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Dig Deeper: 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner, Hua Hsu

Hua Hsu. Photo: Devlin Claro.

Last week, Hua Hsu was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir Stay True.

The narrative centers around Hsu and his friendship with University of California, Berkeley classmate, Ken. Two different identities, Ken, whose family had been in the United States for generations, represented everything that Hsu, a first-generation Taiwanese American, defined himself against—mainstream America. The two became friends, both agreeing that despite their differences, “American culture didn’t seem to have a place for either of them.”

Three years after their initial meeting, Ken is killed in carjacking in Vallejo, Calif., in July 1998, after a party in Berkeley. “Determined to hold on to all that was left of his best friend-his memories-Hsu turned to writing…A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.”

Hua Hsu is the author of A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific. A staff writer at The New Yorker, Hsu’s work has been published in Artforum, The Atlantic, Slate, and The Wire. A former fellow at the New American Foundation and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, Hsu is a professor of Literature at Bard College. He received a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from Harvard University.

For more information on Hsu, dig deeper and explore the links below:


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

 

 


 


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Flip or Flick: Black Panther

Photo courtesy of Anna Jankowski

Welcome back to another edition of Flip or Flick! For this week’s blog, I am discussing Ryan Coogler’s 2018 film Black Panther and the graphic novel Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet: Book One by ​​Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze. 

The graphic novel by award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates tells the story of King T’Challa navigating the politics of war-torn Wakanda where citizens have turned against the monarchy. Vigilantes and shaman leaders instigate chaos among the people and T’Challa struggles to face his own insecurities as a leader. The 2018 hit film by Marvel Studios stars the late Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa. Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole’s screenplay loosely follows some of the themes in the 2018 graphic novel, but largely tells a story all its own. Themes of loyalty, family, ethical political leadership, and colonialism are apparent in both stories but even more so in the film. 

A key difference between the text and the film is that the main villain in the film Erik Killmonger (portrayed by Michael B. Jordan) is not in the novel. Instead, two shamans named Tetu and Zenzi are the characters who are instigating an uprising against the king. The female warrior tribe of the Dora Milaje is present in both adaptations, however, they are characterized very differently. It is important to note that Princess Shuri, the spunky younger sister of King T’Challa in the film, has died when the graphic novel begins. She is Queen Shuri, and her death seems to be one of T’Challa’s biggest regrets as King.

So, Flip or Flick?

FLICK! Chadwick Boseman’s performance in this film is absolutely captivating. Watching it after his passing gives new meaning to his regal words and the legacy he constructs on and offscreen. The eclectic graphic novel is powerful in its own right, but it simply does not pack the same emotional punch as Coogler’s adaptation. This film ushered in a new era for Marvel films with a more diverse cast and content. The story is incredibly engaging and deviates just enough from the typical superhero movie conventions to shock and inspire audiences. Vibrant colors and an incredible soundtrack produced by Kendrick Lamar bring this afro-futuristic film to life.

You can stream Black Panther today via Falvey Library using this link.


Anna Jankowski ’23 CLAS is a Senior Communication Major from just outside Baltimore who ​​works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant at Falvey Library.

 

 


 


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TBT: FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SHARES HIS FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022


Looking for some reading recommendations for the new year? Former President Barack Obama shared his favorite books of 2022. His recommendations are listed below. All titles are available at Falvey Library through interlibrary loan.

Other lists:

Falvey Library staff shared their reading recommendations last year, if you’d like to add more titles to your “to be read” list.


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

 

 


 


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Cat in the Stax: Winter Break Reading Recap

By Ethan Shea

"Man reading in the snow"

Welcome back Wildcats! I hope everyone had a restful break. 

In addition to my annual tradition of buying more books than I need with Christmas cash, I was able to read some exciting books during my time off.

To begin the semester, I thought I would give a couple reading recommendations and share these recent reads.

Circe – Madeline Miller 

The first book I read during break was Circe by Madeline Miller. The majority of this book was read during a Caribbean cruise I went on with my family, making the islands described in the story seem even more surreal. I really felt like I was on Aeaea with Circe.

Circe tells the story of, well … Circe, the daughter of Helios, God of the sun. Importantly, this story is told from Circe’s perspective, a response to the generally male-centric focus of classic Greco-Roman literature. Miller’s tale manages to make the grandiose life of Gods relatable through her intimate depictions of girlhood and motherhood. Overcoming childhood trauma and being outcast because of differences are problems not just mortals but even children of Gods must overcome. 

During last winter break, as you can see on this blog, I read Madeline Miller’s first novel, The Song of Achilles. It made sense to read Miller’s second novel during my second winter here at Villanova. 

"If We Were Villains"If We Were Villains – M.L. Rio 

Another book I read has a much different toneM.L. Rio’s novel If We Were Villains is a classic dark academia tale, an aesthetic you can learn more about on this blog. I usually would not have been drawn to a book with such an aesthetic, but I’m glad I listened to my roommate’s recommendation.

In Rio’s story, an elite group of students working to become Shakespearean actors are forced to reconcile with the mysterious death of a classmate. With no shortage of Shakespeare quotes, Rio slowly unveils the truth of the matter while weaving a messy story of romantic love and friendship.

If you haven’t already, I hope you find the time to check out one or both of these great novels before the semester gets too busy. 

Stay tuned for more Cat in the Stax content every Wednesday throughout the semester! 


Headshot of Ethan SheaEthan Shea is a second-year graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.


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Falvey Memorial Library Celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month

Falvey Memorial Library is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15 with a display case on the first floor featuring various literary works from Hispanic authors.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually to recognize the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to history, culture, and achievements in the United States. Starting in 1968 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, the celebration was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to observe a 30-day period, officially being enacted into law on August 17, 1988.

Not only does Falvey have access to various literary works by Hispanic authors, but for a limited time, you can access policy, legal, and historical information through the Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S. database linked here. This database is included in the HeinOnline database, a subscription provided by the Charles Widger School of Law Library. Database trial ends Sept. 26, 2022.

Be sure to stop by the library and check out the display to gain inspiration for your next read in the spirit of National Hispanic Heritage Month. The display includes:

Also featured in the display is the 2022-23 One Book selection Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas. Save the date: Villanova University will welcome Vargas to campus to speak on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the Villanova Room, Connelly Center, as a part of our annual One Book Villanova Lecture during the St. Thomas of Villanova Celebration. A book signing and light refreshments will follow the talk.

 


Olivia Dunn HeadshotOlivia Dunn ’23 CLAS is a current junior at Villanova, majoring in Communication with specializations in Journalism and Public Relations. She works in Falvey Library as a Marketing and Communications Assistant.

 

 


 


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TBT: Former President Barack Obama Shares His Summer Reading List

Screenshot of "2022 Barack Obama's Summer Reading List" featured on President Obama's Instagram.

2022 Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List (Barack Obama/Instagram)


Looking for a few last-minute reads before the end of summer? Former President Barack Obama shared his summer reading list on July 26. His recommendations are listed below. All titles are available at Falvey Library through interlibrary loan. Enjoy the final weeks of summer, Wildcats!


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

 

 


 


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Photo Friday: The Purr-fect Recommendation

Image of Sarah Wingo's cat, Bruce, a white and gray cat with green eyes, sitting next to the book "Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689-1800" by Chelsea Phillips.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Wingo, Librarian for English Literature, Theatre, and Romance Languages and Literature.


Sarah Wingo’s cat, Bruce, shares his reading recommendation—Carrying All Before Her: Celebrity Pregnancy and the London Stage, 1689-1800 by Chelsea Phillips, MFA, PhD, Associate Professor; Associate Director for Villanova Theatre. Dr. Phillips’ book is available at Falvey Memorial Library (E-book and hardcopy). For more summer reading recommendations, check out selections from the staff at Falvey Memorial Library and faculty in Villanova’s English Department.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Wingo, Librarian for English Literature, Theatre, and Romance Languages and Literature.


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

 

 


 


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Falvey Library Staff Offer 2022 Summer Reading Recommendations


Last week, we shared summer reading recommendations by Villanova’s English Department faculty. This week, we’re happy to share reading recommendations by the staff at Falvey Memorial Library. Once you’ve explored the list below, check out some summer reads suggested by Falvey’s Distinctive Collections and Digital Engagement. Have a great summer, Nova Nation!

Sarah Wingo, Librarian for English Literature, Theatre, and Romance Languages and Literature

Book cover of Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.

  • Planning to read: Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. After watching the incredibly heartwarming Netflix series based on this graphic novel series I’m looking forward to checking out the books for myself. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I’ve been a fan of Emily St. John Mandel’s for a while now and I’m looking forward to reading her latest book this summer. Probably her most well known book, Station Eleven, was recently made into a great HBO miniseries. I highly recommend both the book and the series.
  • Already Read: The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt. This is a collection of four short stories and one novella length story of the same name as the title of the collection. I just read it last week, George Miller (Director of “Mad Max: Fury Road”), has a new movie coming out this summer staring Tilda Swinton and Idris Alba. The movie is titled “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and is based on the Novella The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.

Darren Poley, Theology, Classics and Humanities Librarian

Book cover of The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy.

Demian Katz, Director of Library Technology

Book cover of a dime novel in Falvey Library's collection.

Shawn Proctor, Communication and Marketing Program Manager

Book cover of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

  • Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass—A middle grade novel about a young skater who must balance competitive skating aspirations against the realization they are non-binary.
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain—This selection of the Villanova Alumni Association’s book club explores the value of introversion when so much of society is geared toward people who talk first (and most.)
  • Heartstopper by Alice Oseman—Now a popular streaming show, this young adult graphic novel series navigates love and friendship from a LGBTQIA+ point-of-view.

Mike Sgier, Access and Collections Coordinator

Book cover of Circe by Madeline Miller.

  • Circe by Madeline Miller—A great and page-turning retelling of Greek mythology from the point of view of Circe, the witch daughter of a Titan and nymph who is exiled to the island of Aiaia, and who becomes intertwined in the fates of Daedalus, Medea, and most famous of all, the wanderer Odysseus.

Luisa Cywinski, Director of Access Services

Book cover of The Wildlife Pond Book by Jules Howard.

Now that summer is here, I will be spending every free moment gardening for food, wildlife, and relaxation. The books on my reading list are:

I’ll also be reading the author’s blogs, watching their YouTube videos, and sharing my results on social media.

Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication and Marketing
Book cover of The Woman In the Library by Sulari Gentill.

Should I be ashamed to admit that my “Want To Read” list on Goodreads is close to 4,500 books? But I promise not to list them all here. I will, though, let you know of two on the list that, appropriately, each have library in their title:

  • I hope to finally tackle Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, a fantasy novel published in 2020, which was the inaugural selection for the Villanova Alumni Book Club, if memory serves me.
  • The other one, The Woman In the Library, by Sulari Gentill, is coming out this week and is being hyped as a smashing, closed-room mystery that’s as much fun as a game of Clue. So look for me reading it in the Library, with a lead pipe by my side!

Caroline Sipio, Access and Collections Coordinator

Book cover of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.

  • I recommend People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry! It is full of heart, travel, and overall summer goodness that encourages readers to embrace new experiences and appreciate loved ones near and far.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. She recommends Hello, Molly! by Molly Shannon. “Always proud to support a fellow Ohioan,” she says.

 


 


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Villanova English Faculty Offer 2022 Summer Reading Recommendations

For the past nine years, Villanova’s English Department faculty have offered summer reading recommendations to the campus community. The department has kindly allowed Falvey to reprint the list on the Library’s blog and share it with our patrons. Check out this summer’s features below and explore prior recommendations here.

Kimberly Takahata, Assistant Professor

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong.

For me, summer is a time to slow down, and Ocean Vuong’s recent collection of poetry demands all the time we can give it. Hauntingly beautiful, these poems weave together worlds of feeling in just a few pages. In one, entitled “Amazon History of a Former Nail Salon Worker,” Vuong collects lists of objects, leaving us as readers to fill in the gaps. I’ll be thinking about that record of orders every time I receive a package.

Book cover of Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong.

 

Crystal Lucky, Professor of English and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs

Two books are at the top of my summer reading recommendations, one that I just finished and one that I just started. The first, Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature (WW Norton, 2021), is a beautiful blend of memoir and cultural criticism. Written by Columbia University comparative literature professor, Farah Jasmine Griffin, the book begins with her memories of her father’s last hours on earth, suffering at the hands of insensitive and misinformed Philadelphia police officers. It then moves readers through a series of important American texts—literary, musical, and visual—to consider the ways Black people have always participated in and contributed to the American democratic project, even when they have been denied its basic freedoms and liberties. Dedicated to TM, the book pays tribute to the late Toni Morrison in each of its ten chapters and offers insight into the work of a wide range of Black artists and thinkers. The book’s title, taken from a note her father left her in one of his many and precious books, invites readers on a journey through the quest for Black freedom, justice, rage, resistance, and death, upwards to love, joy, beauty, and grace. Griffin’s beautiful writing made me cry, laugh, and hope.

Book cover of Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature by Farah Jasmine Griffin.

The second book, Moon and the Mars (Penguin Random House, 2021), is a novel by Kia Corthron. Set in New York’s impoverished Five Points District in the 1850s through the 1860s, the novel is told from the perspective of a young Black and Irish girl named Theo. She is beloved by both sides of her family and lives between the homes of her Black and Irish grandmothers. “Throughout her formative years, Theo witnesses everything from the creation of tap dance to P.T. Barnum’s sensationalist museum to the draft riots that tear NYC asunder, amidst the daily maelstrom of Five Points work, hardship, and camaraderie. Meanwhile, white America’s attitudes towards people of color and slavery are shifting—painfully, transformation ally—as the nation divides and marches to war.” The audiobook is a wonderful companion to the written text and is masterfully read by narrator and actor, Robin Miles. Both the reading and listening experiences are a treat!

Book cover of Moon and the Mars by Kia Corthron.

 

Alan Drew, Associate Professor of English; Director, Minor in Creative Writing

In his New York Times Book Review rave of Mercy Street, the novelist Richard Russo says he was “gobsmacked” by the time he finished reading. Haigh’s last novel, Heat and Light took on fracking, and managed to produce a nuanced portrait of rural Pennsylvanians caught in the grip of big corporate exploitation. Here she wades into one of the most fraught issues in American politics, particularly in our current moment: Abortion. If you’ve ever read Haigh before, you know this novel will be intellectually insightful, emotionally compelling, and will have a lasting impact long after you’ve read the last page.

Book cover of Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh.

 

Evan Radcliffe, Director, English Graduate Program; Associate Professor

I’ve been reading modern-day creative responses to Homer, most recently David Malouf’s Ransom (which turns Priam’s journey to the Greek camp at the end of the Iliad into a novel) and Madeline Miller’s Circe (which develops the Circe episode from the Odyssey into a full account of her life from her own perspective). So one of my books this summer will be Miller’s The Song of Achilles. As she does in Circe, Miller draws on other ancient stories of her characters, and in this novel she expands the story of Achilles and Patroclus, telling it from Patroclus’s point of view and as a love story. In 2012 it won the Orange Prize for Fiction (now called the Women’s Prize for Fiction).

Book cover of Ransom by David Malouf.

 

Travis Foster, Associate Professor, English; Academic Director, Gender and Women’s Studies

Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain.

I listened to the audiobook when it first came out, fell in love with it, and plan to reread it in print this summer. It’s a novel bursting in feelings, a coming-of-age story about a working class gay Scot, and a beautiful representation of the relationship between a boy and his alcoholic mother. If that’s not persuasive enough, it also won last year’s Booker.

Book cover of Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.

 

Mary Mullen, Associate Professor

I highly recommend Louise Erdrich’s The SentencePart ghost story, part narrative of Minneapolis in the midst of the summer of 2020, this novel celebrates independent bookstores and communities forged through reading (there’s even a reading list at the end) as it thinks about prison sentences, Indigenous remains, policing, memory, and history. Much of the action takes place at Erdrich’s bookstore, Birchbark Books, which is haunted by an annoying customer who just won’t leave. I never thought I’d like a novel that represents the outbreak of COVID-19, but I couldn’t put this one down and am still thinking about it.

Book cover of The Sentence by Louise Erdrich.

 


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Dig Deeper: In Memoriam—Anne Rice

Picture of Anne Rice at home in Palm Springs. Photograph by Dan Tuffs for the Guardian.

Anne Rice at home in Palm Springs. Photograph: Dan Tuffs for the Guardian.


Every writer knows fear and discouragement. Just write. The world is crying for new writing. It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. If you won’t write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any.” —Anne Rice

Author of more than 30 novels, Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O’Brien and raised in New Orleans. Changing her name to Anne in the first grade, Rice lived with her parents and three sisters in New Orleans until her mother passed away when she was 15. Her father remarried and moved the family to Richardson, Texas. She attended Texas Woman’s University for a time before marrying Stan Rice, whom she had met in high school. After their marriage in 1961, the couple moved to San Francisco, and attended San Francisco State University where Rice earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science (and later a Master’s Degree in English and Creative Writing in 1972).

In 1966, the couple’s daughter Michele was born. After relocating to Berkeley, Calif., in 1969, Rice wrote the short story Interview With the Vampire. In 1970, Michele was diagnosed with leukemia and passed away in 1972. The following year, Rice worked to make Interview With the Vampire into a novel (published in 1976). Struggling with the loss of her daughter, “she conjured up the vampire Lestat [Interview‘s main character] out of her grief.”

Her son Christopher was born in 1978 and in 1980 she and her husband moved to San Francisco and returned to New Orleans in 1988. In 1994, the film adaptation of Interview With the Vampire was released. Directed by Neil Jordan, the movie starred Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst, Helen McCrory, Thandiwe Newton, and Christian Slater also starred. Interview With the Vampire was the first of 13 novels in The Vampire Chronicles series that became “one of the most popular and profitable vampire properties of all time; selling upwards of 80 million copies worldwide.”

Rice is the author of numerous standalone novels and books series including The Wolf Gift chronicles, The Mayfair Witches, The Sleeping Beauty series, among others. Her novel, Feast of All Saints became a Showtime mini series in 2001. Rice adored her fans, telling the ABC News program Day One in 1993, “When I go to my signings…Everybody else is dripping with velvet and lace, and bringing me dead roses wrapped in leather handcuffs, and I love it.” Her fans in New Orleans, part of the Vampire Lestat Fan Club, host numerous events including an annual Anne Rice Vampire Ball. A local celebrity in her hometown, Rice was know to show up to local book signings in a coffin. Rice passed away on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, in Rancho Mirage, Calif., from complications of a stroke.

Rice was hopeful her legacy would live on—”I want to be loved and never forgotten…I’m really greedy, you know? I want to be immortal.” Rice’s life and legacy remains though her family, her fans and her writing. Acquiring Rice’s major literary works in 2020, AMC Networks plans to adapt Interview With The Vampire in an upcoming TV series on AMC and AMC+ set to premiere in 2022.

Explore some of Rice’s work below:

Autobiography:

Standalone novels:

The Wolf Gift Chronicles:

The Vampire Chronicles:

New Tales of the Vampires:

The Mayfair Witches:

The Vampire Chronicles/The Mayfair Witches Crossover:

The Life of Christ:

Songs of the Seraphim:

Ramses the Damned:

Further reading:


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

 

 

 

References:

Anne Rice Dies: “Interview With the Vampire” Author Was 80. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/12/12/anne-rice-interview-with-a-vampire-author-dies-at-80/6484438001/. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

Genzlinger, Neil. “Anne Rice, Who Spun Gothic Tales of Vampires, Dies at 80.” The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/books/anne-rice-dead.html.

Welcome To Anne Rice.Com! http://annerice.com/Chamber-Biography.html. Accessed 15 Dec. 2021.

 


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Last Modified: February 2, 2022

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