Waidner-Spahr Library
News & Events
Read Posters
Scroll to browse the library's READ posters, or click on the name of the person whose poster you would like to see.
Alex Zobel '08READS
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon
We asked: Why is this book special or important to you?
Alex responded: "To be honest, I chose The Yiddish Policemen's Union over any other Michael Chabon book because his name appears largest on the cover of this book and that's what I want students to see.
It does not matter which of his titles students pick up, as long as they read something by Michael Chabon. Just when I think that my love affair with letter has come to an anti-climatic end, Chabon comes out with something that renews my faith in storytelling. He is almost single-handedly keeping the lexical wealth that is the English language a currency worth using, and you will be a better person if you read him with a dictionary.
More broadly, Chabon is crusading to keep exciting genres from being marginalized by so-called "literary" fiction with its quiet epiphanies and obsessive navel-gazing. Michael Chabon is fighting the good fight and restoring the plot to contemporary American fiction. And I love him."
Created: Spring 2008
Jerome Igle '08
READS
Reflecting black:
African-American cultural criticism
by
Michael Eric
Dyson
We asked: Why is this book special or important to you?
Jerome responded: "This book is very insightful and thought provoking. It challenges you to reconsider the way you look at race, class, gender and religion, which you see as the dominant themes in today's political discussion. Its impact has forced me to have this dialog inside and outside classrooms."
Photo by Pierce Bounds
Created: Spring 2008
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Brock Clarke '90READS
his newest novel:
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes
in New England
Photo by Pierce Bounds
Created: Spring 2008
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Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J.
Author of
&
The Death of Innocents
READS
(and Writes!)
Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J. visited Dickinson College in October 2007 to discuss the death penalty and her work with indigent death-row inmates.
Photo by:
A. Pierce Bounds
Art Direction: Christine Bombaro & Ryan
Burke
Created: Fall 2007
William G. Durden
President & Class of 1971
READS
The Autobiography of Benjamin
Rush
President Durden writes: "I chose Dr. Rush's autobiography because I wanted to confirm some points and maybe learn something new directly from him."
Photo by:
A. Pierce Bounds
Art Direction: Ryan Burke & Christine Bombaro
Created: Summer 2007
Dickinson College Librarians
READ
To find out why we love these books, read our statements.
Top to Bottom:
Malinda Triller (The
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)
Amelia Brunskill (Smilla's
Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg)
Yunshan
Ye (Chinese Avant-Garde
Photography Since
1990,
edited by Zhu Qi)
Mark Wardecker (The
Complete Sherlock Holmes by
Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle)
James Fein (New
Seeds of Contemplation by
Thomas Merton)
Kirk Doran (French
Piano Music: An Anthology, edited
by Isidor
Philipp)
Eleanor Mitchell (The
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton)
Theresa
Arndt (Diet
for a Small Planet by Frances
Moore
Lappé)
Ann Margaret Thompson (The
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Chris Bombaro (The Lord
of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien)
Jim Gerencser (The
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre
Dumas)
Photo by:
A. Pierce Bounds
Art Direction: Ryan Burke
Created: Spring 2007
Rafael Alvarado
with his son, Healy
READS
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's
Stone
by J.K. Rowling
Dr. Alvarado writes: "Conventional
wisdom says that our children are post-literate
digital natives, but I think the Harry Potter
phenomenon shows otherwise. My daughter began
the series in first grade and read each volume
faithfully, doing a good imitation of her mother’s
ability to read a book for 6 hours on end.
Skeptical at first, I began reading HP myself
to learn what was going on in my daughter’s
head. It was a pleasant surprise and
I have been an avid follower of the series
myself. My son has other literary interests
(of the “graphic novel” variety)
but nothing catches his attention more than
having Rowling or Tolkien read to him, without
the help of the moving or still image. It’s
a good sign for the long-term viability of
both the printed word and narrative itself."
Photo by:
A. Pierce Bounds
Art Direction: Ryan Burke & Christine Bombaro
Created: Summer 2007
Michael Pennington
Class of 2007
READS
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Michael Pennington writes: "After reading
the timeless classic, The Great Gatsby in
my Honors English class during my senior
year in high school, I enrolled in the course
entitled Economic Apartheid in America as
my Freshman Seminar at Dickinson College.
This book challenged me to critically look
at social classes within the U.S. and to
analyze the huge gap that still exists between
the small number of people within the upper
strata of wealth, and the large number of
Americans that struggle to live one day at
a time. In addition to focusing on money,
Fitzgerald also focused on the themes of
justice, power, greed, and betrayal. All
of these themes apply to how one chooses
to live his or her own life, irrespective
of era, while helping to show the consequences
of making the wrong decisions."
Photo by: A. Pierce Bounds
Art Direction: Ryan Burke & Christine
Bombaro
Created: Spring 2007
Professor John M. Osborne
with his granddaughter, Olivia Hulstine
READS
One Hungry Monster: A Counting Book
in Rhyme
by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe
illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Professor Osborne writes: “This was an old book on my shelf – I rarely throw out books – that now comes in handy for granddaughter reading. Monsters, food and numbers – all of the necessary preparations for life…”
Photo by: Christine
Bombaro
Art Direction: Ryan Burke
Created: Winter 2007
Last Updated: June 17th, 2008