What the Librarians are Reading

This article is from the fall 2023 issue of Hearsay, the semi-annual newsletter of the Wheat Law Library.

I have just started reading The Lost Village by Camilla Sten. The town in question is Silvertjärn, Sweden and, in 1959, all of its residents disappeared. The only trace of any of the villagers was a woman found stoned to death and an abandoned infant. In the present, a woman named Alice, who has family ties to Silvertjärn, heads to the village with a documentary film crew to see if they can find out what happened. Things don’t go well for them. As a fan of both horror movies and horror stories, I’m excited to see where this novel goes.

Laura Maloney is reading The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin. The story revolves around a character whose dreams alter the past and the present. Laura calls the book “mind-bending and thought provoking” and says it concentrates on themes of control, power imbalances, and the promise of an unattainable utopia. The story is a fairly short one, so it’s a good book for people trying out the genre of science fiction for the first time, which Laura is doing herself. She was also very impressed that LeGuin won the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel at a time when science fiction was dominated by male authors.

Blake Wilson is reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Blake was intrigued by both the post-apocalyptic setting and the fact that the book is written in diary form. He also commented that he believes the story is not quite what it appears to be, though he didn’t want to give away anything further. After not finishing the book when he began reading it years ago, Blake is determined to read it all the way through this time. “This book keeps popping up in my life and I feel it’s my duty to read it.” While Blake chose this book because it was a book club suggestion, Parable of the Sower is the 2023-2024 KU Common Book. To learn more, please visit https://commonbook.ku.edu.

Didem Blum is reading Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry. Didem was familiar with Fry’s work on a comedy show he starred in with fellow English actor Hugh Laurie called “A Bit of Fry and Laurie,” but she had not read any of Fry’s books until now. Didem chose this book to learn more about Greek mythology without reading a boring reference guide. Describing it as “somewhere between fiction and non-fiction,” she said the book has been enjoyable and easy to read. Didem also particularly enjoyed the endnotes added by Fry that gave examples of how Greek mythology has influenced the English language.

Pam Crawford is reading Sheltering in Place: Collected Stories from Old West Lawrence compiled and edited by Krista Barbour and Charles Higginson. Barbour writes in the preface that walks taken with her husband and children during the early days of COVID inspired her to put together this book. As a resident of Old West Lawrence (OWL), Pam is enjoying the stories about the history of the area. The book includes photos of neighborhood homes with histories often provided by the current homeowners. One of the few houses that survived Quantrill’s Raid in 1863 is located in OWL. Also, part of the movie Jayhawkers, directed by Oscar winner and KU Professor Kevin Willmott, was filmed in the neighborhood. Pam and her husband David included information on their own home as well, making this a personal and special book for Pam.