March Book (& Movie) Madness 2023: Week 1

Union University’s Library at the Logos is back with our second presentation of March Book Madness! On Fridays in February, you will be introduced to the books competing in March Book Madness in 2023. One difference this year is that each book has also been made into a movie. We hope that this will help you with the selection process. Each week will feature our titles from two different genres. By the end, you will have been introduced to 8 genres and 16 books. During the month of March, stay tuned to our social media channels to vote on your favorites. Our 2022 Champion was The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Will a familiar favorite win again or will a new contender reach the top of the shelf? You, our readers, will determine the winner. We hope that you journey with us as we make our way through the Final Four and crown our second March Book (& Movie) Madness Champion!  

Rachel: Welcome! Thank you for joining us for March Book (& Movie) Madness: 2023 edition. I’m Rachel Bloomingburg, and I’ll be one of your commentators for this week, alongside Darius Mullin. Our goal is to introduce you to the first two of eight genres that will be featured this year. Darius, could you tell us about the two genres to be featured this week?

Darius: Our first two categories are Historical Fiction and Civil Rights! The Historical Fiction genre is typically set in a real time and place, even if the specific characters and events of the story aren’t strictly historical. Our Civil Rights category is a more specific subset of historical fiction that includes stories centered around American citizens’ efforts to attain social and political equality.

Rachel: Both categories are great to help us better understand our past and appreciate strides that have been made for present and future generations. What is our first participant in the Historical Fiction genre?

Darius: Our first Historical Fiction candidate is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, alongside the 1962 movie of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. Set during the Great Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows Scout Finch and her family’s experiences in smalltown Alabama. The plot culminates with Scout’s father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defending a black man against a false rape accusation.

Rachel: Yes. I remember this story. What’s our second choice in this genre?

Darius: Next up is The Godfather by Mario Puzo and its movie adaptation directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The plot tells the tale of the fictional Corleone family, an Italian mafia family based in New York City. Set shortly after World War II, the novel/movie initially follows Don Vito Corleone, the head of the family as he runs the family business. But an emergency thrusts Vito’s son Michael—who is introduced as a family misfit, uninvolved in the Corleone business—into the spotlight as main character and mafia leader. Both the book and movie versions of The Godfather are highly acclaimed, present fascinating characters, and are full of violence and intrigue.

Rachel: I don’t know much about The Godfather, but I usually like stories based around the World War II time period. Which of these two do you think will advance to the elite eight?

Darius: It’s hard to say, since both options are American classics. If I had to guess, I think To Kill a Mockingbird might have a slight edge on the competition, since a lot of people have probably read it in high school. How about you introduce us to our contestants in the next category, Civil Rights?

Rachel: Happy to. Our first choice is Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. The book written by Margot Lee Shetterly, as well as the film adaptation directed by Theodore Melfi and shortened to the title Hidden Figures, focuses on a core group of dedicated female mathematicians (nicknamed “human computers”) that are called into service during a labor shortage of World War II. Their work helped give Americans a victory they desperately needed with regards to the space race. Math and science tend to be a male-dominated field, so I appreciate that this shows women making an impact in the field.

Darius: That’s awesome! I’ve seen that movie; it’s a great story! Could you share the second option in this category?

Rachel: Yes. Our second selection is likely more well-known when thinking of the Civil Rights genre. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, and the 2020 film adaptation starring Michael B. Jordan help to show the disparity and often unfair treatment of those with limited resources, which could lead to individuals being wrongly condemned. The book covers several cases that Bryan worked on, as well as learning what led him to get into the field. The movie focuses on the case of Walter McMillian, a black man that was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a young, white woman that he didn’t commit. I really appreciated reading the book because it reminded me that while Walter’s case was the most well-known, Bryan’s work made an impact in multiple cases. Knowing that it’s an autobiography helps to give it an even greater personal nature.

Darius: I remember being very impacted when I read that book. Sounds like two really good duos in this part of the bracket! Any ideas as to which will come out on top?

Rachel: It will be tough because both are powerful and important stories, but I think Just Mercy will come out as the winner.

Darius: Well, folks, that’s all for today! Which of the first four entrants has the best chance of making it to the Final Four this year? Keep an eye on the library Instagram for voting next month, and stay tuned for the introduction of the other twelve contestants in the weeks to come!

Reading List: Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from September 15^th through October 15^th. It is a way to honor and celebrate the work that Hispanic Americans have done and the impact they continue to make.

Reading books by someone from another culture helps to expand our worldview and provides a greater understanding of others’ experiences. This list provides some titles we have in our collection to help you celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! The links will show where these books are located within the library.

*Book descriptions provided by the publishers via the library catalog

Anthology of Mexican Poetry compiled by Octavio Paz (Translated by Samuel Beckett) 

Selections from the works of more than thirty Mexican poets, chosen to represent each historical period from 1521 to 1910. 

Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros

This volume is a collection of short stories originally published in 1991 that reflect the author’s experience of being surrounded by American influences while still being familiarly bound to her Mexican heritage as she grew-up north of the Mexico-US border. The short vignettes focus on the social role of women and their relationships with the men and other women in their lives.  Not properly belonging to either Mexico or America, the Chicana protagonists earnestly search for their identity, only to discover abuse and shattered dreams. Apart from focusing on these issues of struggling females, this work simultaneously develops the readers’ sensitivity towards the lives of immigrants.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  by Junot Díaz

Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old-world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fukú–the curse that has haunted Oscar’s family for generations, dooming them to prison, torture, tragic accidents, and, above all, ill-starred love. Oscar, still waiting for his first kiss, is just its most recent victim.

My Invented Country: A Nostalgic Journey Through Chile (English) or Mi país inventado : un paseo nostálgico por Chile (Spanish) by Isabel Allende

The author explores the landscapes and people of her native country, recounts the 1973 assassination of her uncle, which caused her to go into exile, and shares her experiences as an immigrant in post-September 11^th America. (*We have both an English and Spanish version of this work.)

War by Candlelight: Stories by Daniel Alarcón

Nine short stories about people who have been displaced by war or economic crises take readers from the jungles and the streets of Lima, Peru, to the sites of dangerous border crossings, and to intimate New York apartments. Something is happening around the globe: mass movements of peoples, dislocations of language and culture in the wake of war and economic crises. Our world is changing. In this exquisite collection, Daniel Alarcón takes the reader from Third World urban centers to the fault lines that divide nations and people.

In the name of Salomé : a novel by Julia Alvarez

A sweeping novel spanning 100 years and the lives of a heroic mother and daughter; inspired by real events.   Camila Henriquez Urena is about to retire from her longtime job teaching Spanish at Vassar College. Only now as she sorts through family papers does she begin to know the woman behind the legend of her mother, the revered Salome Urena, who died when Camila was three. In stark contrast to Salome, who became the Dominican Republic’s national poet at the age of seventeen, Camila has spent most of her life trying not to offend anybody. Her mother dedicated her life to educating young women to give them voice in their turbulent new nation; Camila has spent her life quietly and anonymously teaching the Spanish pluperfect to upper-class American girls with no notion of revolution, no knowledge of Salome Urena. Now, in 1960, Camila must choose a final destination for herself. Where will she spend the rest of her days? News of the revolution in Cuba mirrors her own internal upheaval. In the process of deciding her future, Camila uncovers the truth of her mother’s tragic personal life and, finally, finds a place for her own passion and commitment.

Gracias by Pat Mora

A young multiracial boy celebrates family, friendship, and fun by telling about some of the everyday things for which he is thankful. (*This book has both Spanish and English text.)

Before Night Falls: A Memoir by Reinaldo Arenas

“Before Night Falls is Reinaldo Arenas’s stunning autobiography – a bold and unrestrained account of his life as a writer and a homosexual. Arenas, acknowledged as one of the great twentieth-century Cuban writers, was born in 1943 into a poor, rural Cuban family. At the age of fifteen he joined Castro’s guerrillas against Batista’s right-wing regime, only to discover that repression under Castro would be on a monumental scale. Reinaldo Arenas spent twenty years of his life trying to survive his “re-education,” to safeguard his manuscripts, and to maintain his sanity when he was imprisoned in El Morro prison in Havana. But despite everything that happened to him, including betrayal by his aunt and some of his closest “friends,” Arenas triumphed, finally leaving Cuba during the Mariel exodus in 1980.” “But America could never replace his beloved Cuba, and his anti-Castro stance made him unsympathetic to many American intellectuals. The final irony was his battle with AIDS, which dominated the last years of his life until he committed suicide on December 7, 1990, at the age of forty-seven.”