March Book Madness 2024: Week 3

Announcer: We’ve made it to the halfway point of March Book Madness 2024. As a quick recap, we’ve been introduced to our selections for Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Biography/Memoir genres so far. Now it’s time to gear up for our next two genres. Darius and Rachel will be commentating again this week. Darius, why don’t you start us off with telling us more about the fantasy genre, as well as a little bit about your classic pick?

Darius: Sure! Fantasy is a genre that includes storytelling set within a fictional universe that has “fantastical”—even magical—elements. Typically, these books draw upon mythological and folkloric elements for their worldbuilding.

My classic pick for this portion of the bracket is one that I think a lot of our readers will be familiar with: Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll! In this classic story, a little girl falls down a rabbit hole, only to meet a series of bizarre and exciting characters.

Announcer: One that many will be familiar with—thanks to it also having been made into a movie. I wonder if this will help when voting begins. Could you tell us about your contemporary pick now?

Darius: The contemporary book for March Book Madness 2024 is On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, the first book in The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson!

Announcer: I’ve never read this book, but I have seen it checked out several times. This could make it hard to beat. Which one do you think will advance?

Darius: It’ll be close, I think. The Wingfeather Saga is just old enough to be considered a modern classic by many, and I think many Union students may have grown up with it. On top of that, Andrew Peterson’s work broadly is much admired by people in our community. This prediction might come back to bite me, but for those reasons, I’m predicting that On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness will be the book that advances to the Elite Eight!

Announcer: Thank you, Darius. Now Rachel will introduce her next genre and her classic pick.

Rachel: Hello, again. I’m glad to be back with you and be able to feature our next genre. The sports genre simply means that a particular sport will be an important aspect of our main character’s life. I enjoy watching a variety of sports, but I’m glad that for my genre selections, I get to introduce you to some characters that have an interest in a sport that I don’t know as much about. Both of our main characters have an interest in running, and they both use it to help them overcome some of the difficulties in their lives.  

My classic pick is Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, a Newbery Medal Winner from 1991. Maniac was born as Jeffery Lionel Magee, and his story is one where you’re reminded that legends aren’t born: they’re made. His parents die when he’s young, and he goes to live with an aunt and uncle that can never agree. One day, he’s had enough and ends up running away. He meets many interesting characters and ends up being a link between those living in the West End and East End of town. A book that helps to tackle prejudice and the desire to find a place of belonging.

Announcer: Sounds like a great choice. What is your contemporary pick?

Rachel: My contemporary pick is Ghost by Jason Reynolds. Castle Cranshaw, who refers to himself as Ghost, has a loving mother, but his father is in jail due to an attempted murder. His mom does the best she can, but Ghost is often on the brunt of bullying, and he acts out against his bullies, which gets him in a lot of trouble. One day, he stumbles upon a track team practice, and the rest is history. Ghost is constantly working to prove himself and learns important lessons along the way. He is a character that you want to see win.

Announcer: I like that both focus on running and remind us how it can help us more than just physically. Which one do you think will pull ahead and advance to the elite eight?

Rachel: This is another tough one for me because they both had strong elements, and they both made me think. However, I think Ghost will cross the finish line first.

Announcer: That’s it for our third set of first-round picks. Join us next week to learn about our last two genres. Things are heating up!  

2023 My Year in Books: Sarah

We work in a library. Of course we love to read. In all seriousness, we really do love reading. Although my job consists of many other duties, I’m thankful I get to read a lot of different books, both for work and for fun. Many of us on the Social Media Team kept track of our reading goals and habits over the past year. Now, we get to share our progress on those goals, as well as some of the books that stood out to us in 2023.  

One goal I set for 2023 was to read 30 books. I read a total of 89, so I’m thrilled that I exceeded my goal. My shortest book of the year was Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando at 40 pages, while the longest book I read was Kingdom of Ash at 980 pages. All books I read in 2023 are logged on my Goodreads profile. Feel free to connect with me there. 

 My main goal last year was to expand my reading horizons and read more outside of my usual genres. I generally gravitate toward genres like young adult fantasy, classics, and romance, although I have started to enjoy more nonfiction, especially memoirs. I’ve also discovered a deeper appreciation for poetry. Reading from a variety of genres is something I hope to continue doing in 2024. 

So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here are some of my favorite books I read in 2023: 

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A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber:

This was my most anticipated read of the year. A Curse for True Love is the final book in Garber’s Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy (all three books are newly available in the Rec Reads section of the library) and it proved to be a satisfying conclusion. This YA romantasy series follows protagonist Evangeline Fox, who travels to the Magnificent North in search of her happily ever after, and makes a dangerous deal with the immortal, enigmatic Prince of Hearts.  

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien:

Full disclosure: this one is technically a reread, but it had been ten years since I read Tolkien’s groundbreaking fantasy epic, and now I can safely say that it has become a favorite. Although it likely needs no introduction, The Lord of the Rings follows hobbit Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring on their quest to destroy the One Ring of Power and thwart the plans of the evil being who created it. 

Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas:

Enslaved after a devastating betrayal, assassin Celaena Sardothien is offered the chance of freedom—if she agrees to be the prince’s champion in a deadly competition to become the kingdom’s royal assassin. When someone or something begins killing the champions one by one, Celaena, the prince, and the captain of the guard investigate. In doing so, she discovers that she is destined for something far greater than she could imagine.  

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson:

I was a creative writing major in college and have gotten back into writing fiction and poetry over the past year. This was one of the books that caught my attention when looking for ways to better my writing. I am very grateful it did! Conversational and easy to read, Peterson’s memoir on creativity and calling offers wisdom, truth, and encouragement for writers and artists in their craft, and more importantly, in their faith. 

The Scandal of Holiness by Jessica Hooten Wilson:

This book made me think a lot about the correlation between literature and faith—a riveting topic for me. In the age of countless internet trends, literature scholar Jessica Hooten Wilson offers a different approach to the old question of how can we become better people? Dr. Wilson’s solution: through the reading of great books. The Scandal of Holiness walks readers through eight carefully selected novels, explaining how Christians can learn from the lives of literary saints. 

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Want more recommendations? You can check out Amber’s Year in Books here and come back next week for Rachel’s Year in Books. 

Sarah Blevins’ reviews reflect her personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university. 

My Year in Books: Micah

You would think that library workers would eventually get tired of books due to overexposure. That’s not the case with our Social Media Team! We thought it would be fun to look back at all the books we’ve read in the past year using our Goodreads challenges (check out Amber’s, Darius’ and Sara’s challenges if you want to see what they read). 

I used to read so many leisure books as a child, but once I entered high school and college I didn’t have much time to read for fun. Now that I’m out of school and have more free time, I decided to test myself in 2022 to see if I still could read as quickly as I did when I was younger. I set the bar at 52 books, or one book a week. It literally took me until 5 minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve (I’m not exaggerating, I finished Black Hole Survival Guide at a party), but I managed to complete the challenge! 

My tastes in books lean heavily into speculative fiction—primarily fantasy at any reading level and “smart” sci-fi—but you’ll see that I was outside that comfort zone a good bit this year. My wife enjoys audiobooks and convinced me to give them a chance this year. While I still greatly prefer paper books, I guarantee you audiobooks are the only reason I finished this challenge. 

In total, I read 16,312 pages. My shortest book was Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie at 32 pages, and my longest book other than the Bible was Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, topping out at 969 pages. 

It’s clear to me what my favorite books of the year were… 

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan: Probably the clearest indicator of my tastes in literature is that The Lord of The Rings is my favorite book. My father read all three volumes aloud to me when I was a boy, and it was the first series I re-read after graduating from college. After that, I was left craving more detailed, deeply crafted magical worlds full of rich symbolism and engaging narrative. Surprisingly, I did find what I was looking for in The Eye of the World — the first volume in Robert Jordan’s 15-book-long fantasy epic series, The Wheel of Time. Jordan’s style is not as mythic as Tolkien’s; this means the tone feels less legendary, but the characters are also allowed to be more flawed, personal, and relatable than the heroes of Middle-Earth. The Eye of the World seems like the beginning of a series that adeptly bridges the gap between classic and contemporary fantasy. Look for this book to be hitting our Recreational Reading shelves soon! 

Spy x Family  by Tatsuya Endo: 2022 was also the year I started watching Japanese anime, particularly a popular show called Spy x Family. An adorable slice-of-life comedy, Spy x Family is about (you guessed it) a spy who must create (you guessed it again!) a fake family to complete an important mission in a world inspired by the Cold War era. He adopts a telepathic girl, enters a civil marriage with a ditzy-yet-overpowered enemy assassin, and rescues a fluffy dog that can see the future . . . but only the daughter knows everyone’s secret. Hilarity ensues. Each member is using the family for the convenience of their hidden identities, but they can’t help but grow closer to each other in the process. Once I finished the current season of the show, I sought out the manga it was adapted from and read everything that’s come out so far. It’s sweet, wholesome, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next. 

The Lovecraft Investigations by H.P. Lovecraft and Julian Simpson: Every autumn, I like to dip my toes into the genre of horror, and this year my wife and I decided to listen to The Lovecraft Investigations, a modern retelling of some of H.P. Lovecraft’s works. A BBC Radio show, the short stories adapted are presented by a fictitious pair of true crime podcasters who decide to pursue an odd case of a missing man and soon find themselves in over their heads. It’s quite good, and well-produced to boot. Don’t listen to it alone at night. The podcast format allows for some truly chilling audio effects, and the twists and turns (and unfathomable eldritch horror) kept my nerves on edge. To my surprise, Goodreads has entries for all 3 seasons, so I was able to count them in my challenge. 

Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey: The stellar (hah!) conclusion to The Expanse, the best science fiction series I’ve read yet. This is “hard” science fiction at its finest: impeccably researched, logical, critical, and prophetic. The universe that Corey creates is extraordinarily realistic and could quite believably come to pass, even if we don’t discover the ruins and tools of an ancient alien civilization. If you like science, technology, astrophysics, social commentary, sci-fi thrillers like Alien, three-dimensional characters and relationships, mysteries, gunfights, political intrigue, large explosions in space, apocalyptic literature, etc. . . . seriously, I could keep going. The Expanse has set my expectations for science-fiction/fantasy so high that it’s ruined most other works in the genre for me. Give it a try. 

The God of the Garden by Andrew Peterson: One of the first books I read this year, and it stayed at the top of my list. Through personal stories and profound theological ponderings, Peterson paints a compelling picture of God’s faithful work in caretaking His Creation and how we can participate in that work by caring for our communities and cultures and the creation we inhabit. Literal and figurative trees are prevalent throughout Peterson’s writing, harkening back to what we lost in Eden, recognizing what we can replant and reclaim through our lives, and anticipating what we will regain in the life to come. This book made me cry several times, and it’s the one I’ll recommend everyone read, no matter what your taste in books. 

I’m glad I stuck with it and finished my challenge last year, but I also felt like I had to read some shorter books just to stay on track and thus I couldn’t get to some of the longer fantasy novels I wanted to read. For this year, I’ve reduced my book goal down to 30, but I’m aiming to still hit above 16,000 pages total. That way I can work on those longer books without worrying about falling behind. I’ll report back this time next year! 

Micah Rhodes’ reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.