What We're Reading

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them
by Donovan Hohn (551.462 H)

Let’s say you go to the beach, and for the heck of it throw a rubber duck into the ocean. Or thousands, why not? What happens next? Where does the current take them? Could you track them? These are the questions Hohn set out to answer, and his travels take him from a beautiful remote Alaskan peninsula to the heart of a Chinese toy factory, back and forth across the Pacific. A recommended read for fans of Bill Bryson, or anyone who loves wide-ranging social histories.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: 40 new fairy tales
edited by Kate Bernheimer (813.54 MY)

Featuring authors like Joyce Carol Oates, Shelley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, and more, dip into this book of “new” fairy tales (most were inspired / influenced by the themes of traditional tales) to give you something to take the edge off that Harry Potter craving. Be warned, though-- these stories feature adult themes, and are quite a bit darker than your average Disneyesque adaptation.

The Mind’s Eye
Oliver Sacks (616.855 S)

What is it like, to be able to write, to play music, to comprehend individual letters...yet be unable to read? Or to be unable to recognize faces, no matter how familiar? Or to walk down a sidewalk outside one’s home, knowing a wrong turn means being impossibly lost...even after living at the same address for years? Oliver Sacks writes about people with each of these conditions with humor and insight. On being face-blind: “To me, she says, “Don’t just say no-- that’s rude and will upset people. Say, ‘I’m sorry, I am awful about recognizing people. I wouldn’t recognize my own mother.’” This is an exaggeration-- I had no trouble recognizing my parents, though I was less adept with my huge extended family.”

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: popularity, quirk theory, and why outsiders thrive after high school
Alexandra Robbins (303.324 R)

This is one of those books that everyone is talking about. Robbins’ basic theme is that many teens who feel excluded, lonely, and isolated in late middle school and high school are, paradoxically, the ones most likely to be successful later in life. In addition, she follows up the details of her study by following six teens-- given “themed” titles like “The Band Geek”-- through a year of high school, showing through interviews and stories how the traits that we would identify as “interesting” and “likable” in adults actually lead to alienation in the extremely cliquish social environment of grades 7 -12. This title is being billed as “invaluable” for teachers, schools administrators, and anyone else who works or lives with someone in this teenage Twilight Zone.

All of these titles are available at the UCC Library for your reading pleasure!

Something Fishy in the Library

Some visitors to the library just look like a fish out of water.


This one swam all the way across the library looking for a friendly face, mistaking the library director's office for a fishbowl.















Before we could reel it in offer it help it started surfing the reference books.

Lucky for us, Dr. Moore, the Vice President of Student Development and Lavera from Admissions arrived on the scene to informally grill interview the creature to find out if it was trying to become a meal student in the Culinary Arts Program or what.






























That's when it floated over to Amy who thoughtfully offered it a Reserve book, "Becoming a Master Student", and it happily took the bait book and swam off to study.


We assume it wants to transfer to our school.

Summer Grill & Wine

Would you like some cheese with that wine? How about some barbecue? Something about the summer months invites us to spend more time outside taking advantage of the great weather, tasty fresh ingredients, and longer days-- all things wine tasting and grilling are made for!

Maybe you're a grilling neophyte or a certified wine-tasting expert-- there's something for every pallet in the UCC Library's cookbook collection.

A little bit of wine, a little bit of food, and some light conversation

What to Drink with What You Eat
This helpful volume will help you decide everything from the best beverage to go with truffles to the perfect food to serve with the soda at your summer barbecue. Also great for sparking conversations: "Wine with pizza? Really?!"


The Vintner's Kitchen: celebrating the wines of Oregon
Have you ever noticed the Avocado Crostini in the photos for Rustle-Prayer Rock Vineyard while waiting for a movie to start at the cinema? Thought it looked good? Now you can learn how to make it-- and which wine goes best with it. Fruit salads, entrees, wine punches, pasta and barbecue-- this cookbook has a little of everything, and many of the recipes are from the Umpqua area.


Serious Barbecue: smoke, char, baste, & brush your way to great outdoor cooking
Adam Perry Lang studied under several culinary internships before deciding what he really wanted to do was cook things with fire-- and here he is to help you do it, too.


Perfect Pairings: a master sommelier's practical advice for partnering wine with food
Evan Goldstein provides details on the major types of wine as well as menus and recipes for food to accompany each variety. Specific labels are suggested after each recipe, and the index in the back lets you look up both "food by wine type" and "wines by food being served."


Quirky Histories

Cooking with Shakespeare
If you're heading out to the theater or down to Ashland, you're bound to work up an appetite. This historical cookbook covers what food was like in Shakespeare's time, including original recipes with modern adaptations, each with a difficulty scale.


The Texas Cowboy Cookbook
Combine grilling with history-- and savor some of the Old West in your own kitchen or backyard with this collection of cowboy meals from the 1800s through the present. Hint: it helps if you like beans.


What I Eat: around the world in 80 diets

This isn't a cookbook, exactly, but if your travel budget is stretched thin and you'd like to experience the world through food, this might be just the ticket. Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio photograph and document a typical day's worth of food for individuals around the world, from a Bangladeshi child working as a train station porter to the manager of a high-rise eatery in Canada to a sustainable farmer in Virginia. Even more interesting-- calorie counts and meal lists are provided, as well as a brief snapshot of each person's "daily routine."

Documentaries to Check Out

The next time that you are wondering what do to with some of your free time, you may want to consider checking out a documentary from the library collection. Documentaries are a wonderful way to learn about other cultures and different ways of life. They also offer the possibility of stimulating discussions. The UCC library has a wide selection of documentaries on various topics, so you are sure to find something that interests you.

If the darker side of sports is something that you would like to learn more about, then check out Blood Equity. Produced by Roman Phifer, former Denver Broncos coach, this film explores the lives of professional football players after retirement. Football enthusiasts will enjoy interviews from players like Willie Wood, Donnie Green, Daryl "Moose" Johnston, and Mike Ditka. Even those who don't follow football closely will be interested in the irony of the struggles that former NFL players face against the NFL Player's Union.

The struggles that same-sex couples face in the United States is documented in Pursuit of Equality. This culturally relevant documentary may appeal to you. The film centers around same-sex marriages that took place in San Francisco in 2004. You don't want to miss this controversial, award winning film that deals with current issues that our country faces.

If global issues are more appealing to you, then Burma VJ may be an appropriate selection. Featuring partially reconstructed and smuggled film, this documentary takes you to restricted areas to follows the uprisings against the Burmese military that took place in September of 2007.

These are just a few of the documentaries that are available at the UCC library. So try to find one that engrosses you, and you may be able to learn a few things without even leaving your sofa!

Extended Library Hours May 27 - June 4

(Now you're thinking....with portals!)

It's that time again! The end of the term is upon us, and that means finals are right around the corner. Join us for extended hours at the library to get your study on! Here is the schedule in full:

• Friday, May 27th : Open 7:30am - 6pm

• Saturday, May 28th & Monday, May 30th : Closed for Memorial Day

• Tuesday - Thursday, May 31 - June 2nd : 7:30am - 9pm

• Friday, June 3rd : 7:30am - 6pm

• Saturday, June 4th : 11 am- 7 pm (ASUCC Study-In)

Good luck!

Where the fantastic is normal...

What do we do when the doors of our house open up to an entirely different place, when long-passed relatives visit to give us relationship advice, and when it starts raining cats and dogs...literally?

Well, you and I might find it strange and amazing, but these sorts of events are the everyday bread-and-butter of magical realism.

Magical realism is "a style of literature which integrates a realist mode of writing with fantastical or marvelous events treated as perfectly ordinary occurrences" (A Dictionary of Critical Theory).

And visiting someplace else that is almost (but not quite) like here can be a fun literary vacation. We have a number of great finds related to magical realism at the library, so let's get started!

Films (descriptions from IMDb)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
[UCC Library DVD 791.43 P]

"In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world."



Volver (2006)
[UCC Library DVD 791.43 V]
"After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life."



Amélie (2001)
[UCC Library DVD 791.43 A]
"Amelie, an innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love."



Books


Kafka on the Shore (2005)
[UCC Library stacks 895.635 Murakami M]

"The black cat slowly stretched out a leg, then it narrowed its eyes and gave the old man another good long look.

With a big grin on his face, the man stared right back. The cat hesitated for a time, then plunged ahead and spoke. 'Hmm...so you're able to speak.'

'That's right,' said the old man bashfully. To show his respect, he took off his threadbare cotton hiking hat. 'Not that I can speak to every cat I meet, but if things go well I can. Like right now.'

'Interesting,' the cat said simply" (43).



One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)
[UCC Library stacks 863 Garcia G]

Garcia Marquez tells the story of Macondo, a town frequented by gypsies and found by following birdsong, and the Buendia family over the course of generations. Garcia Marquez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, and this novel is often cited as the classic example of magical realism.




American Gods (2001)
[Douglas Co. Libraries, Roseburg: SF Gai]
(You can have this novel sent to UCC by placing a hold!)

Shadow has just been released from prison, and all he wants is to get back to a normal life. But he has a problem-- all through America's history, immigrants have been bringing their stories with them to the new country-- Odin, Spider, Leprechauns and all the rest-- and now Shadow is caught in a war between the old myths and the new.

French Invasion

French 103 students challenge UCC students to test their knowledge of the French culture with games.

French Trivia stumped most of the players, but ooh la la, many students excelled at defining the French expressions we use in English.

The Name Game asked if you could recognize famous French people. Noteworthy was Pepe Le Pew’s popularity.

An encore performance of the game table will take place on Thursday from noon to 1:00 in the Cafeteria. Come and test your French IQ.