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Book Reviews by LTCC Library Staff
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Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar by Thomas
Cathcart and Daniel
Klein
Reading
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar… is like
taking a philosophy survey course team-taught by a couple of zany
professors. This slim volume is broken down into the typical
philosophical categories: i.e., metaphysics, logic, ethics, etc., but it will break
you up because all the principles are illustrated by jokes.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
The latest novel from one of America’s brightest rising literary stars. The book is sort of a noir Sam Spadestein gumshoe detective Alaskan murder mystery alternative-history Jewish-identity chess thriller. No, really.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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1491 by Charles C. Mann
A fascinating look at the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Offers new insights into when they got here, how they lived, and just how many of them there were.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Falling Man By Don DeLillo
The amazingly prophetic Don DeLillo puts politics aside in his new novel, and instead concentrates on the real on-the-ground emotional trauma New Yorkers experienced in the wake of the September 11th attacks. It’s the best account yet of the lasting effects of that deadly day.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Talk to the Hand, by Lynne Truss
The same author who wrote the entertaining book on grammar, “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves,” takes on many modern incivilities and explores their source.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri
In her Pulitzer prize-winning novel, Lahiri chronicles an immigrant Indian family, and the difficult realities they face while trying to fit into their newly adopted country. Lahiri’s easily approachable style is a joy to read.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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The Dream of Scipio, by Iain Pears
When one’s country slides towards barbarism, should a person give in or try to shore up civilization? This dilemma is personified by people in three different eras—ancient Rome, 13th century Europe, and WWII France.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Feasting the Heart, by Reynolds Price
Fifty-two short essays he prepared for his radio show. A master of clarity and lyrical wit, he balances each offering with an equal measure of head and heart.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Dragon Bones, by Lisa See
Archaeology, stolen artifacts, and a religious cult all figure in this mystery set around the building of the Three Gorges Dam in China today.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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Kiln People, by David Brin
In the future, this science fiction presents, people will have the ability to form temporary clones of themselves to work, play, and everything else, and download the experience to the original person.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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The Songs of the Kings, by Barry Unsworth.
Unsworth lays out the events just before the Greeks set sail for the Trojan War in a modern retelling that emphasizes the inner motivations of all involved.
Read a review by a library staffmember. |
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