
Call Number: Click on title to request on Interlibrary Loan
Recommended by Cheryl Antonich, Department of Nursing and Health.
"A wonderful novel, beautifully written, with thoughtfully crafted characters and so much to think about."

Update from the Benedictine Library Book Club

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Call Number: 813.6 N576s 2015

For those of you who enjoyed our 2019 discussion of The Sympathizer, you may be interested to know that the sequel to the book, The Committed, has just been published and is available through the Benedictine Library both online and in print.

Book Club Flyer

The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Call Number: 813.6 N576c 2021 or click on the title to access the e-book
Published March, 2021