A big thank you to all those who stopped by Distinctive Collection’s Halloween Haunts event yesterday. Our ghoulish games, snacks, and witch’s brew were a hit with those consumed with a thirst for regular-sized candy!

Treats Table

Our spookiest items on display can also be viewed in our Rare Book Room:

Display of items from Special Collections

The Amateur’s Guide to Magic and Mystery and the Black Art Fully Exposed

The Dance of Death

Los Vampiros del Aire

Exorcism Manual

The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tartocchi

Phadon: oder, Uber die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, in Drey Gesprachen 

By Lily Umphred

We hope you had a happy Halloween, Nova Nation! It’s not too late to treat yourself to a great book! To get you in the spirit, Falvey Library staff has recommended their favorite spine-tingling reads for you. Pick your favorite, grab some candy corn and a warm blanket, and be prepared to be spooked!

Roberta Pierce, Access and Collections Coordinator:

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

The Papin Sisters by Rachel Edwards

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Nicole Daly, Social Science Librarian:

The Stand by Stephen King

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King- Available to students, faculty and staff via Interlibrary Loan

Christoforos Sassaris, Distinctive Collections Coordinator:

The Shining by Stephen King

It by Stephen King- Available to students, faculty and staff via Interlibrary Loan

Pet Sematary by Stephen King- Available to students, faculty and staff via Interlibrary Loan

David Burke, Metadata Librarian:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft

Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural by Algernon Blackwood

Lovecraft Country by Matthew Ruff- Available to students, faculty and staff via Interlibrary Loan

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle- Available to students, faculty and staff via Interlibrary Loan

Meg Piorko, Distinctive Collections Librarian:

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Machado

Demian Katz, Director of Library Technology:

The Mystery of Suicide Place by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller

More Thrilling Options to Choose From:

Angel of the Underground by David Andreas

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Cujo by Stephen King

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Ghost Virus by Graham Masterton

How to do Things with Dead People: History, Technology, and Temporality from Shakespeare to Warhol by Alice Dailey

The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror by David J. Skal

Misery by Stephen King

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

Shadow Man by Alan Drew

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, Ted Goossen

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

You can click the links to find where these books are located. Check them out at the Spine-tinglers display on the first floor of Falvey. Happy reading, Wildcats!

Lily Umphred is a sophomore studying economics and communications. Her favorite spine-tingler is Verity by Colleen Hoover.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In Paris is Burning, Dorian Corey said, “It’s important to go after your dreams but don’t lose sight of enjoying the journey of life.”

Happy Halloween, Wildcats! As members of the Villanova Community, chasing your academic and professional dreams is clearly important, but as the lovely and wise (late) Dorian Corey would agree, you shouldn’t lose sight of the other things that bring you joy in life. In the spirit of the holiday, enjoy yourself and have some (responsible) fun this week.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, October 31

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Virtual | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, and Staff

Halloween Haunts with Distinctive Collections | 1:00 p.m. | Falvey Library First Floor | Free & Open to Villanova Community | Games & Light Refreshments Served

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

Tuesday, November 1

Fall 2022 Film & Philosophy Series: Jean-Luc Godard’s Hélas pour moi (1993) | 5:30 p.m. | Room 415 | Free & Open to Villanova Community | Light Refreshments Served

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

Wednesday, November 2

Fall 2022 Falvey Forum Workshop: Community Data Solving Social Enterprise & Business Problems | 12-1 p.m. | Virtual | Free & Open to the Villanova Community | Register Here

The Interfaith Human Library: Where Books Talk & We All Learn about Life in a Multi-faith World | 4:30-6:00 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, and Staff | Light Refreshments Served | Register Here

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

Thursday November 3

Lecture on “Cervantine Blackness” Featuring Nicholas Jones, PhD | 4:00 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to Villanova Community

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

Friday, November 4

Scholarship@Villanova Event Featuring Alan Drew on The Recruit | 2-3 p.m. | Room 205 | Free & Open to Villanova Community | Light Refreshments Served

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30-4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public

Sunday, November 6

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

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

As you already know, today is Halloween (and for all my fellow former Girl Scouts, Girl Scout Founder’s Day). But here are some holidays this week that you may not know about.

Aptly coinciding with Halloween, today is also National Magic Day. For anyone who has the perfect mix of charisma and dexterity, pull a Jimmy Woo (as inspired by a very bored Scott Lang) and celebrate by learning a magic trick. As someone who has tried and failed to successfully complete a magic trick, I will probably celebrate by watching Now You See Me instead.

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

National Author’s Day is tomorrow, Nov. 1. Celebrate by reading a book from your go-to author or by checking out a new author. We have plenty of options here at Falvey.

Tomorrow is also National Cinnamon Day. Whether its churros, snickerdoodles, apple crisp, or a classic cinnamon roll, autumn is the perfect season to enjoy all things cinnamon. If you’re a fellow cinnamon enthusiast, celebrate by enjoying your favorite cinnamon treat. (The cinnamon crumb muffins at Java’s Brewin’ in Limerick are my absolute favorite).

Coming off the heel of Halloween, Friday is National Candy Day, the perfect excuse to enjoy your favorite sweets. (It is a holiday after all). As a huge peanut butter fan, I will be savoring the seasonal Reese’s Pumpkins.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in 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. 

With Halloween right around the corner, horror movies are in season. Over the weekend, horror movies will likely fill up cable television runtime, streaming service recommendations, and, as we’ve already seen over the past month, movie theaters. As it may become clear to anyone watching horror, new or old, the Final Girl trope stands out as a lasting genre cliche, albeit with some updated takes. This weekend’s recs will explore the Final Girl trope and help you conclude this spooky season with a bang.

Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash

If you have 10 minutes…and are unfamiliar with the Final Girl trope, read this No Film School article. This article is a great introduction to the trope for any newcomers and an interesting (and short) read for fans.

If you have you have 34 minutes…and want to learn how the trope has evolved over the years, watch this Youtube video essay by Naomi Cannibal. She delves into the history of the Scream Queens and Final Girl tropes with some of the the most iconic historic and modern examples to date.

If you have 1 hour and 20 minutes…and want to check out a great horror movie podcast, check out Dead Meat Podcast’s “Final Girl” episode. Dead Meat is one of the best content creators for all things horror, and this episode is an enjoyable listen.

If you have 1 hour and 32 minutes…and want to check out a film that blends the best elements of campy old slashers with a comedic, self-aware twist, watch The Final Girls. It follows in the footsteps of films like Scream and Cabin in the Woods while poking fun at the Final Girl trope.

If you have 1 hour and 40 minutes…and want to check out my personal favorite Final Girl, watch Wes Craven’s Scream. This movie put the life (or death) back into the dwindling slasher sub-genre, and Sidney Prescott exemplifies a truly formidable Final Girl.

If you have 1 hour and 50 minutes…and want to see an early Final Girl prototype, watch the Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror-thriller Psycho, available in Falvey’s DVD Collection. This movie blends the Scream Queen and Final Girl trope together and even if you are aware of the iconic shower scene and the villain’s psychology, still manages to be eerie and intriguing.

If you have 5 hours…and want to interact with some (slightly) less scary Final Girl content, read Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. This book, and the movie adaptation, gives a family-friendly twist to the horror genre, and Coraline certainly fits in the Final Girl category.

If you have 6 hours…and want to read the book that first coined the term “Final Girl,” read Carol Clover’s Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, available online through Falvey.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in 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. 

It might not be Halloween yet, but as far as I’m concerned (and according to Freeform‘s “31 Nights of Halloween” programming), the first day of October marks the beginning of spooky season. Even if you hate spooky things, the season still brings sweater weather, pumpkin-flavored treats, and Fall Break with it. Plus, I am a firm believer that there is at least one Tim Burton movie out there for everyone. For a whole week without classes, as Fall Break begins tomorrow, here are some recs to help you get in the spirit of the season.

If you have 15 seconds…and want to reminisce on spooky season in the 2000s, watch this TikTok. Halloweentown marathons and spooky Kid Cuisines definitely make me nostalgic.

Photo by Alex Simpson on Unsplash

If you have 28 minutes…and think the characters in horror movies always make the worst decisions, watch this Youtube video about how to survive the recent vampire flick The Invitation, (beware: there are spoilers), and check out the rest of the channel for other videos on how to survive all of your favorite scary movies.

If you have 45 minutes…and are in the mood for a scary podcast that might send shivers down your spine, listen to a Let’s Read episode. This episode is Halloween-themed, but scroll through the channel to find stories with a number of different spooky twists, including ghosts, stalkers, murderers, and cryptids.

If you have 1 hour…and want to try out some Halloween-inspired recipes, try a recipe from this cookbook. They may be a bit silly, but they look delicious and might get you into the Halloween spirit.

Bonus: if you’re looking for a simple dessert you can try out in your dorm kitchen, check out this Halloween cookie-cake recipe from TikTok.

If you have 1 hour and 45 minutes…and want to give yourself a dose of nostalgia, watch Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+. Hocus Pocus is one of the most iconic Halloween movies of all-time, and I have high hopes for the sequel.

If you have 4 hours…and want to experience an interactive cult classic (or live out your The Perks of Being a Wallflower fantasy), find a screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show near you. Philly is a great Rocky Horror hub in October, and if you’ve never been to a live screening, it’s quite the experience. I know I will be at the Oct. 15 screening at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville.

Photo by Erin Minuskin on Unsplash

If you have another 4 hours…and want to get your steps for the day in…visit a local corn maze with some friends. If you’re heading out West toward Lancaster, Cherry Crest Adventure Farm has been one of the highest rated mazes in recent years. I have personally gone to Wilcox Farms, located in Boyertown, (and gotten lost in their previous corn mazes).

Bonus: if you want to get some steps in and get scared while doing so, visit a local scary Halloween attraction. Field of Screams is a major attraction that typically garners a crowd, and The Valley of Fear is usually pretty fun, especially if you have some squeamish friends.

If you have 6 hours…and want to learn about some Halloween history, read Nicholas Roger’s Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. This one is for all my history buffs.

If you have 8 hours…and want to brush-up on the classic thrillers, read Stephen King’s The Shining or virtually any other Stephen King novel. (Misery is also a good, less supernatural option). Hearing his name in the month of October may seem cliche to some, but there is a good reason that he is a horror household name.

Bonus: put DCDE’s Halloween Haunts event on your calendar for Oct. 31. The event will feature some of the most festive items from Distinctive Collections and some delicious (free) Halloween treats.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Library.

By Ethan Shea

As someone who is a bit weary of the supernatural, I tend to keep the season’s ghouls and goblins at arm’s length. If you feel the same, you can check out my blog from last year with some fall films that are far from frightening.

However, this doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate some high-quality Halloween decor! The big question is, when should the autumn adornments make their appearance?

Most people (emphasis on most) can agree that mid-July is too early to assemble the plastic skeletons, but is mid-September premature as well? I feel like everyone has a relative who’s known for either decorating far too early or keeping their artificial cobwebs up for far too long, so this topic carries weight for many.

Now that it’s officially October, it’s safe to say that any and all spooky decor is welcome. In fact, according to Martha Stewart, the first half of October is the most popular time to break out the frightful fall decorations.

However, this all depends on your community. Whether it’s your neighboring dorms or the cul-de-sac you live on, if everyone is up for coordinating some early ornamentation, why not go for it? I personally love when communities coordinate their decoration plans. This applies to all holidays but especially Halloween and end-of-the-year festivities.

Decoration timing also depends on the potency of your Halloween decor. You can probably get away with leaving a mushy pumpkin on the doorstep, but a faux undead corpse propped up in the front yard may begin to turn heads (in a bad way) not too long after Halloween.

Lately it’s been too damp to spend time decorating outdoors, but regardless of the weather, let us know what your thoughts on Halloween decorating are? Is it ever too early for eerie embellishments, and when, if at all, will you be decorating this year?

Ethan Shea is a graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

Oct. 30, Falvey Memorial Library set up its award-winning Hocus Pocus-themed tent to greet hundreds of treat-seeking Villanova students and children. In addition to a variety of candy, Falvey staff and family tempted visitors with snacks, bookmarks, stickers, pens, notepads, and glow sticks.

Our favorite costumes were Winnie-the-Pooh, Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, Batman, characters from Beetlejuice, and contestants from Squid Game.

When students realized it was Falvey’s tent, they quickly responded: “The Library is my favorite place on campus to study!” No wonder Falvey’s backdrop read, “Hocus Pocus…We Help You Focus!”

Shawn Proctor is Communications and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library.

We’ve made it to Halloween weekend! For this week’s weekend recs we’re changing it up and bringing to you all things Edith Wharton. If you’re looking to add some spooky stories into your weekend, consider picking up one of Edith Wharton’s short story collections. Learn more about Wharton, her life, and written works below. 

Edith Wharton Biography 

Wharton was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider’s knowledge of the upper-class New York “aristocracy” to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her novel The Age of Innocence. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1996. 

Horrified by ghost stories as a young girl, Wharton took that fear and channeled it into creating a series of chilling short stories filled with spirits beyond the grave and other supernatural phenomena.  As an adult, Wharton claimed she did not believe in ghosts, while somewhat paradoxically also confessing that she was afraid of them. Whether you believe in ghosts and the supernatural world or not, Wharton’s tales are enough to send a tingle running down your spine. 

Fun Fact: Edith Wharton was honored on a U.S. postage stamp issued on Sept. 5, 1980. 

Re-released Short Story Collection 

In total, Wharton has published upwards of 85 short stories that have been published in many different formats over the years. This October, her collection Ghosts will be revived by NYRB Classics, with the same preface with which it was initially published in 1937, shortly after Wharton’s death. Spanning the length of Wharton’s career—the earliest story, “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell,” is from 1902—the tales appear in their original, somewhat perplexing order. The collection contains 11 short stories in total. 

Kate Moss of The Guardian says of the collection, “A blend of Poe, Hawthorne and Henry James, [Wharton] has a lightness of touch that belies the often very grisly tale.” 

Read more about the collection in this New Yorker article. 

About the Edith Wharton Review 

If you want to learn more about Edith Wharton, consider viewing the Edith Wharton Review. The Edith Wharton Review is a peer-reviewed, MLA-indexed, scholarly journal publishing scholarship on Edith Wharton, Wharton in the context of other authors, and Wharton in relation to other writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The journal is published by the Pennsylvania State University and can be accessed through Falvey’s database. 

AVAILABLE AT FALVEY – Short Stories Collections by Edith Wharton: 

• Tales of Men and Ghosts  
• The Ghost Feeler: Stories of Terror and the Supernatural 
• The Demanding Dead: More Stories of Terror and the Supernatural  

Jenna Renaud is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library.

By Allie Reczek

Happy spooky season, Wildcats! As the last day of October quickly approaches, Falvey has compiled a list of killer thrillers to check out in our Halloween display on the first floor of the library. Click the links below to find where these books are located.

• The Shining by Stephen King
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
• Carrie by Stephen King
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• Misery by Stephen King
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Dracula by Roy Thomas and Dick Giordano
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
• The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
• The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
• Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
• The Vampire Chronicles Collection by Anne Rice

Want more spine-tingling recommendations? Be sure to check out The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. You also can’t go wrong with anything by Stephen King or Anne Rice. Be on the lookout for the next Falvey Flip or Flick review on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde! Flip or Flick, this story is sure to give you goosebumps.

Happy reading and happy Halloween!

Allie Reczek ’22 CLAS is a current senior at Villanova, majoring in Psychology with minors in Communications and Sociology. She works in Falvey Library as a Marketing and Communications Assistant.

Image courtesy of the Villanova University Digital Library.

Happy Halloween, Wildcats! This week, stop by Falvey Memorial Library’s Speakers’ Corner to check out an eerie exhibit! Visit the selfie station backdrops to snap a spooky photo. The selfie station features large backdrop images from the Villanova University Digital Library. Patrons can take a selfie with a scary shot from a Villanova Theatre Production in 1960 as well as a fun Halloween image from the Joseph McGarrity Collection. Special thanks to the Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement team for making these images available.

Along with your selfie, please take a Halloween treat to enjoy on your way out of the Library! As a friendly reminder, eating is only permitted in Holy Grounds.

Kelly McMahon ’22 CLAS is a student employee in the Communication and Marketing department at Falvey Memorial Library.