As American aphorist Mason Cooley wrote, “Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are.” In this spirit, the DUX department offers you a delightfully diverse list of what librarians and staff at IU Libraries are reading right now. When possible, we’ve linked to where you can read a ebook or purchase through a local bookshop.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019)
by Marlon James
Read by: Jaci Wilkinson, Head of Discovery and User Experience
Details: According to NPR: “Our critic likens reading Marlon James’ new epic fantasy to being slowly eaten by a bear that occasionally cracks jokes— painful and strange, but upsettingly beautiful for all that.”
War and Peace (1865)
by Leo Tolstoy, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Note: Link is to a different translation.)
Read by: Jamie Wittenberg, Research Data Management Librarian and Head of Scholarly Communication
Heavy: An American Memoir (2018)
by Kiese Laymon
Read by: Anne Haines, DUX Web Content Specialist
Details: Kiese Laymon got his MFA in creative writing here at IU!
Abaddon’s Gate (2013)
by James S. A. Corey
Read by: Anna Marie Johnson, Head Librarian, Scholar’s Commons
Details: “Hopefully, this is a judgement-free zone,” says Anna Marie. This is the third book in a sci-fi series that her thirteen-year-old recommended. Anna Marie adds, “One of the two authors is a research assistant to George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones, and the series was apparently made into a tv/internet series called The Expanse.”
The Water Dancer (2019)
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Read by: Theresa Quill, Map and Spatial Data Librarian
How Long ’til Black Future Month? (2018)
by N.K. Jemison
Read by: Rivkah Cooke, Head of Electronic Research Acquisitions
Details: For more on this book, see Amal El-Mohtar’s review on NPR’s website, “Gorgeous ‘Black Future Month’ Tracks A Writer’s Development.”
The Lions of al-Rassan (1995)
by Guy Gavriel Kay
Read by: Karen Stoll Farrell, Head of Area Studies
My Struggle (2009-2011)
by Karl Ove Knausgård (six volumes)
Read by: Ian Carstens, Public Services and Outreach Manager
Note: Link above is to Book 2, the only e-Book available. Ian is on book 6 pictured below.
The King Whisperers: Power Behind the Throne, from Rasputin to Rove (2011)
by Kerwin Swint
Read by: Rachael Cohen, Discovery User Experience Librarian
The Nightingale (2015)
by Kristin Hannah
Read by: Jackie Fleming, Visual Literacy and Resources Librarian
Details: Jackie recommends this book if you like historical fiction.
Some of our librarians have more than one current read!
Allison McClanahan, Collections and Cataloging Librarian at the Archives of Traditional Music, is “rereading a favourite from my teen fiction days,” the Great Tree of Avalon series (2004-2006), as well as Himself and I (1957) by Anne O’Neille-Barna. Allison adds that Anne O’Neille-Barna is a pseudonym for folklorist Elaine O’Beirne-Ranelagh.
Ilana Stonebraker, Head of Business/SPEA Information Commons, usually reads four books at a time, “so I don’t get bored of them”. Here are three she’s reading right now:
- The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America (2009) by Timothy Egan (Link is e-Audiobook.)
- The Gone World (2018) by Tom Sweterlitsch
- The Great Spring: Writing, Zen, and this Zigzag Life (2016) by Natalie Goldberg
We hope some of these choices bring you somewhere new or help widen your range of usual genres as many of us read a bit more than usual while we all stay at home.
Leave a Reply