Lost in the Stacks

Excavations is a novel by Kate Myers about four women working at an archaeological site in Greece, which was supposed to have been the home of the ancient Olympic Games before they moved to Olympia. The women all have very different personalities, and at first, they don’t get along, with two of them actively disliking each other, but when they find an artifact that might change history, they must work together against the egotistical, male chauvinist professor who oversees the dig. It is a highly entertaining novel which, according to rumor, is being made into a TV series.

Whip Hand is an award-winning thriller by Dick Francis, about Sid Halley, a jockey who lost a hand after a horse fell on him during a race. He has become a private detective, and in this book he investigates what happened to three horses who were champions, then suddenly failed. He also searches for the con artist who drew Sid's ex-wife into a scam, leaving her to take the blame. She will go to jail for fraud unless he clears her name. Francis, a former jockey, knew the horse racing world extremely well, and it shows in this excellent novel.

The Song of Achilles is Madeline Miller's beautifully written retelling of the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus, Achilles' companion and, in this version of the story, lover. Miller writes about the two boys' childhood, their early training by a centaur, and the events that brought them to Troy. She also has much to say about how war changes people. It is a wonderful novel, and will stay in your mind for a long time.

July is disability pride month, honoring the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This month we'll learn a little bit about what disability is, what disability pride means, and the historical and contemporary importance of the ADA--plus recommendations for further reading!

Dive into pride month with fiction and non-fiction books that explore the varied experiences of LGBTQ+ people! Each of these titles is available online through the University of Michigan library catalog.

Hera is author Jennifer Saint's retelling of the story of an often-vilified figure from Greek mythology: Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods on Mount Olympus. Hera is usually depicted in mythology as jealous and vengeful, especially toward Zeus' many lovers and their offspring. We see this side of her in Saint's novel, but we also see the reasons why Hera acts as she does. In the novel, she comes across as, if not a sympathetic character, certainly a complex, multi-layered one, and we also see a more admirable side to her.

Reykjavík by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir is a cold-case mystery novel set in the Icelandic capital in 1986. When a teenage girl goes missing in 1956, the police fail to find her, dead or alive. Thirty years later, her disappearance has become Iceland's most famous closed case. A young reporter and his sister decide to find out what happened to her. Their search will put them in danger.

This is a study of life at three convents in Renaissance Italy, in three different cities--Venice, Florence, and Rome--seen through the eyes of the nuns who wrote chronicles, or histories, of their convents. Author K.J.P. Lowe discusses how the chroniclers were looked down on by male historians over the years, while their chronicles actually provided valuable information about their convents. It is an excellent read for Women's History Month.

March is Women's History month. I created a display in the Shapiro Lobby highlighting books in our collection about and by trans women. To avoid leaving trans men of the conversation, I created this paired blog post with some of the books by and about trans men in our collection.

Ithaca is the first of a trilogy of feminist retellings of The Odyssey, focusing on Odysseus' wife Penelope. She is presented as a strong ruler of the island kingdom of Ithaca during her husband's absence. When the island is attacked by pirates, Penelope organizes an army of women to fight them. At the same time, she has to put up with her many suitors and her sulky teenage son Telemachus.