2019 Senior Books

Book Selection

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

About the Selection

I chose Madeline because it was one of my favorite books to check out from the public library growing up. The Madeline books still have a special place in my heart; the stories are charming and the illustrations are beautiful.

Library Employment

3 years (and 2 summers!)

On Working in the Library

I have really appreciated the community I have become apart of while working at the library. I will definitely miss getting to spend time with such fun people but I’m excited to continue working in libraries in the future.

Book Selection

Eleanor, Or, The Rejection of the Progress of Love by Anna Moschovakis

About the Selection

This summer as I was gearing up to write a novel for my capstone, and I reviewed this book for Rain Taxi Review of Books. As I was reading it, the voice of this female narrator just gave me the permission I needed to write the kind of character I had always had sitting in my head.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I love the other student workers–the library has always been a fun, warm place to be. Thanks folks!

Book Selection

How to Set a Fire and Why? by Jesse Ball

About the Selection

Unreliable narrator? Check. Arson? You bet! Secret high school anarchist cell? It’s there. So basically what isn’t there to like?

“Someone told me they read in a book that a scientist saw a chimpanzee using sign language on a tree. Apparently the chimpanzee had learned sign language, and then it decided to use the sign language—and it used it on a tree. The amazing thing is, the story ends there. They made the chimp use it with researchers and such—no sign language with trees. I am completely against this sort of thing, and not because I think trees talk or anything—don’t worry, I am very clear-sighted. But still, I bet—you let this chimp talk to the trees and a decade later, well, you don’t know what happens, but that’s the point.”

Library Employment

3-and-a-half years

On Working in the Library

Honestly there’s so much. I think my favorite part was all the amazing people I got the please to meet and work with. I loved having the opportunity to work on special projects. I loved summer trivia. One of my favorite memories was probably getting Michael to email Combos’s (the snack food’s) corporate office requesting a custom flavor for the re-opening of the second floor. For those curious, they told us they would make us a custom flavor if we’d commit to purchase an absurd quantity of Combos.

Book Selection

Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow by Rainbow Rowell

About the Selection

I wrote my first research paper on this book when I was a first year. It’s a fascinating take on the Chosen One trope, and more importantly it’s got gay vampires.

Library Employment

1 year

On Working in the Library

You learn so many cool things about the college!

Book Selection

When Women Were Birds: Fifty Four Variations on Voice by Terry Tempest Williams

About the Selection

Terry Tempest Williams is one of my favorite authors. She writes passionately about the protection and conservation of the landscapes of her home state, Utah. I appreciate that she writes from her personal experiences and is deeply place-based (the geography major in me loves this so much).

When Women Were Birds is a poetic memoir on womanhood, loss, and Utah. Williams meditates on what it means to be a woman and to have a voice, and to choose to speak out (or not). I found the book at a stormy chapter of my life, and appreciated that Williams wasn’t afraid to approach the low lows and the high highs, sometimes within the same brief chapter. Williams seamlessly weaves together love, the land, what it is to be a woman, and her Mormon upbringing, in a way that has empowered me to also think about my multiple identities are interwoven. I hope to carry this with me forever.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I have loved working upstairs in the Library Office! It has been so much fun collaborating on projects with my student coworkers and library staff members. I have enjoyed the variety of work in our office, ranging from coordinating space reservations to tracking library budget expenses to laying out the open access journal HIMALAYA. Every shift was different but it all felt meaningful. I’m grateful to have been part of the library community for four years – thanks to all whose paths I crossed.

Book Selection

Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal

About the Selection

I enjoyed the graphic novel format and thought it was a funny and inclusive perspective on what the world might be like if there were no men

Library Employment

3 years

On Working in the Library

I loved the relationships and connections I’ve built with coworkers and seeing books pass through the circulation desk to add to my reading list

Book Selection

A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin

About the Selection

As an English major, I sometimes get so caught up in assigned reading that I forget to read for fun. These short stories are so perceptive, and just right to fit into a busy schedule.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

The sense of community! The library is full of friendly staff members and coworkers who have made working here an especially bright part of my time at Macalester.

Book Selection

Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over The World by Anne Jamison

About the Selection

I love that this book treats fanfictions as legitimate sources of culture and ways of examining how information and storytelling are developing because of the Internet. It also contextualizes how fanfiction has grown from the past and questions exactly what the difference between stories created by fans and stories that are legitimized through consumer culture are.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I love the conversations that we have at the library. We talk about the weirdest things in between shelving and helping patrons. Everyone here is really friendly and chill. I just really like the atmosphere at the library.

Book Selection

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

About the Selection

A friend recommended Good Omens to me over the summer and it was so interesting I read the whole book in one 7 hour sitting. Not really sure what better endorsement I can give than “it made me forget to eat.” I also enjoyed the message I took from the book; it was dryly funny but sincere, it wasn’t obscure for the sake of it but also trusted and expected the audience to intelligently engage, it was fun.

Library Employment

2.5 years (no really)

On Working in the Library

There really isn’t anything better than mid-afternoon shifts on Wednesday and Thursday. And I’ve had a ton of fun making unnecessarily tall stacks of books during finals, talking about non-feathered bipeds, and generally talking nonsense since my first year at Macalester.

Book Selection

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

About the Selection

This is one of the many amazing books I discovered while working at the library. The cover caught my eye and then I ended up reading through my shift because I couldn’t put the book down! I chose this book because the author draws on her own experiences as a trans woman which makes the story very powerful, and she made the decision to write a hopeful rather than pessimistic ending.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I love getting to see behind the scenes and feeling like I’m a part of the inner workings of the library system. Coming into work always gives me a break from thinking about academics and I really enjoy putting labels on books and working in the stacks when we are weeding. Working in the library has also made me appreciate all that libraries have to offer (for free!) and has showed me that I could work at a library after graduation.

Book Selection

A tree grows in Brooklyn, a novel by Betty Smith

About the Selection

A tree grows in Brooklyn tells a story from a perspective of a young girl who grew up in a poor family in Brooklyn, but managed to overcome the challenges that stemmed from her circumstance. The author brought to life the main character as she describes the little intricate details of everyday that I as a young adult has paid little attention to. These little details made me reminisce on my life as a child and made me appreciate the simple things in life.

Library Employment

2.5 years

On Working in the Library

I enjoyed sorting and shelving books because it’s a simple activity that allowed me to de-stress from the hectic college life and it’s a great way to find new books that I would otherwise have never try to seek out.

Book Selection

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

About the Selection

The first time I read this book I thought about it for weeks afterward. It is based around true historical events and I learned so much history from it while also being touched by the beautiful storytelling and dynamic characters.

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I have loved being able to work with and learn from so many amazing people, and the strong sense of community that comes with working in the library.

Book Selection

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

About the Selection

When I came to college, I stopped reading for pleasure, which was really sad. A good friend of mine bought this book for me before I went abroad, and I never got to read it. Recently, over Christmas break, I finally got to read it, and it really reminded me of why I used to love reading. I didn’t put the book down until I was done! Since then I have read several books for the first time in a while.

If you love fantasy, this book is great!

Library Employment

4 years

On Working in the Library

I love the community. All the supervisors are really nice, and I love all the events we have every semester (like the potluck). Working at the library has been one of the best parts of my college experience!