Staff Book Picks

A generation ago this was required reading for those seeking to enlist in the ranks of ecclesiastical leadership. This classic begins with a resounding jeremiad against the rising tide of secularism and posits six marks of the mind that thinks Christianly: its supernatural orientation, awareness of evil, conception of truth, acceptance of authority, concern for the person, and sacramental cast. Still provocative. Check our Catalog



As is typical in most autobiographies, Gregg Allman tries to put the best spin on years of bad behavior.  Of course he's been married 6 or 7 times, but it was never his idea.  He's just a pawn in the game, man.   Too drunk and drugged up to participate in his own life, he presents himself as so passive that it's a miracle he could write a song on his own or tour with the band.  Written in conversational style, the book is filled with entertaining side notes, such as his belief that the Grateful Dead had fans because they dosed them with acid.  He also asserts that he got hepatitis C from unregulated tattooing rather than years of intravenous heroin use.  He delves somewhat into the bad blood between some of the Allman Brothers band members, especially Dickey Betts and, of course, the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley.  I felt that there was a lot more to tell when I was finished with this book. Check Our Catalog

Ray Bradbury passed away on Tuesday June 5th, 2012 and a light has gone out in the Universe.  To say that I was a fan of Bradbury's doesn't seem enough.  He inspired me.  I was introduced to Bradbury in my teens.  I was looking for something to read and while rifling through my mother's bookshelf, I came across a worn paperback.  On the cover, was a naked man sitting on a scaffold with his back to the audience.  He was completely covered from the neck down in tattoos (pardon me, illustrations).  The was The Illustrated Man.  Sixteen stories each told as the illustrations on this man's body come to life and predict the future.  Bradbury wrote like a fine artist paints.  His words flow and envelop you, lifting you up into the story being told.  For teens (adults too), I recommend The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes.  As a librarian, I shiver at the thought of the future presented in Bradbury's masterpiece Fahrenheit 451.  I won't spoil it for you but think for a minute, if you had only one book to preserve for the rest of your life, what would it be?

We first meet the orphan Pip as a young boy living with his harridan of an older sister and her saintly blacksmith husband, Joe. After Pip is drawn into the bizarre household of the wealthy and spiteful spinster Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter, Estella, his life and future prospects begin to shift. When "great expectations" of future wealth come upon him from an anonymous source, he leaves behind his humble roots and goes to London to become a gentleman. The twists and turns of Pip's story of crime, social class and ambition, with the many colorful friends and foes he encounters along the way, will keep you engrossed right up to the somewhat ambiguous ending. The recent three-part BBC dramatization of Great Expectations hews reasonably close to the story's main characters and themes but inevitably cannot do justice to the richness of Dickens' story. Check Our Catalog

Diane Keaton's memoir is far from being a Hollywood tell-all. While she does talk about certain films and boyfriends (Annie Hall and Woody Allen, Reds and Warren Beatty, The Godfather trilogy and Al Pacino), the heart of the story is her mother and Alzheimer's, her decision to adopt at age 50 and her lifelong struggle with self-confidence. Portions of her mother's 85 journals are juxtaposed with Diane's own story, and the book includes photos of Diane and family, as well as scanned images from her mother's journals. Fans of Keaton will like the book, but anyone, particularly women, who've love, lost and /or felt less than pretty, will find this book charming. Check Our Catalog

John Cheever was born in Quincy 100 years ago this month (on May 27, 1912). Sometimes called the "Chekhov of the suburbs", Cheever was lauded for his fiction, especially his short stories. He won many prestigious awards during his career, including a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Discover for yourself why Cheever's work mattered. Sample one of his short stories (try "The Enormous Radio," "Goodbye, My Brother," "The Five-Forty-Eight," "The Country Husband," or "The Swimmer") or his novel The Wapshot Chronicle if you're more ambitious.  Check Our Catalog

South Shore resident and prominent historian of Boston, Thomas O'Connor died at home on Sunday.  O'Connor, a retired Boston College history professor, had written numerous books about the history of Boston and the people who live there.  Originally from South Boston, several of his books focused on the history of Boston Catholics, the Irish community and Southie. Learn more about Boston's rich history, from one of its greatest historians.  Check Our Catalog

The final book of the Bible is a strange and violent tour de force of apocalyptic imagery. Full of dragons and angels, blood and war, Revelation presents the prophecies of divine judgment on the enemies of God. Who wrote this volume? Why? What do the visions mean? What is revelation? In this slim, well-written and researched volume, Pagels, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern religious literature (check out her award-winning Gnostic Gospels), patiently guides us through the provenance of this 2000 old year example of “wartime literature.” Revelation condemns pagan Rome. But its author, John of Patmos, also has an axe to grind with followers of Jesus living in towns in what is now western Turkey who have strayed dangerously close to heresy. Pagels surveys other “revelations” and explores the reasons why John’s book found its place in the canon. Wide-ranging and stimulating. Check our catalog.



As an adolescent, Billy Abbott was preoccupied with having crushes on the wrong people: a lusty librarian, his stepfather, the wrestling star at his all-boys prep school. John Irving's newest novel, In One Person, is narrated by adult Billy as he looks back on life and shares the details of past relationships and sexual encounters, the books he read, the places he traveled, and tender moments and conflicts between his family members. Fans of Irving will find the usual subjects--wrestling, New England, writers and sex--but also another good story with likeable, and very human, characters. Check Our Catalog