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About the Community of Readers
- Leatherby Libraries Community of Readers
- Established in 2007 by the Leatherby Libraries, the Community of Readers is the summer reading program for Chapman University. This program is open to everyone who has borrowing privileges at the Leatherby Libraries and a current library account, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Members select books from the Leatherby Libraries and receive prizes upon submission of their first review. The only requirement is that books must be obtained through the Leatherby Libraries.
Friday, August 18, 2017
Music, Sound and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rules of Civility
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Lab Girl
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The Year of Magical Thinking
Title | The Year of Magical Thinking |
Author | Joan Didion |
Call Number | PS3554.I33 Z63 2005 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Recommended |
Book Review | Didion tackles the death of her husband of nearly 40 years and the ensuing grief. This is obviously not a breezy read, but anyone who's lost a significant person in their life will feel the familiar weight Didion describes. |
Submitted By | Robyne Kelly |
Department or Major | Food Science/ SCST |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | rokelly@chapman.edu |
Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness & Well-being
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Gilead
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Small data : the tiny clues that uncover huge trends
Title | Small data : the tiny clues that uncover huge trends |
Author | Martin Lindstrom |
Call Number | HF5415.32 .L5576 2016 |
Location | 3rd Floor Business and Economics |
Rating | Not Recommended |
Book Review | This may be the worst book I’ve ever read. The premise sounds very promising; using ethnographic approaches to discovering the needs of communities and using that info to shape business strategies. As it turns out, the author has missed an important principle about doing ethnographic research: stereotyping and essentialism must be absolutely avoided. Instead, the author details his method of spending some short amount of time with a small segment of a population, picking up on whatever meaningless details happen to capture his attention, and then creating ideas that supposedly reflect all of the people of that cultural group. It’s an offensive and misguided strategy. Furthermore, as a librarian I can’t abide his reliance on non-scholarly sources in the few instances when he bothered to read existing literature at all. For instance, he seems to put a lot of weight on an article published on a blog that showed what emojis are most used in different countries. According to this author, the fact that people in Saudi Arabia often use water or plant-based emojis somehow ties into a fear of fire and a desire for water. So yeah, it’s not a good book. |
Submitted By | Taylor Greene |
Department or Major | Leatherby Libraries |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | tgreene@chapman.edu |
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories
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A Place Where Sunflowers Grow
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The Jungle
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Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
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A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future
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The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon
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John Adams
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Hallelujah Anyway-Rediscovering Mercy
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Lab Girl
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Thursday, August 10, 2017
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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Monday, August 7, 2017
The Picture of Dorian Gray
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How schools counter bullying
Title | How schools counter bullying |
Author | Ken Rigby |
Call Number | LB3013.34.A8 R54 2010 |
Location | 3rd Floor Education |
Rating | Recommended |
Book Review | This book is for schools and teachers. I picked it up interested to see if I could read any tips on how to deal with bullying if I saw it in my own dealings. This book lists policies, rules and writings on the bullying situations. It also offers great ways to work with people on how to resolve and prevent bullying. It's written like a textbook but does hold useful information for sure! |
Submitted By | Jami McCoy |
Department or Major | Advancement |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | jmccoy@chapman.edu |
The six-figure woman, and how to be one
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The Waters of Eternal Youth
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Friday, August 4, 2017
Summer
Title | Summer |
Author | Edith Wharton |
Call Number | PS3545.H16 S86 1998 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Recommended |
Book Review | Each year, my book group reads a “100 years ago” book, meaning a book published – surprise! – 100 years ago. This year we chose “Summer” by Edith Wharton. This is one of her two New England tales, set in suffocating small towns. Her two main characters here make peace with that, eventually, in a realistic, if not rosy, way. The character of Charity is fascinating and complicated. She brooks no nonsense and dives into an affair even as she is aware of its potential consequences. Wharton’s frank writing shocked readers of the day, understandably. Do not be fooled by the romantic cover illustrations on most editions. There’s a lot brooding under those frilly frocks. |
Submitted By | Dawn Bonker |
Department or Major | SMC |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | bonker@chapman.edu |
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Citizen Hughes
Title | Citizen Hughes |
Author | Michael Drosnin |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities, CT275.H6678 D74 2004 |
Rating | Somewhat Recommended |
Book Review | I wanted to know more about Howard Hughes the American Icon, and chose this book because it has reviews of representing the truth throughout. This was a very tedious read but it really gave a full picture of HH. The book is based upon his own memos and letters written (he rarely used a telephone or spoke to anyone directly) over 30-40 years. All these memos were then stolen in 1974. This book subsequently drew on all these memos (many trunks full), and many of them are featured in the book. I won’t reveal any secrets by saying he was a billionaire who was a profoundly mentally ill recluse and a heavy drug user who tried (sometimes very successfully) to buy many, many politicians, the city of Las Vegas, the state of Nevada and the United States. |
Submitted By | Linda Corcoran |
Department or Major | Anderson Center |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | greeley@chapman.edu |
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Cress Delahanty
Title | Cress Delahanty |
Author | Jessamyn West |
Call Number | PS3545.E8315 C29 1953 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Highly Recommended |
Book Review | As a longtime Jessamyn West fan, I was happy to revisit this old favorite when a friend raved about it upon discovering it for the first time. West imbues everything she writes with a wonderful sense of place and here she is deep in old north Orange County, where I grew up, albeit long after the period of this book. What I hadn’t recalled, though, was that this book is actually a series of short stories. They’re connected, but each stands alone. Together they tell the bigger coming-of-age story of a young girl. I think this has been marketed as a young adult title, but I’m not sure teens would be smitten. It’s a reflective voice. |
Submitted By | Dawn Bonker |
Department or Major | SMC |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | bonker@chapman.edu |
Uppity Women of Ancient Times
Title | Uppity Women of Ancient Times |
Author | Vicki León |
Call Number | HQ1127 .L46 |
Location | 2nd Floor Social Sciences |
Rating | Not Recommended |
Book Review | While this both sounded fun and checked off some challenge requirements, it was a disappointment. The writing made these woman seem like fictional cartoons. I passed it on to my daughter, who loves this sort of read, and I'm curious to hear what she thinks. |
Submitted By | Robin Pendergraft |
Department or Major | SCST |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | pendergr@chapman.edu |
Friday, July 28, 2017
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Title | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? |
Author | Philip K. Dick |
Call Number | PS3554.I3 D6 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Somewhat Recommended |
Book Review | I picked this up as a representation of a book published in the year I was born. Having seen the movie Blade Runner many times, I expected something quite different from the book. While they are very loosely tied, the book focused more on Deckard's longing to own a real animal and his detachment when it comes to killing androids. Many allegories to explore and very much like other sci-fi books of the time. Not my favorite. |
Submitted By | Robin Pendergraft |
Department or Major | SCST |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | pendergr@chapman.edu |
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Title | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Author | J.K.Rowling |
Call Number | PR 6068.093 H38 2000 c.2 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Highly Recommended |
Book Review | Summer is a time for visiting old friends and so this summer I decided to reread the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the series. Before Harry returns to school for his 2nd year, a house-elf named Dolby warns him not to go. Once Harry arrives at school, strange things begin to happen and the school is threatened with possible closure. It is up to Harry to solve the mystery. |
Submitted By | Cathy Elliott |
Department or Major | Law Library |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | bias@chapman.edu |
Annie Leibovitz at Work
Title | Annie Leibovitz at work |
Author | Annie Leibovitz |
Call Number | TR680 L376 2008 |
Location | 3rd Floor Science and Technology |
Rating | Highly Recommended |
Book Review | 1st of all I LOVE ANNIE LEIBOVITZ! She's one of my all time favorite photographers. This book is all about her life from her point of view and it's awesome! She talks about how she started at Rolling Stone and each chapter is some of her most prominent work from the Yoko/Lennon to nudes to OJ Simpson to fashion to well...everything! If you are a fan of her work grab this book. She's had such an amazing interesting life! I want to be her when I grown up. |
Submitted By | Jami McCoy |
Department or Major | Advancement |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | jmccoy@chapman.edu |
Art and Photography
Title | Art and Photography |
Author | Aaron Scharf |
Call Number | N72.P5 S3 1986 |
Location | 2nd Floor Fine Art |
Rating | Somewhat Recommended |
Book Review | This was pretty much a straight up history book about how photography started and how it associates with art. I love photography and have dabbled for years but this was a little too textbook-y for me. There were some interesting tidbits but I felt I had learned about all this in my photo history class years back. |
Submitted By | Jami McCoy |
Department or Major | Advancement |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | jmccoy@chapman.edu |
Blink : The power of thinking without thinking
Title | Blink : The power of thinking without thinking |
Author | Malcolm Gladwell |
Call Number | BF448 .G53 2005 |
Location | 2nd Floor Social Sciences |
Rating | Highly Recommended |
Book Review | Incredibly thought provoking book about the power of the unconscious mind and how it guides our decision-making processes. Malcolm Gladwell includes lots of real world examples and fascinating studies that are engaging, silly and sometimes downright disturbing. Can't wait to read more works by this author! |
Submitted By | Ashley Bloomfield |
Department or Major | Holocaust Memorial Library |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | ambloom@chapman.edu |
The Chemist
Title | The Chemist |
Author | Stephanie Meyer |
Call Number | McNaughton |
Location | 1st Floor McNaughton |
Rating | Recommended |
Book Review | This book has the components of everything I usually love in a novel: secret agents, action and adventure, and a tough female protagonist. While some of the story lines and characters were a tad predictable, I enjoyed the action scenes and even picked up a few handy evasion tips should I ever find myself being chased by a shadowy government agency. |
Submitted By | Ashley Kemp |
Department or Major | Law School |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | akemp@chapman.edu |
Monday, July 24, 2017
Lincoln in the Bardo
Title | Lincoln in the Bardo |
Author | George Saunders |
Location | 1st Floor McNaughton |
Rating | Recommended |
Book Review | The image at the heart of Saunders' concept hooked me: Lincoln, mired in grief after the death of his son, Willie, riding alone in the wee hours of the morning to visit Willie's crypt, where the president would hold his son and talk with him. Saunders builds on the historical truth of this moment to conjure an ongoing conversation among cemetery "residents" waiting to pass from among the living to the afterlife. The novel toggles between historical passages about Lincoln and dialog among those in the Bardo -- the waiting. It's sometimes fantastical, sometimes grim, often gripping and even chilling as those from the upper crust mingle with slaves, slaveholders, abolitionists, criminals, etc. I'm glad I took the journey. |
Submitted By | Dennis Arp |
Department or Major | Strategic Marketing and Communications |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | arp@chapman.edu |
Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules
Title | Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules |
Author | David Sedaris |
Call Number | PS648.S5 C47 2005 |
Location | 2nd Floor Humanities |
Rating | Somewhat Recommended |
Book Review | I'm a huge Sedaris fan, but this book is a little different. Each section is his take on different authors and short stories. I prefer his books that detail his life more, but this was certainly a fun read told in the humorous style of Sedaris! |
Submitted By | Jami McCoy |
Department or Major | Advancement |
Status | Staff |
Chapman Email | jmccoy@chapman.edu |
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