Image courtesy of A.J. Balinski, ’26 CLAS.

Falvey Library Service Hours: Easter 2024

Tuesday, March 26: 8 a.m.—12 a.m. (book stacks close at 11:30 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 27: 8 a.m.—10 p.m. (book stacks close at 9:30 p.m.)

Thursday, March 28—Sunday, March 31: Service desk and book stacks closed.

Monday, April 1: 2 p.m.—12 a.m. (book stacks close at 11:30 p.m.)

Villanova students, faculty, and staff may enter the Library building 24/7 with a valid Wildcard. Library services are available to the University community during posted service hours. Electronic collections (articles, e-books, and more!) are accessible through the Library’s website 24/7. For a full listing of service hours, visit the Library website.

Blessings to you and your families for your Easter, Passover, and Ramadan celebrations.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin wrote, “The imagination has no limits. The physical world does. The work exists in both.”

Happy Monday, Wildcats! Easter break is right around the corner, making it the perfect time to take some time for yourself and refresh your mind. We’re at that point in the semester when burnout is setting in, with workloads increasing and papers and exams starting to pile up.

To put forth your best work and to end the semester feeling proud of yourself, take some time to prioritize self-care and doing things that make you happy over break. Then, come back refreshed with an imagination ready to take on the rest of the semester and make your wildest ideas a reality.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, March 25

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Multifaith Prayer Room, St. Rita’s Hall | Virtual Option | ACS-Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, & Staff

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Tuesday, March 26

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

For any breakfast food fans, Monday, Mar. 25, is International Waffle Day. Waffles are an easily customizable breakfast food option with a host of different toppings and additions to chose from—strawberries and a little whipped cream is my personal favorite. If you’re in the mood for a sweet treat, pull out your waffle maker or head to a local diner and enjoy some waffles.

Photo by Toni Reed on Unsplash

Tuesday, Mar. 26 is Solitude Day. School might still be in session, but it’s still a good time to fit some me-time into your schedule. Whether it’s reading a good book, taking a therapeutic walk, or cooking your favorite meal, you can celebrate the day by making some time for yourself.

As the break might have clued you in, Easter is this Sunday, Mar. 31. It might be a Catholic holiday, but I think it’s also just a great excuse to spend some time with your family and to eat some of your favorite candy. Personally, my favorite candy to enjoy on Easter are Robin Eggs, which are basically Whoppers covered in a pastel-colored candy coating. Enjoy your break!

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.

Photo courtesy of A.J. Balinski, ’26 CLAS.

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” ― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Library.

Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week. A disclaimer that this column is intended for reflection and entertainment (not for academic research, for example), and infuses scholarly content as possible.

Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash

It’s Shakespeare Week, a week dedicated to celebrating and engaging with the works of playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Of course,  Shakespeare’s famed works live on as people continue to read, perform, and analyze them over 400 years after his death, but they have also inspired a plethora of adaptations and retellings that have been modernized for new audiences today to enjoy.

Just recently, Much Ado About Nothing received a retelling in the 2023 rom-com Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. Even the now iconic The Lion King is an adaptation of Hamlet. So, in celebrating of Shakespeare Week, here are some modern adaptations and retellings (and some might even surprise you).

If you have 5 minutes…and want to test your Shakespeare knowledge, take this quick quiz, released in celebration of the recent 400-year anniversary of the First Folio, a historic collection of Shakespeare’s works that might have otherwise been lost to history.

If you have 19 minutes…and like Youtube video essays, watch this video discussing how the 1990s and 2000s trend of Shakespeare retellings re-popularized Shakespeare among young people.

Bonus: For a more scholarly take, read this ebook on marketing “The Bard” to Hollywood during the same era.

If you have 37 minutes…and like feminist analyses, watch this video essay on how 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s the Man represent feminism and gender.

Bonus: To see an academic’s take on this subject, read this essay from Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation.

Photo by malavika on Unsplash

If you have 1 hour and 37 minutes…and want to feel a little nostalgic, watch 10 Things I Hate About You, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection. This beloved late 90s rom-com starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger is actually a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew.

If you have 1 hour and 45 minutes…and like Shakespeare’s comedies, watch She’s the Man, available to stream for free on Pluto. If you’ve read or seen Twelfth Night, you might not be surprised that She’s the Man is an updated (and somehow even more outlandish) retelling.

Bonus: if you want to watch an adaptation more faithful to the source material, watch 1996’s Twelfth Night, available to stream online through Falvey.

If you have 1 hour and 51 minutes…and prefer Shakespeare’s tragedies, watch Hamlet, the 2000s modernized retelling starring Ethan Hawke set in New York City, available to stream online through Falvey.

If you have 2 hours and 41 minutes…and are a fan of David Tennant, watch him and Catherine Tate star in a filmed production of Much Ado About Nothing, available to stream online through Falvey. It might technically be more of a theatrical production rather than an adaptation, but it stars two recognizable film actors, so I’m including it.

Bonus: If you want to check out any more filmed theatrical productions of works by playwrights like Shakespeare and beyond, browse our Digital Theatre+ subscription library.

If you have 6 hours…and like Shakespeare’s dramedy The Tempest, read Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. Yes, the Margaret Atwood wrote a Shakespeare adaptation in 2016. Not a traditional retelling, Atwood weaves the Shakespeare’s original work into the plot, following actor Felix as he seeks revenge for having his theatrical dreams crushed.

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.

Happy Thursday, Wildcats! This week, the Curious Cat team asked students, “Are you an early bird or a night owl?”

“Early Bird”
-Jafet A. Beltran ’25 COE

“early bird”
-Hannah Slattery ’25 COE

“Early Riser”
-Nicholas Grieco ’26 CLAS

Rebecca Amrick is a first-year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

Julia Wagner ’26 CLAS is a second-year Economics major and student worker at Falvey Library.

Upcoming deadline alert, faculty and students!

Each academic year, the Library welcomes nominations from faculty across campus in order to highlight the undergraduate research at Villanova. Here are the 2019 winners, known as Falvey Scholars, who presented their work at a celebration event and were featured in the Library’s publication Mosaic.

Nominations for the 2024 Falvey Scholars Awards deadline Sunday, March 24.

As Falvey’s Cat in the Stax, Rebecca writes articles covering a broad range of topics, from academics to hobbies to random events. All the while highlighting how Falvey Library can enhance your Villanova experience!

Happy Wednesday, Wildcats! Spring is officially here! Yesterday, March 19, was the first day of spring. We’ve already had some warmer weather, and flowers are starting to bloom. Take some time to sit outside this week and enjoy the spring weather.

There’s nothing I love more than sitting outside reading a good book. Villanova’s campus is great because there are so many benches and chairs to sit on as well as large green spaces perfect for pulling out a blanket to lie down on. If you don’t have any books to read, might I suggest any novel written by Jane Austen?

This month’s Author Spotlight features renowned English novelist Jane Austen. Born on Dec. 16th, 1775, Austen wrote six complete novels during her lifetime before her death in 1817 at age 41. Her literary works are distinctly modern in their creation and exploration of ordinary characters and daily life in 18th and 19th century England.

Image from Archive Photos/Getty Images

Austen was the seventh out of eight children and only one of two daughters. Her father was a reverend who fostered an environment of learning. Although her family was large, they were close and affectionate with one another. Creating and acting out plays together was a favorite pastime for the family. By the time she was 12, Austen began writing her own stories. This collection of writings filled three whole notebooks and became known as her Juvenilia.

The first of her works to be published was Sense and Sensibility which was published in October 1811 and received immediate success and praise as the first edition completely sold out by 1813. This book tells the story of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, who move into a relative’s country estate after their father’s death.

Perhaps Austen’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice (1813) was another instant success. This story follows Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and the hate-to-love relationship she has with wealthy landowner Mr. Darcy.

Mansfield Park was the next book to be introduced to readers. Published in 1814, this novel was not received as well by critics as Austen’s earlier novels, but it was still incredibly popular with the public and actually became one of Austen’s best-selling books at the time. Mansfield Park is the most serious of her novels as it incorporates a discussion of religion and religious duty through the moral strength of its heroine, Fanny Price.

Austen’s Emma (1815) was the last novel to be published during her lifetime. A more comedic tale, Emma tells the story of its namesake, Emma Woodhouse, and the successes and failures she experiences in her attempts at matchmaking.

Fun Fact: Did you know that the 1995 film Clueless was actually inspired by Emma and is a contemporary take on the novel?

Image by Leah Newhouse from Pexels.com

Jane Austen’s final two finished novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were both published posthumously in 1817. Northanger Abbey satirizes Gothic novels through its heroine Catherine Moreland, whose love of Gothic thrillers influences her interpretations and clouds her rational judgement. Persuasion is about reawakened love and second chances when Anne Elliot meets her old love Captain Wentworth after rejecting his marriage proposal seven years prior.

Jane Austen’s literary masterpieces are still incredibly popular today, inspiring numerous movie adaptations and television shows and cementing their place in the English literary canon among the classics. Her stories all feature strong women engaging in journeys of self-discovery and finding enduring love in the process. Witty, light, realistic, and written in elegant prose, these novels have entertained readers for centuries. If you’re looking for something fun to read this spring, I definitely recommend a novel by this much beloved author.

Rebecca Amrick is a first year graduate student in the English Department and a Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

The annual Ida B. Wells Lecture brings to Villanova’s campus leading scholars, writers, and public intellectuals to share their insights with the University community.

The 2024 Ida B. Wells lecture will be given by Dr. Yaba Blay on Wed., April 17, at 5 p.m. in Falvey Library’s Speakers’ Corner. Dr. Blay’s research explores the interconnected nuances of skin color politics and Black racial identity and challenges narrow perceptions of Blackness as both an identity and lived reality.

This event, sponsored by Africana Studies and co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, Global Interdisciplinary Studies, the Department of Sociology and Criminology, the Department of Communication, and Falvey Library, is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Dig deeper and explore some of Dr. Blay’s work:

• One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race (Blay, 2021) *eBook
• Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/Body Politics in Africana Communities (Spellers, R. E., & Moffitt, K. R., et al., 2010)
• Professional Black Girl (YouTube)
• Dr. Yaba Blay (official website)

Happy first day of spring, Wildcats! Ready for some warmer weather? Check out a few springtime reads available at Falvey Library.

• Middlemarch by George Eliot
  • Middlemarch (DVD)
  • Middlemarch (Television series, 1994)
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Pride and Prejudice (DVD, 2006)
  • Pride and Prejudice (DVD, 1995)
  • Pride and Prejudice: A New Musical (2020)
• The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
• A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
• Flush by Virginia Woolf
• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  • Alice in Wonderland (DVD, 2010)
  • Alice in Wonderland (Television series, 1986)
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

What’s your favorite spring read? Explore Falvey’s Popular Reading Collection in Speakers’ Corner (on the first floor) for more titles. Enjoy the sunshine, ‘Cats!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins wrote, “What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.”

Happy Monday, Wildcats! Tomorrow officially marks the first day of spring. Spring is a time of hope and rebirth. It’s a time to come alive again after a bleak winter.

With daylight savings giving us a little more sunshine in our day and the start of spring, things are starting to look a little brighter. I hope you’re all able to enjoy a little more time outside in the sun in the coming weeks—even if the Pennsylvania weather is fickle.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, March 18

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Multifaith Prayer Room, St. Rita’s Hall | Virtual Option | ACS-Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, & Staff

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Tuesday, March 19

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Wednesday, March 20

But Is It Fair Use? A Copyright Discussion and Q&A (Virtual Workshop) | 12-1 p.m. | Virtual | Free & Open to Villanova Students | Register Here

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Thursday, March 21

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 12-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Sunday, March 24

Center for Speaking and Presentation/The Learners’ Studio | 3-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

Photo by Mak on Unsplash

Today, Mar. 18, marks the beginning of Shakespeare Week, a week dedicated to celebrating and examining the famed playwright and author William Shakespeare. With works like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth, if you want to celebrate this week, you can browse Falvey’s collection of Shakespearean works here.

For anyone with a sweet tooth, tomorrow, Mar. 19, is National Chocolate Caramel Day. If you’re a fan of this classic flavor combination, your options to celebrate are practically endless—Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Caramel Squares, Rolos, and Milk Duds, to name just a few.

To all the astrology believers, Astrology Day is this Wednesday, Mar. 20. Personally, while I’m not a steadfast believer, I do think that astrology is sometimes right on the money and overall harmlessly fun. So, whether you like to read your horoscope, look at your friend’s birth charts, or guess people’s sun signs, Wednesday is your excuse to enjoy astrology. You can also browse Falvey’s collection of astrology books, articles, and other resources here.

Fittingly during the first week of spring, Thursday, Mar. 21, is National Flower Day. Although flowers are just starting to bloom, there are still plenty of ways to celebrate. If you have a green thumb and some outdoor space, plant your favorite flowers (bonus points if they’re native plants). If you want to share your appreciation to someone special in your life, gift them a bouquet of flowers. If you want to read some floral literature, check out former GA Ethan’s May Flowers blog.

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.