The Bookworm 2016-17 by Falmouth Academy

The Bookworm

select reviews by the faculty of falmouth academy 27th edition

2016-2017

Falmouth Academy is a school that embraces reading, not as requirement for a test, but as an essential component of an educated life, or a “life of the mind.” For 27 years, The Bookworm has embodied this philosophy by highlighting the diverse reading interests of our faculty. We believe that reading provides connection by bridging differences and creating shared experiences. In each grade, our students read and analyze the same books, and thus have common touchstones for conversations throughout their time here and beyond. For example, students who read All the King’s Men in twelfth grade can draw from themes they explored when reading Macbeth in tenth grade. We believe that deep reading leads to deeper understanding. Our students become thoughtful and deliberate readers, examining and unraveling the intricacies of the text and reshaping them into insights and ideas. Reading is a journey we can all embark on. It doesn’t matter if you prefer turning the pages of a musty first edition or sliding your finger across a smooth iPad screen. It doesn’t matter if you enjoy reading old classics, bestsellers, specific genres, nonfiction or all of the above. The Bookworm has a little bit of everything. So enjoy, and we hope you’ll find a few ideas for your next journey.

- Jennifer Murphy Director of Library and Media Services

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I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage. - Roald Dahl The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets

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Marite Burns, Ceramics Everyone Brave is Forgiven Chris Cleave

Cleave is known for his book, Incendiary, which has been made into a movie, and also for Little Bee, which was on the New York Times bestseller list. I read his most recent book, Everyone Brave is Forgiven, because it takes place during World War II, and I have an interest in that period of history. The book is loosely based on the real life experiences of Cleave’s grandparents, one who was an ambulance driver during the Blitz, one who taught schoolchildren left behind in London, and one who served in the army in Malta. The interplay of these unforgettable main characters ― Mary, Alistair and Tom ― and the events that changed their lives from 1939 to 1942 was fascinating to read. The author has thoroughly researched the period and is quite knowledgeable.

New York: the Novel

Edward Rutherford

I read one of Edward Rutherford’s books, New York, the Novel and because it was so well written, I continued on and read three more: London, Paris and The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga. Of the four books, I enjoyed New York the most. It starts in a small Native American fishing village in Manhattan. Dutch settlers arrive and the lives of the later British settlers become intertwined with those who came before. The book follows several families through many generations, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and ends with the bombing of the World Trade Center. I was fascinated to learn how the roads and boroughs were named and how the Hudson River played a critical role in the development of New York City.

Eleanor Clark, English Ghettoside

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Edward Albee

Because I apparently was not destined to read anything lighthearted this year, I found myself reaching for Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf when I learned that he had died recently. This is not to say that Albee’s 1963 play is without humor. It is darkly, darkly funny. As we make our way through the late-night conversations of George, a college professor, and Martha, his wife and the daughter of the college president, along with their unsuspecting young guests, Nick and Honey, we are caught up in a rapid-fire repartee fueled by alcohol, patterns of cruelty, and self-delusion. Careful, the play seems to say. Careful who you choose to be. One of the greatest plays of the 20th century! -Lalise Melillo

Me Talk Pretty One Day David Sedaris

Perhaps this coming year I’ll turn to something a little more cheerful and revisit Sedaris. His Me Talk Pretty One Day, a collection of personal essays, holds within its pages a passage my family and I pass around like a sort of talisman. “Sometime me cry alone at night,” we’ll say to each other, quoting Sedaris’ story about an adult French class he took after moving to Paris. The response that follows ― “That be common for I, also, but be more strong, you. Much work, and someday you talk pretty. People start love you soon. Maybe tomorrow, okay.” ― never ceases to provide comfort. ― and the voice! -Lalise Melillo I was first drawn to David Sedaris after hearing him as a contributor on This American Life. I would also suggest his most recent collection of stories, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls! -Sarah Knowles Sometime me laugh aloud while reading. -Monica Hough

Jill Leovy

Emmanuelle Bonnafoux Claydon, French

As I read Jill Leovy’s Ghettoside, I enjoyed reminding myself that David Sedaris had recommended it to me. Well, truth be told, he had recommended it to an entire room two summers ago when, reaching the question-and-answer portion of his performance, a particularly alert audience member had possessed the presence of mind to ask him what authors he himself was reading. Taking note, I of course went out and bought Ghettoside immediately and have been picking away at it ever since ― picking away not because of any fault in the narration, rather because the writing is so good. The book is tough going. In vivid, relentless fashion, Leovy, a reporter for The Los Angeles Times, explores the devastation of murder in South Central Los Angeles, focusing on one homicide in 2007. Following the work of two detectives and their terribly sad, overlapping story, Leovy highlights the problems the justice system faces finding the right balance of effort and attention. The answers are not easy.

Hounded: The Lowdown on Life by Three Dachshunds Matt Ziselman

Surrounded at home by three dachshunds with very different personalities, Matt Ziselman wrote a funny, but often poignant memoir. The dogs are the starting point of every chapter. Their singular habits or activities lead to a more personal introspection from the author, reflecting on his life, his relationships, and how he ultimately found his voice as a writer. The end of every chapter wraps up with an amusing aphorism provided by the dogs, as if they had access to some wisdom we mere humans are still lacking. I initially picked this book because dachshunds seemed to be the subject matter, but I ended up enjoying Matt Ziselman’s unique style and sense of humor just as much as his astute observations on his dogs’ idiosyncrasies.

The Madeleine Project Clara Beaudoux

When Clara moved into her new apartment, she was surprised to find that the storage room was locked. One day, she decided to break the padlock and discovered a lifetime of personal items and memories left by the previous tenant, Madeleine, an elderly lady who had died at the age of 97. Intrigued by this time capsule, Clara set out to investigate the forgotten life of Madeleine from all those bits and pieces. What makes Clara Beaudoux’s work unusual is that she first published it in installments on Twitter. All three seasons are now available (in French) on storify.com/clarabdx/madeleineproject. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available in book form, and in English at storify. com/clarabdx/madeleineprojecten. I was utterly fascinated by Madeleine’s story. It felt like reading a page-turning (scrolling?) detective story while uncovering details about family history and going to a garage sale all at the same time ― complete with pictures and sounds. It is hauntingly moving. One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us. - Cassandra Clare, The Infernal Devices

Amaris Cuchanski, French My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante

My Brilliant Friend is the first installment in Elena Ferrante’s four-part Neapolitan series, a richly nuanced portrait of female friendship in 1940s Italy. At the beginning of the novel, Lila and Elena are two ambitious 8-year-old girls yearning to escape their violent, poverty-stricken hometown just outside Naples. Their progressive aspirations to forge their own careers are challenged by the social and cultural norms of their community. Whereas Elena’s family can afford her the opportunity to pursue advanced schooling, Lila is constrained by financial circumstance to stay and work in the family shoemaking business. They grow up as counterpoints to each other in love, career, and character, Elena defining her identity as much in contrast to Lila’s as in emulation of it. Whereas Lila is strongwilled and clever, with a natural talent for design and business, Elena is studious, reserved, and cautious. Although the girls’ paths diverge increasingly as they grow up, marry, and pursue careers, their bond endures, even surviving prolonged periods of estrangement. Ferrante is formidable in her unflinching willingness to explore the fierce love, rivalry, and conflicting emotions that often characterize close female friendship. The novel is a powerful meditation on writing, relationships, and staying true to oneself, which Ferrante relates with deceptive simplicity and searing authenticity. A raw, thought-provoking

read that compels its readers to savor every word. (see Ruth Slocum’s review of the sequel, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay) A wonderful novel! -Ruth Slocum I loved this book! -Lalise Melillo Me, too! -Alison Ament

Mike Deasy, Humanities Blood Dazzler

Patricia Smith

Hurricane Katrina spits destruction in Patricia Smith’s chapbook Blood Dazzler, which follows the path of one of this country’s greatest natural disasters. In 78 poems, Smith demonstrates her mastery of voice, stepping into the shoes of The Hurricane as it grows stronger and nastier and then weakens and sputters. As Katrina progresses, we hear from a diverse array of characters who experience her wrath. The b-boys shout, “Yo! You hear rain?” The bureaucrat declares, “The situation is past critical.” The abandoned nursing home residents maintain, “Jesus is hugely who He says He is.” And a wise old Hurricane Betsy, born in 1965, chastises Katrina, “No nuance. Got no whisper in you. Do you, girl?” There is more than enough here to please the more traditional poetry reader as well. Smith tackles a diverse array of poetic forms. We’ve got tankas, a sestina, a ghazal, and blank verse galore. Blood Dazzler will please any reader who craves language that breathes life, love, and hope into even dire topics. For added pleasure, look up Smith’s performance of her poetry on YouTube ― she is a two-time national poetry slam champ.

The Devil’s Highway: A True Story Luis Alberto Urrea

Twenty-six men try to cross the country’s deadliest passage from Mexico into southern Arizona, a crossing that should take less than 48 hours. After three days, they still wander the desert, delirious and dying. In 2001, Luis Urrea began a three-year journey researching the deadliest border crossing in contemporary American history, and he found a story that becomes increasingly relevant as time passes. Urrea, a Mexican-American journalist, gives us the story not just of one border crossing but the story of all those whose lives intersect with the Mexican-American border. I left this book shuddering at the anonymity of the men who drowned in sand, mistaking the desert for an ocean as their blood boiled and their brains sizzled in skulls turned skillets. I ached to point my finger, but Urrea does not give us a convenient place to assign blame. He treats all the characters of this story with an admirable empathy. From the coyote who takes a wrong turn, to the stumbling migrants, to the patrolmen who both hunt border crossers and save their lives, we find no clear depiction of evil. Urrea takes a topic where we often find polarizing rhetoric and gives it the nuance it deserves. These characters are pawns trapped in

border policy that, for generations, has forced border crossers and border defenders alike into the deepest of moral quagmires.

Carol DiFalco, School Counselor When the Emperor Was Divine

Julie Otsuka

I love the Falmouth Public Library summer book sale. It has become an early summer tradition I eagerly await each year. This summer there were, to my taste, some particularly good finds including Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine. My arms were already full when I saw the elegant simplicity of the book cover. I couldn’t resist adding it to the top of the delicately balancing stack. A short read of only 144 pages, it began as the book I tossed into the top of my beach bag, unaware then that I would not be able to put it down. There was no time for swimming at the beach that afternoon. Otsuka tells the story of a Japanese-American family in Berkeley, California over a three-and-a-half-year period beginning in 1942. The book details their often shocking and deeply moving experience as “enemy aliens” and their relocation to an internment camp in Utah. Much like the simplicity of the book cover, Otsuka wastes not a single word. Her descriptions of the family are clear, precise and drew out of this reader an immediate sense of empathy and outrage. Quickly in the story it becomes strikingly noticeable that the family members will not be named but are referred to as the mother, father, daughter, and son. By doing so, Otsuka successfully paints an all too accurate picture reminding us that anyone who makes us feel uncomfortable, looks different, or worships in a way we don’t understand, can all too easily be labeled as scary, threatening, not one of us, or even as “enemy alien.” We look at the forced relocation of JapaneseAmericans in WWII to be a black spot in American history. We have much to learn from the horrific and disgraceful violation of our nation’s civil liberties during this time period. What I found most shocking and revealing in the book was the language used to describe the Japanese-Americans. Remarkably, the same derogatory, fear-inducing and ignorant rhetoric is actively being used today to describe Muslim-Americans. As a nation, we still have much to learn about understanding one another’s differences through genuine curiosity and a willingness to learn. We can connect with one another through accurate knowledge and kindness.

Stephen Duffy, Head of School Everybody’s Fool

Richard Russo

The perpetually beleaguered denizens of North Bath in upstate New York are back in a sequel to Russo’s 1993 novel Nobody’s Fool, and though they’re ten years older they are still their recognizable and memorable selves. Like many of us, they teeter between living in the present and wondering about the future, and the intervening years have brought significant changes to some of their lives, as well as shaping their prospects for the future into sharper relief. Russo has an artist’s eye for the details of small-town life and a wit to match, but he renders all of his characters (even the unsavory ones) with

their humanity fully intact and he avoids passing judgment on them, allowing us to make our own decisions. We find ourselves recognizing characteristics and behaviors that populate our lives while simultaneously rooting for Russo’s characters to find the justice and the closure and the love that we wish for them, and for ourselves.

Being Mortal

Atul Gawande

In this selection for this year’s Falmouth Reads Together program, Dr. Gawande ― a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston ― examines through his own experiences and research what it means to age in today’s society, particularly with regard to the health and elder care industries. Much of what he finds is dissatisfying or downright troubling, but as he pursues his examination he also discovers champions of reform, institutional innovators, and individuals and organizations that strive to maintain dignity and compassion for the people for whom they care. He treats his subjects with empathy, and because he is a doctor he has experienced firsthand the difficulty of having end-of-life conversations with people he has pledged to do his best to heal. He makes a compelling case for helping those in their later years to conduct their lives as fully as possible, acknowledging their increasing limitations but advocating for continued opportunities for engagement, involvement, and stimulating multi-generational interactions. As the book suggests, “… the ultimate goal is not a good death but a good life ― all the way to the very end.” I, too, read Gawande’s accounts of end-of-life care. His personal and professional observations, and hard-earned wisdom, have been a source of timely guidance in my own attempt to care for an aging parent within a healthcare system that often fails to honor our elders. -Karen Loder A kindly treatment of a tough subject! -Amy Galvam

Mike Earley, Assistant Head of School, Upper School Director The North Water Ian McGuire

This is a novel set on a whaleboat featuring an epic battle between the protagonist and a formidable foe with the ability to do great violence. That part should sound familiar, of course, but The North Water is a contemporary British novel, not a 19th century American novel. McGuire has a very creative and contemporary style, too, even though the action happens at about the same time as that other whaling novel. The violence is of the most disturbing kind which might put off some readers, but it makes one pull for the good guy that much more earnestly.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North Richard Flanagan

If you can take a little violence and suffering, try Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which won the Booker Prize in 2014. While McGuire’s whaleboat crew

must contend with sadistic shipmates and arctic conditions, the hero of this novel and his fellow Australian prisoners of war face their Japanese captors and the Burmese jungle heat while imprisoned during WWII.

A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman

If I told you only that A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is the story of an elderly Swedish curmudgeon who is distraught at the death of his wife, you’d probably stop reading and swear never to read any of the depressing books I recommend. Hang in there, though, because when a young family moves in across the street from Ove this becomes a comic and heartwarming story about renewal and loving thy neighbor. (see Susan Moffat) I just saw the movie while waiting for the book. It is a lovely story. -Petra Ehrenbrink I enjoyed this different sort of story. -Alison Ament

Gundhild Eder, German Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania

Erik Larson

Published in 2015, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the last and fateful voyage of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, this captivating nonfiction narrative recalls the occurrences before, during and after the sinking of the ship. Using the findings from his research of various resources, such as war logs, old telegrams, or survivor depositions, Larson offers fascinating insights into the backgrounds and lives of the passengers on board, some of whom had been quite wealthy and famous. He provides a lot of historical information and data about the perilous years of World War I, so as to set the backdrop for the unfolding events. Despite warnings from the German embassy in Washington that even an attack on a passenger vessel would be seen as fair game in these war times, the ship’s captain, William Thomas Turner, his crew, and the passengers were remarkably at ease during their journey as they believed that the Lusitania, also known as being one of the fastest transatlantic ocean liners at the time, would be able to outrun every submarine. Unfortunately, Walther Schwieger, a determined German captain, and his men of the Unterseeboot-20 proved them wrong when on May 7, 1915 a torpedo destroyed and sank the Lusitania off the Irish coast in just 18 minutes. Out of 1,198 passengers, including 123 Americans, only 764 survived this horrific tragedy. During my time living in Cork, Ireland in the early ’90s I had the chance to visit a memorial dedicated to the victims and survivors off the old Head of Kinsale in Cobh (formerly Queenstown). At the time, I was very touched by the images and accounts of the people involved in the tragedy as displayed in the exhibit. Reading Eric Larson’s book, however, has given me a much deeper understanding of the circumstances and the era in which this event took place.

Petra Ehrenbrink, German Jeder stirbt für sich allein (released in English as Everyone Dies Alone [US] or Alone in Berlin [UK]) Hans Fallada

This 1947 novel is based on a true story. The book’s protagonists, Otto and Anna Quangel, live a quiet workingclass life in Berlin during World War II until they receive word that their son has been killed as a soldier in France. Formerly uninterested in politics, they start writing and distributing postcards urging people to resist and overthrow the Nazi regime. Some of the passages in this new print of the original version are hard to stomach, as the novel clearly captures the rampant sense of fear and suspicion that reduced some individuals to their basest instincts. The vivid cast of characters portrays a lively panorama of life in a dreadful situation, posing the question of what one can do when one has no real power and does not know whether one’s actions will achieve anything at all. Fallada’s book is a statement that ― even without visible success ― we need to recognize the courage to try to change the status quo.

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots Deborah Feldman There is controversy about this memoir. Feldman left the strict Hasidic community of Satmar a few years ago and wrote a book about her experience within the community, but Satmar disputes some of her allegations. The book describes an oppressive society in which secular education is minimal, outsiders are feared and disdained, English language books are forbidden, and girls have to cover up their bodies and abide by all sorts of rules in order to preserve a flawless reputation within the community that marries them off by age 17. I appreciated a glimpse into this different world which prompted me to learn more about it. I especially appreciated the book’s explanation regarding the rules around ritual baths. When our tour guide mentioned them on a visit to a historic bath house during an exchange trip, it didn’t clearly register to me that some are still practicing these rituals in the 21st century.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Iain Reid

This slim debut novel tells a tightly-crafted twisted tale about the nature of identity. On the surface, this is a new couple’s trip to visit the boyfriend’s parents for the first time but it quickly becomes clear that there are troubling issues smoldering beneath the surface. The author swiftly lures you into eagerly wanting to find out how things fit together ― who is ending what? ―and whether your conclusions regarding the clues given in the unnamed narrator’s stream of consciousness will ultimately prove correct. The story kept me entertained until its end and I’m glad I undertook this increasingly tense journey.

Willnot

James Sallis

This quiet noir mystery is set in a small town filled with eccentrics. The remains of several people have been discovered in the woods outside the town and the town doctor narrates the aftermath of the discovery that unfolds over many months. The glimpses of untold stories of people fading in and out of the narration make this slim novel rich and complex, and the narrator is absolutely endearing.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

I was hesitant to pick up this book. Does revisiting characters really add to the magic of the original story? In my opinion, it does not. However, experiencing the stagecraft wizardry of this play in a live production should be spectacular! (See Liz Ledwell)

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep Joanna Cannon

Mrs. Creasy has disappeared and rumors are flying. Ten-yearold Grace and her friend, Tilly, decide to use their summer vacation to find her. In order to do so they believe they have to find God ― after all, the vicar says God knows everybody’s whereabouts. So Grace and Tilly go from door to door visiting the neighbors in search of the Almighty, uncovering much more than they actually understand. For the reader though, a decadeold secret starts to emerge and the peaceful veneer of the small town’s surface begins to crack. Cannon brings forth many insights about community, loyalty, and everybody’s struggle to find his/her place in the world. This charming debut novel may have been my favorite fiction read of this summer.

Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

I’m a fan of Sir Ken. I think that there is good reason why his 2006 TED Talk is the most-watched TED Talk of all time - and his 2013 follow up isn’t bad either. Robinson’s most recent book continues to argue his belief that “education does not need to be reformed ― it needs to be transformed.” Robinson promotes eight core competencies ― Curiosity, Creativity, Criticism, Communication, Collaboration, Compassion, Composure, Citizenship ― and shows examples of schools around the world offering new ways of learning in order to provide students with the best possible learning environments. After all, Robinson argues, “the gardener does not make a plant grow. The job of a gardener is to create optimal conditions.”

Amy Galvam, Executive Assistant to the Head of School The Name of the Wind

Patrick Rothfuss

Without realizing that I was cribbing an Amazon review, I

described this book to a friend who loves fantasy fiction as “Harry Potter for adults.” Fantasy books are not usually my thing but another friend, an avid reader, gave this one to me when I arrived for a day trip to the beach without a book. To be fair, fantasy is too narrow a description for this epic narrative. It is more a patchwork of genres fitting together elements of drama, comedy, tragedy, fairy tale, and romance. The Name of the Wind is the debut novel from writer Patrick Rothfuss and the first of the Kingkiller Trilogy. It is an action-packed story of self-discovery that is mythical, mystical, and lyrical, chronicling the life of Kvothe, a talented yet tortured boy who grows into a legend. Rothfuss weaves together rich characters and storylines that harken back to archetypes in literature and magical folklore to conjure a new and deeply satisfying story. While I relish a good read, I’ve heard that Nick Podhl does the story justice with his audio book narration.

Monica Hough, English & Middle School Director Salvage the Bones Jessmyn Ward

Colleague Mike Deasy introduced me to this raw novel of rare and sometimes terrible beauty and power, and I am forever grateful. Our narrator, Esch, a 15-year-old AfricanAmerican girl, faces any number of trials. She’s motherless, poor, pregnant, and Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Daddy’s drinking doesn’t help matters much, either. Esch finds solace in Greek mythology, and her marvelous musings create poetry out of chaos and despair. In her heart, she knows the wisdom of the myths. She knows that the gods won’t intervene; it is up to her and her loyal brothers to face the storm together and salvage what they can from its aftermath. Ward ties her story to a place and a time, but this heartbreaking and lovely tale of survival, like mythology itself, is universal. I will tempt readers with a taste of Esch’s own words: “I will tie the glass and stone with string, hang the shards above my bed, so that they will flash in the dark and tell the story of Katrina, the mother that swept into the Gulf and slaughtered. Her chariot was a storm so great and black the Greeks would say it was harnessed to dragons. She was the murderous mother who cut us to the bone but left us alive, left us naked and bewildered as wrinkled newborn babies, as blind puppies, as sun-starved newly hatched baby snakes. She left us a dark Gulf and salt burned land. She left us to learn to crawl. She left us to salvage. Katrina is the mother we will remember until the next mother with large, merciless hands, committed to blood, comes.”

Homegoing

Yaa Gyas

This lyrical, compelling novel begins with the tale of two half-sisters in 18th century Ghana and follows them and their descendants to the present day. Gyasi explores the moral costs of buying and selling humans by tracing the lives of Effia, who marries an Englishman and lives in Cape Coast Castle, and Esi, who is shipped to America as a slave. Gyasi doesn’t preach;

there is plenty of blame to go around for whites and Africans alike. In one unforgettable section, Effia walks through her own well-appointed rooms never knowing that her half-sister sits in the dungeon below awaiting her fate.

We Show What We Have Learned

Clare Beams

This collection of short stories by former Falmouth Academy teacher Clare Beams has already earned heaps of praise and a starred review from Kirkus. I have taught two of the stories in this collection with great success: the title story, in which a teacher falls apart in a rather spectacular way, imparting lessons about mortality in the process; and the cleverly twisted “Hourglass,” in which a headmaster goes to sinister lengths to mold his pupils. Clare’s writing is at once lyrical, edgy, eloquent, sharp, and lush. Joyce Carol Oates describes Clare’s writing “as if, by a rare sort of magic, Alice Munro and Shirley Jackson had conspired together to imagine a female/feminist voice for the twenty-first century that is wickedly sharp-eyed, wholly unpredictable, and wholly engaging.” Alice Munro is one of Clare’s favorite writers, and I know she must feel proud. I am incredibly proud that we can call Clare one of our own. Clare is an extraordinary writer! -Lalise Melillo

Doug Jones, Math & Science All The Light We Cannot See

Anthony Doerr

This summer my daughter Bene Webster ’09 insisted that I read All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This book has been on the bestseller list for a while and is currently on the reading list for the ninth grade. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I was sad when I finished it after three days. The pace and style of the writing encourage you to attack the story in as few sittings as possible, and the somewhat predictable ending will not disappoint you.

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements Sam Kean

Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood

Oliver Sacks

The Disappearing Spoon and Uncle Tungsten, recommended by chemistry teacher friends, are both lighthearted and interesting accounts of the authors’ interactions and discoveries about elements and the periodic table. I am looking forward to sharing some of these intriguing and inspiring stories with my chemistry students.

Brothers

George Howe Colt As the youngest of three brothers, I could not help but enjoy Brothers by George Howe Colt. The author intersperses stories

of his own brothers with tales of brothers through history. I was struck by the remarkable similarities between these recountings and my memories of my interactions with my brothers. This is a great book to have by your bedside to read a few pages each night, a calming and interesting way to end the day.

Peter Kent, Director of Communications The Quartet

Joseph J. Ellis Long before he became a Broadway icon, Alexander Hamilton and three celebrated co-stars ― George Washington, James Madison and John Jay ― occupied center stage in a critical but often overlooked period of American history. The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 is the latest work by historian Joseph J. Ellis, whose chronicling of 18th century America includes the Pulitzer Prizewinning Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (2002) and biographies of the first presidents. Ellis explains in his preface that his fundamental premise ― that the Quartet and a small cast of others drove a “top-down” process to forge a Constitution and a new nation while a postwar confederation of 13 nation-states plodded along ― arose while he pondered a time when the nation was being torn apart. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation …” frames the eloquent address at Gettysburg in 1863, but is far from accurate, argues Ellis. It is 1783, the war has ended and Ellis writes, “… ordinary Americans were getting on with their lives, relieved that the war was over, blissfully indifferent to any political debate that ranged beyond the borders of their towns or counties.” Meanwhile, on the political stage, Ellis recounts the years of wrangling, intrigue, vitriol, and final maneuvering that led to ratification of the Constitution and brought forth a new nation. He casts the Quartet as brilliant and heroic while revealing many of their fellow “fathers” to be less so. It’s a quick (250 pages) and fascinating read with the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights included as appendices. Highly informative and entertaining with no musical accompaniment required.

Liz Klein, Science & Math Watership Down

Richard Adams

Last spring, I moved out of my childhood bedroom (finally!). That process included bringing photographs, preschool art projects, old horse show ribbons, and books back to my new home in Falmouth. I was an avid reader as a child and I first read Watership Down at the tender age of 9 or 10. When I discovered it among my collection, I remembered how much I loved the story and was inspired to reread it. The tale of Fiver and his brave companions captured my imagination once again. These brave rabbits face extreme peril in their search for a full, happy and safe life. At times, I truly feared for them. They also exult in the joy of a beautiful morning and good friendship. By

the end of the story, Hazel and the others had become so deeply rooted in my heart that I wept. If you haven’t read this book as an adult, I highly recommend it!

One glance and you hear the voice of another person — perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic. - Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Sarah Knowles, Assistant Director of Admission The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the World Anthony M. Amore

The art market can be very profitable if you are in possession of a work from a highly-sought artist. This has caused con artists to replicate or steal well-known pieces of art to sell for profit. Anthony Amore’s The Art of the Con examines some of the most infamous art fakes and forgeries around the world. The book is divided into 11 chapters, each discussing a different con or scam, the characters, artists, works involved, and the law enforcement that steps in to help. Amore covers stories of stolen art hidden for decades, intricate deceptions allegedly the work of the Nazis, artists’ assistants creating copies of famous work, and online and television auction scams. His use of narrative draws the reader into each story as if it were a detective novel. One of the con stories has a local connection to Falmouth. In the chapter titled “The Captor,” a Falmouth resident is found guilty of transporting and attempting to sell stolen works overseas and is sentenced to seven years in prison. Amore is currently the director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where he is in charge of recovering the 13 major works of art stolen in the 1990 heist at the museum. If you like to read about art history, I also suggest reading his 2012 book, Stealing Rembrandts.

Elisabeth Munro Ledwell, English & Drama The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry Gabrielle Nevin

A.J. is a bookseller on (fictional) Alice Island off the coast of Cape Cod (accessible from Hyannis by ferry!). He has very particular tastes in reading and a less-than-sunny disposition,

though much of his irritability stems from the recent death of his wife. Each chapter begins with a review of books in his collection, and his personal assessments are a hoot. Much to his surprise, his own life is linked to his sister-in-law’s and to her author husband’s, as well as to a local policeman and an agent of Knightley Press who appears quarterly with loads of books to sell. When an unexpected package appears at the bookstore, A.J.’s life changes drastically, and he takes readers along on his journey, which at times is hysterical and other times sad. When I first saw this novel, I worried that it would be too “precious;” that is, that it would attempt to make such a curmudgeon “cute” and therefore, loveable. I did come to care for A.J., but I also admired the way he remained wholly himself despite all the good and bad fortune that befalls him. Even more surprisingly, the other characters in A.J.’s stories were fascinating in their own right ― from his past-his-prime brotherin-law to the local cop, a professed non-reader who starts a book club focused on crime stories but under A.J.’s tutelage soon is tackling a much broader range of stories. I especially loved Maya, whose love of books nearly surpasses my own and who becomes a writer to make sense of her own story.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

Based on a story by J.K. Rowling, this is the kind of play that makes me wish I were living in London just so I could see this production (and that’s saying something for a Scottish girl like me). Harry and the gang are back for one more adventure, but one of the most intriguing characters in this play are not our intrepid trio, but Draco Malfoy. Rowling hinted at the depths in Draco’s character in the latter part of her series, but here, Draco is the most mature, thoughtful one in the bunch. He passes all that anger and pain, it seems, to Harry’s son, Albus, who must live under the curse of being the famous Harry Potter’s son. The play picks up just where the series ends, with Harry and Ginny sending their youngest son to Hogwarts. Just as he feared, Albus does not follow his siblings into Gryffindor, but instead he is sorted into Slytherin, where he befriends Draco’s son Scorpius. The plot is fun, and while Hermione is not the powerhouse character that I remember (and her daughter Rose a bit of a mean girl), I chalk that up to the text not being written by Rowling herself. I imagine the right actors will rectify the somewhat “slight” characterizations. At times the play seems to rehash the best of the novels rather than coming up with its own unique story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the script, if only for the wonderful stage directions: “And time stops. And then it turns over, thinks a bit, and begins spooling backwards, slow at first . . . And then it speeds up.” My director’s brain worked overtime trying to imagine how to accomplish such a direction. (All reviews of the play say that the London production does so beautifully.) If rumors are to be believed, producers are planning a move to Broadway. I feel a road trip coming on. (see Petra Ehrenbrink) Count me in! -Petra Ehrenbrink

Karen Loder, Director of Admission Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me is a letter from author Ta-Nehisi Coates to his teenage son warning of the perils of being black in America today. Coates is a MacArthur Genius award-winning journalist and blogger. You may have read his Atlantic article on reparations. In this slim volume, Coates expresses the fear of all black parents. Young black people die all too often, and often at the hands of those charged with protecting them. Young black lives are also snuffed out within the Baltimore community in which Coates grew up, and he writes of the intense vigilance required to stay alive in such neighborhoods. Two other books I read recently expose the odds young black men face in reaching adulthood in our society: The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs and On the Run by Alice Goffman. Coates writes about his conviction that at the center of our troubled race relations is race as a construct. Differentiating people by race was a falsehood upon which our shameful history unfolded, from slavery to current forms of oppression (many identified in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow); and attributing to biology what is only an idea allows us to treat people as “other” or inferior. The distinction of race, now as then, perpetuates the systemic racial bias that continues to haunt our nation. Building off The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Between the World and Me and Alexander’s The New Jim Crow are essential touchstones for understanding race in the U.S. These books changed how I understand the world and myself. -Mike Deasy

child together, and experience the loss of Dodge’s mother, and all these roles and human experiences are reshuffled and come together in ways unfamiliar, and I admit, at times, uncomfortable. I struggled with the fluidity of gender concepts, and some of the rawness in Nelson’s writing. But I also found it thought provoking and recognize that younger generations are pushing for greater freedom in the expression of the Self.

The Likeness

Tana French

For fun, I picked up The Likeness, a Tana French mystery. Detective Cassie is recovering from an undercover operation gone bad. She’s left Dublin’s Murder Squad for the relative safety of Domestic Violence. Of course, this will be short-lived. A woman appears on the scene who has assumed Cassie’s undercover identity from the blown operation. The woman bears an uncanny likeness to Cassie, who is pulled back into undercover work with her old squad when her impersonator is found murdered. The story unfurls in unexpected ways like any good murder mystery. French, however, elevates this mystery through complicated characters with inner-personal and interpersonal struggles. The parallel storylines of these two women explore the tensions of independence and identity versus intimacy and belonging. One of the great things about Tana French mysteries is the way in which a peripheral character in one book becomes a main character in another and vice-versa. It adds to the layers. -Monica Hough

Allyson Manchester, English

The Argonauts

Brooklyn

I read The Argonauts after having my interest sparked by an article about the author Maggie Nelson in The New Yorker. The article was my first encounter with this feminist author, poet and philosopher who challenges readers to shed conventional definitions of gender roles: lover, child, mother, father. Indeed, all “heteronormative” roles. She questions culturally-defined boundaries within which an individual struggles to form a self, tries to color within the lines, and examines how this may be limiting for most of us, and certainly painful for many who cannot comfortably fit within these proscribed roles and companion prohibitions. Nelson’s memoir centers on her falling in love with artist Harry Dodge. Dodge, born in a woman’s body, isn’t simply a woman “transitioning” to a man. Dodge rejects the fundamental binary choice of man or woman, insisting on a more fluid expression of sexuality, gender and selfhood. Who gets to decide what’s normal or what’s abnormal within the vast realm of human feeling, identification and self-expression? Nelson structures her memoir as an informal dialogue with other philosophers, feminists and artists (some like-minded, some not) whose names appear in the side margins. As she tackles the cultural assumptions and rules we’re expected to play by, she is as funny as she is irreverent. Nelson and Dodge marry, have a child, embark on raising the

My sophomore English students will recall Eveline, an important character in James Joyce’s Dubliners. When Eveline’s story begins, she is enduring a rather dreary existence in Dublin: her mother has died, her father is abusive, and she works multiple jobs to support her family. Soon, she meets an exciting sailor named Frank who offers to whisk her away to Buenos Aires. When it comes time to board the ship to her new life, she clings to the iron railing on the dock and remains in Ireland. With this, Frank (her only route out of Ireland) sails off into the sunset. As soon as I read the first paragraph of Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, I heard uncanny echoes of Eveline. Brooklyn opens with a quiet paragraph about Eilis Lacey passively looking out her upstairs window much in the same manner as Eveline at the beginning of Joyce’s story. Not too far into the novel, a priest encourages Eilis to move from her family home in Enniscorthy, Ireland to Brooklyn, N.Y. The priest promises Eilis a steady job at a dry goods market and a room in an all-girls boarding house. Although Eilis’ story takes place in the 1950s (several decades after Eveline), she still experiences the same simultaneity of desire and trepidation when given the chance to leave Ireland. This time, our protagonist refuses to cling to the iron railing. Eilis cultivates new relationships and a new identity in America. All along, however, Tóibín reminds us

Maggie Nelson

Colm Tóibín

that purchasing independence from one’s homeland comes with a sense of loss. The key tensions in the novel arise when Eilis is called back to Ireland to mourn a family tragedy. When she finds herself in her hometown amongst old friends, she becomes aware of the ever-widening chasm between her Irish self and her American self. Sitting on her bed in Ireland, she reads letters from her lover in Brooklyn and thinks, “…everything about him seemed remote. And not only that, but everything else that had happened in Brooklyn seemed as though it had almost dissolved and was no longer richly present”. I admire this novel for its ambiguous portrayal of immigration. Eilis’ character teaches us to celebrate immigration and, on the other hand, to acknowledge its consequences. Like Eveline, Eilis also encourages us to consider the ways in which our personal and national identities are linked together. I would recommend this novel (side note: now there’s a film version!) to fans of understated prose and spare plotlines. Tóibín does include a few plot twists at the end of the novel, but — for the most part — the beauty of Brooklyn is skillfully subdued. I loved this book. I’m not even going to see the movie! -Mike Earley I loved both the book and the movie! -Lalise Melillo I have to say I loved both too! -Ruth Slocum Toibin’s novel, The Master, is also a favorite of mine. -Monica Hough

Lalise Melillo, Rhetoric The Noise of Time

would be … just music. That was all a composer could hope for.” I found the book deeply compelling.

Scottie Mobley, Science & Math Ishmael Daniel Quinn This summer I decided to re-read a story I loved as a student, Ishmael. I read this book in my high school science class and was fascinated by how it changed my perception of the world. It fittingly covered many of the same topics I’d be teaching this fall in the ecology unit of the seventh grade Life Science course. The story begins with a young man seeking a teacher. In a newspaper, he sees a want ad placed by a teacher looking for a serious student with an open mind, and winds up in a room with a gorilla behind a glass wall. Ishmael, the telepathically speaking gorilla and teacher, goes on to open the minds of the young man and the reader by leading both him and us to think outside of our human hierarchical view of the world. He shows the young man how our behaviors and mindsets are impacting the environment around us. Ishmael never gives the answers to his student, but rather leads him to put the pieces together himself. I recommend this story to any young budding scientist or anyone with a passion for environmental science. Daniel Quinn’s writing is enjoyable and easy to read.

Susan Moffat, Photography A Man Called Ove

Julian Barnes

Fredrik Backman

This biographical novel takes us into the mind and experiences of the composer, Shostakovich, uncertain about his standing and even survival in Soviet Russia, especially under Stalin. I had heard stories about Shostakovich at this time, sleeping in the hall outside his apartment’s elevator, waiting to be arrested and taken for interrogation, and hoping to spare his family by being ready to go with his little suitcase packed. The book, structured in three parts, starts with this and then goes back, tracing Shostakovich’s development as a composer and his “near-misses” and humiliations as he tries to both work and survive. Barnes chooses a third-person voice that presents an interior monologue, revealing Shostakovich’s self-doubts and hesitancies as well as his devotion to music. The narrative also takes us into the terror of living in such a precarious world where a person can be interrogated but escape the final fate because the interrogator, himself, has been arrested. The famous incident of Shostakovich’s trip to New York, where he was “forced” to criticize Stravinsky, is heartbreaking. He was scorned for having done this, but we come to understand and sympathize with him as he yields to intense pressure. At issue is the destruction of the soul and the way “the noise of time” threatens the artist’s integrity. But “time would pass, and his work would begin to stand for itself. History, as well as biography, would fade: perhaps one day, Fascism and Communism would be merely words in textbooks. And then, if it still had value ― if there were still ears to hear ― his music

I chose two books to review this year and both are #1 bestsellers in Sweden written by Swedish author Fredrik Backman. At first I thought A Man Called Ove was my favorite until I read his next book, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry. Ove, of A Man Called Ove, is a grumpy and curmudgeonly old man on the outside with a hidden, somewhat loveable inside. He can’t understand why people say he’s bitter; he’s not “bloody bitter,” he just doesn’t go around grinning the whole time. Enter into the story a colorful and loud new family in the already quirky neighborhood. Events happen that cause Ove’s humanity to surface. (See Mike Earley)

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry

Fredrik Backman

Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry is written in the same vein as A Man Named Ove with character descriptions that are rich, colorful and believable. It tells the tale of a grandmother with a fascinating history who is quirky and grumpy and has a relationship with Elsa, an almost-8-year-old granddaughter, who is “different” and demonstrates wisdom while being surrounded by chaos. Elsa adores her feisty grandmother and looks up to her as a genius and superhero. They’re both naughty and daring in their 7- and 77-year-old ways. When the grandmother dies, she leaves Elsa a request to undertake sometimes dangerous missions to deliver notes of apology to those she has wronged. With this quest she unveils

her grandmother’s vivid and complicated past. The story drifts in and out of a fairy tale mixed with reality. I love both of these books by Backman because they are mainly about the beauty and acceptance of being different and the value of strong communities. Get set to laugh and cry equally.

and again in her evocative anecdotes, “Paradise is an island. So is hell.”

Jen Murphy, Director of Library and Media Services

Georges Simenon

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Frans de Waal

Several months ago, I read a news report of a study that purportedly found that dogs love humans five times more than cats do. My first thought (after wondering how one quantifies love) was maybe humans don’t know how cats express “love.” Perhaps cats express that emotion differently than dogs or humans. Or, if cats don’t “love” humans very much or in the way we expect, does it matter? I’m still cleaning out my cat’s litter box every day, so she must be doing something right. When I heard about primatologist Frans de Waal’s wide-ranging examination of animal intelligence, I was intrigued. de Waal urges humans to put themselves in the shoes (or paws, claws, fins) of animals. Scientists should not be asking questions like, “Are squirrels smarter than humans?” According to de Waal, squirrels should not be judged on what humans can do well, but, rather, on what squirrels can do well. So while I may be better than a squirrel at writing a book review, a squirrel is far more adept at remembering where he’s hidden nuts than I am at remembering where I parked my car at the mall. This seems so obvious, but, in the past, many studies have attempted to assess animal intelligence in unfair ways. When we look at the world from the perspective of other animals rather than in human-centric ways, we are truly able to understand their abilities. For example, scientists once believed that chimps couldn’t distinguish between faces. It turns out, that was because scientists tested chimps on their ability to distinguish between human faces. When chimps were tested on chimp faces, they excelled. de Waal believes that if we continue to appreciate other species on their own terms, we will design more appropriate tests of their intelligence. “So, yes,” de Waal writes, “we are smart enough to appreciate other species, but it has required the steady hammering of our thick skull with hundreds of facts that were initially poo-pooed by science.” I thoroughly enjoyed this sympathetic, compelling and highly readable case for the cognitive abilities of our fellow animals.

Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will

Judith Schalanksy

The 2016 presidential election has me dreaming about escaping to faraway places, so I’ve returned to this little gem of a book that appealed to my inner armchair traveler. Odds are I will never visit any of the 50 islands Schlansky so lovingly renders in her delicate hand-drawn maps but paired with the (generally dark and haunting) histories and tales she shares about each place, I’m certain I don’t want to. As Schlansky reveals again

Colin O’Brien, English & History The Death of Monsieur Gallet This summer I read The Death of Monsieur Gallet by Georges Simenon. In this novel, Inspector Jules Maigret of the Police Judiciaire investigates the murder of Monsieur Gallet, an unremarkable salesman selling trinkets on the road to keep his aristocratic wife living in clover. However, when Maigret digs into the victim’s past, he unearths a life entangled by lies, fraud, and blackmail. As Maigret hunts for clues and questions suspects, he comes to realize that the key to the case can be found by imagining himself in the shoes of Gallet – not just in the moment of his death, but throughout the tragic arc of his shadowy life. To solve this murder, Maigret calls upon his capacity for empathy as much as his gift for deductive reasoning. Ultimately, the answers Maigret uncovers do not lead to a neat conclusion. In Simenon’s novels, as in life, the rule of law seldom accords itself with the ideals of justice. Yet, Maigret, in discovering and bearing witness to the truth of Gallet’s life, secures for the deceased some measure of justice – not the justice of punishment or retribution, but rather of having one’s story known and memory preserved.

Crissy Pingal, Director of the Annual Fund Death Comes to Pemberly P.D. James

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies Seth Grahame-Smith

I read for fun. I read light things that entertain and make me happy. I love happy endings, silly love stories, and a novel I can read in one or two nights. If you are looking for the book that will change your life or expand your mind, please go on to the next reviewer and skip my recommendation of Pride and Prejudice fan fiction … GASP! Yes, I discovered this genre a few years ago and I have embraced it for my entertainment, to satisfy that niggling question of what happened after the wedding and to enjoy “what if” versions of one of my favorite novels of all time. Did you know there are hundreds of P&P fan fiction novels out there? The most famous is P.D. James’ Death Comes to Pemberly, which the BBC recently brought to life in a miniseries, and the infamous ― not liked by me ― parody, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (made into a motion picture last year.) I have read many, too many to admit. I have three authors to recommend: P.O. Dixon, Abigail Reynolds and Mary Lydon Simonsen. A note of warning when it comes to Jane Austen fan fiction: there is a range of authors that go from very much sticking to dogma and making Jane proud to “oh my gosh,” Jane is rolling in her grave blushing furiously. So pick carefully and deliberately, and sit back, relax, and enjoy the story. By the way, there are many fan fiction novels out there. Pick your favorite classic and you will find countless stories.

Helen Reuter, Learning Resource Specialist Imaging Argentina Lawrence Thornton

Imaging Argentina by Lawrence Thornton is neither a new book (1988) nor a classic summer read, but whispers from my past beckoned me to revisit this Pen/Hemingway Award novel. The haunting narrative reads like a dream, thick with horrifying images of the realities of Argentine dirty war. The tenor of the nightmare, however, is shifted ever so slightly and importantly by the magical “seeing” ability of the main character, Carlos. After his wife and daughter are abducted, Carlos discovers his power to conjure the stories of those gone missing. At dusk in his flourishing Buenos Aires garden, Carlos’s imaginings comingle with the hope and courage of relatives of those abducted who gather to listen, weaving a rope of outrage that should, in an ideal world, choke the regime. Thornton does not fall prey to this idealism, however, but instead allows the banality of evil to fester for his readers as it must have for Argentinians. I recommend this book to anyone who was shocked, as I was, by the June election of President Duterte in the Philippines and his vigilante “cleansing” of the population, or who is otherwise worried about the harrowing consequences of fear-mongering politicians and vigilante justice.

Jill Reves, Science A Girl Named ZIPPY: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana

Haven Kimmel

I just finished this one. Not easy to get through. This year I’m reviewing a book you might, or might not, want to read. Often laughing, sometimes cringing, I finished the book despite controversial reviews. I was completely, physically uncomfortable with the faint recollections of listening to the news in the ’70s and remembering what a young girl might think in those times. Looking at the careless attitudes of Americans in those days (like watching an episode of Mad Men), helped me consider the careless attitudes of us today, and what impact our very tiny actions might have on the world as a whole. An interesting read, taken in the right context.

George Scharr, Music Die Moldau

Bedřich Smetana What follows is a review on a musical score and recording I’ve been enjoying this summer. Die Moldau is regarded in the orchestral world as one of the great symphonic works by one of the greatest Czech composers. It is a powerful musical depiction of water. The Vltava (Die Moldau in German) aka the Czech National River, is the longest river in the republic flowing from the Bohemian Forest through Bohemia and Prague. To fully experience this, watch the YouTube video while following the time markings below. Use the score if you can read music even a little. Video: https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=34oeAxETdbc. Score: http://imslp.org/wiki/Vltava,_ JB_1:112/2_(Smetana,_Bed%C5%99ich) The opening starts with one lone flute which then is joined by a second at 0:04 (measure 3) symbolic of two mountain springs, one warm and one cold, coming together in the Bohemian forest to form the beginning of the mighty Moldau. The opening segment is a metaphor for the river’s undercurrent. The main theme comes in at 1:01 (measure 40) as a welcome song. The triplets evoke the sense of flowing water. The Forest Hunt introduces the brass section immediately at 2:50 (measure 80) led by the (French) horns playing a distinct rhythm. This signifies a triumphant and proud segment but with the familiar feel of triplets depicting the river flowing by hunters on the shoreline. At 3:55 (m. 118), after a brief transitional segment, moving us from triplets to duplets, the Peasant Wedding begins. Smetana shows his full Romantic expressiveness by depicting a most happy occasion through the use of a rhythmic dance. Flutes, clarinets, woodwinds play in a major key. The fresh feeling of the duplets makes it hard for the listener to keep still. I found myself dancing in my chair ― earbuds and all. The Moonlight Nymph’s Dance beginning at 5:29 (m. 181) is gentle and calm - even angelic. Serene melodies carried by long whole notes in the strings and accompanied by the harp convey a feeling of peace on the water. Beginning at 7:57 (m. 239) the main theme returns and it is like getting reacquainted with an old friend. Notice the slight musical turbulence again signifying troubled waters ahead and foreshadowing the rapids downstream. St. John’s Rapids begins at 8:46 (m. 271) with brass punctuating the string melody using rhythmic accents underneath. Harmonies become stressful and the low brass enter at 8:53 to signify impending doom. Intensity increases through the use of volume, cymbal crashes and increased activity in all sections of the orchestra until the climax is reached at 9:51 (m. 300). Die Moldau in Its Greatest Breadth at 10:01 (measure 333) is now our “old friend.” This time the main theme comes back for the third and final time with all the stops. Full brass and percussion add to the already busy woodwind and string sections, using major chords with all the instruments in their most powerful registers. The main theme is portrayed here in its most majestic grandeur. The piece ends with strings very gradually bringing the river down to a “trickle” before we end our musical journey with two loud chords. I’m looking forward to the FA orchestra’s performance of parts of this wonderful work! -Lalise Melillo

I guess there are never enough books. - John Steinbeck, A Steinbeck Encyclopedia

Ruth Slocum, English & College Counselor The Forsyte Saga

John Galsworthy

If you’re an Anglophile feeling a bit sad now that Downton Abbey is over, The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy will feed your hunger for class drama, unrequited love, strong old ladies (and old men), and the gorgeousness of life lived at the top of the economic pile. And it goes on and on (as sagas do); so, if you pace yourself, you’ll be in the company of these great characters for quite some time. Published in several volumes between 1906 and 1921, the work chronicles the lives of three generations of a British family at the turn of the century. The Forsytes are non-aristocratic but very wealthy, and Galsworthy shows us the complicated social world of this particular class as, through marriage, real estate, contact with the aristocracy, and private clubs, some characters rise while others sink (usually by fleeing a frosty marriage and breaking the rules). The central tension is between property and love. Soames Forsyte, the richest of the second generation, seeks to control his beautiful wife Irene, who has married him because of his wealth. Irene maintains an emotional independence and dignity that Soames tries to destroy through the use of many types of power, including marital rape. (The repercussions of this violence echo through the next generation of Forsytes.) Galsworthy gives us human beings acting within the golden cage of Victorian society and portrays a beauty and elegance born of restraint. He does not fail to show the cost of that beautiful world, however, as his characters sacrifice themselves or their fortunes to survive. And if that isn’t enough for the Downtonites, there are two BBC miniseries (1967 and 2002) to follow up your reading. The last, starring a young Damian Lewis as Soames Forsyte, may make you forget all about the Crawleys, at least for a while. I gobbled these volumes up beginning during a flight to Vancouver and reading almost non-stop until I was done. Filled with characters to love (old Jolyon) and to love-to-hate (Soames), these novels satisfy. -Monica Hough

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

Two years ago, my husband bought me this book for Christmas. I started it but soon put it down because I couldn’t connect to the narrator and the young adult characters who are in the midst of complicated lives in Naples and Florence. Now that I’ve read the first two volumes in this four-part series, I was ready for this part of the story of Elena Greco, the narrator and the one who escapes the poverty and violence of Naples, and Lina Cerullo, the genius born to common parents who is too deeply tied to Naples to slip its grasp. What makes these novels so distinctive and compelling? For me, it is first the story of a friendship between two opposing forces. Lina possesses a ferocious intellect. Denied further education by her parents, she is still able to see to the center of complex political and literary arguments and converse with intellectuals at the highest level. But this intelligence is yoked to an impulsive temperament and a fearlessness that is almost self-destructive, especially in a

world ruled by the Camorra. The narrator, Elena, is the opposite force. Her intelligence, by her own admission, is lesser than Lina’s, and she lacks confidence in her ideas, but Elena has the formal education Lina was denied, and she works tirelessly to please the educational gatekeepers who allow her to go on to university in Pisa and then on to Florence. There is much more to these novels than two contrasting brains and temperaments, but I think I enjoy the novels so much because, in addition to the details of these women’s lives, Ferrante describes so well how Elena and Lina think and how that thinking changes or doesn’t change in response to life’s events. And, like The Forsyte Saga, once you get to know these characters, you can enjoy seeing the arcs of their lives through many years.

Rob Wells, History Went the Day Well?: Witnessing Waterloo

David Crane

2015 marked 200 years since Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon, and a number of books appeared to coincide with the anniversary. Crane’s is perhaps the most innovative and intriguing of these. Though he does take the reader vividly through the battle as it unfolds hour by hour, this is not primarily a work of military history; his focus is much more ambitious and more interesting. Having provided appropriate prelude and background, Crane begins with an account of a social gathering in a cramped London home on the Saturday eve of the battle, an impending event about which London had little knowledge. From there he proceeds to take the reader to various places across the UK and to the Brits gathered in Brussels across the channel preparing to flee from Bonaparte, as Crane weaves together a panoramic glimpse of life in Britain in the summer of 1815. The thought-provoking thesis of the book is that Waterloo was a watershed event that marked the demise of reactionary 18th century England and opened the door for progressive forces of change. Perhaps this is true, but much more interesting to the reader is the rich social portrait offered of late Georgian England. I was fascinated to learn, for example, the degree to which artists and journalists on the liberal left admired Napoleon and passionately opposed their own government’s efforts to rescue and restore the reactionary Bourbon Monarchy. Crane also tells the sad story of Eliza Flenning, who was a comely and devout domestic servant accused, almost surely falsely, of serving poisoned dumplings to her employers. As the guns roared in Belgium at Waterloo, Fleming languished in Newgate prison, both a victim and a symbol of the cruel and wildly unjust court system of the day. Apparently, Flenning’s case was widely followed in England that year, and her rigged conviction and ultimate execution gave reformers a sensationalist case with a sympathetic character with which to begin to agitate effectively for change. Crane’s very readable book is ultimately a valuable social history that brings the reader face to face with some grim realities of life, even in the world’s most advanced nation, two centuries ago.

Harnessing the power of inspired learning in a world-renowned scientific and vibrant artistic community, Falmouth Academy emboldens each student to take creative and intellectual risks to confidently engage the challenges of our times.

What Our Students Are Reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy Douglas Adams Matched trilogy Ally Condie The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern The Thing About Jellyfish Ali Benjamin Little Women Louisa May Alcott The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie Harry Potter and the Cursed Child J.K. Rowling Between Shades of Gray Ruta Sepetys Wheel of Time series Robert Jordan What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Randall Munroe Unwind Dystology series Neal Shusterman I am Malala Malala Yousafzai Last Man Out Mike Lupica The Martian Andy Weir The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr Into the Wild Jon Krakauer Graceling Realm series Kristin Cashore The Lord of the Rings trilogy J.R.R. Tolkien Red Queen series Victoria Aveyard The Things They Carried Tim O’Brien

Ender Saga series Orson Scott Card Scorch Trials series James Dashner The Wednesday Wars Gary D. Schmidt Gone series Michael Grant I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Lorian Legacies series Pittacus Lore Septimus Heap series Angie Sage The Land of Stories series Chris Colfer Flyaway Lucy Christopher Wolves of Mercy Falls series Maggie Stiefvater Tamar Mal Peet Listen, Slowly Thanhha Lai The Help Kathryn Stockett Friday Night Lights H.G. Bissinger In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrick 1776 David McCullough Challenger Deep Shusterman The Book Thief Markus Zusak Diamond Willow Helen Frost Grandma Gatewood’s Walk Ben Montgomery Candide Voltaire A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine Hansberry

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