Molstead Library News

2005 Pulitzer Prizes

Looking for a prize-winning book to read?  Here is a list of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize titles that are located in the NIC library's collection:

Fiction category:  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

History category:  Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Biography category:  de Kooing: An American Master by Mark Stevens & Annalyn Swan

Poetry category:  Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser

General Non-fiction category:  Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

A Too Well-Kept Secret!

Approximately 85% of the library's book collection consists of nonfiction titles, few of which are deemed recreational reading by many students.  For those students and staff who appreciate a good murder mystery, science fiction, romance, or fantasy novel, library staff purchase a selection of current paperback titles in these genres for the library's four paperback racks.   Have a favorite author whose work isn't available in the library's paperback collection?   We're always looking for suggestions because we like to know what you enjoy reading just for fun.  So drop us an email with your suggestions using "Ask a Librarian" located on the library's home page.  We'll see if we can locate a few paperbacks by that favorite author of yours for the library's recreational paperback reading collection.  And if you can't finish that paperback in four weeks--not to worry.  You may keep it as long as you wish.  Just remember to return that page turner when you've finished it to share it with another reader.

Next Crisis Iran? Alexander Did Pretty Well - How Will Bush 2 Do?

Twenty-five years ago, revolutionary Iran seized the American embassy and taught the United States some things about radical Islamic theocracy. The Vice-President said last week that Iran was numero uno in our national security concerns. What do you know about modern Persia, a country with a 3 thousand year history? How do Iranian perspectives differ from those of the American administration? What are our alternatives to pre-emptive military action in Iran?

Dig into a 2004 book The Persian Puzzle: the conflict between Iran and America, by Kenneth Pollack, to see Iran in the context of the Persian Gulf region and to examine the "behind-the-scenes story of the tumultuous relationship between Iran and the United States." The Persian Puzzle may be on the NIC Library shelves at: E183.8.I55P58 - or reserve it by telephone or using the library computer catalog.

If you want to go deeper, your library has 10 other books just on the Iran / U.S. relationship over the past 25 years, not to mention dozens of other books (electronic and paper) and hundreds of journal articles on its history, art, literature, and peoples. We can also help you identify quality Internet sources about this second arm of the "axis of evil" and it's future relationships with the Western world.

Review of Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

In 1956, a 76 year old preacher who resides in the tiny community of Gilead, Iowa, sits down to record his "begats" and his thoughts about his vocation for his seven year old son to read and reflect upon at some future date.  This diary is the only tangible legacy that the dying John Ames will leave his son.  From this measured and reflective novel of Robinson's, we learn to appreciate the values of family, friendship, community, love, and the natural world.  A quiet grace permeates this lovely gem of a novel.  For those of us who have impatiently waited 10+ years for another novel from Robinson, Gilead is well worth that interminable wait.

For those readers who enjoy Gilead, I also recommend the following:

The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos (mentioned in Gilead), Lying Awake by Mark Selzer, Mariette in Ecstacy by Ron Hansen, A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, and The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene.

Categories--Books, this is what we're all about.

The Books category will contain all news about new interesting books we have purchased. These books will be particularly good reads, exceptional reference resources, or other works of particular importance.

This category should be used to feature books on a regular basis. We should choose at least one book a week that we have read or that have received particularly good reviews. These news items should spur interest from all patrons in the library's books while focusing on instructors and students needs.