The lives of immigrants are fueled by a combustible mix of success and alienation. In his new work, A Russian Immigrant: Three Novellas (Cherry Orchard Books, 2019), Boston College Professor Maxim D. Shrayer captures those feelings in the story of Simon Reznikov, a Boston-based immigrant whose Russian, Jewish, and Soviet identities are explored in three interconnected novellas that span time and place. According to the publisher, in Shrayer’s “literary manifesto of Russian Jews in America” there are “vectors of love and desire, nostalgia and amnesia, violence and forgiveness, politics and aesthetics guiding his immigrant characters while also disorienting them in their new American lives.” Read an excerpt from A Russian Immigrant in The Tablet.
A Russian Immigrant
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged immigration, Jewish, Russia, Slavic and Eastern Languages Dept
Leave a comment
A Flicker of Hope
Boston College alumnus Chuck Abdella concludes his fantasy book series with A Flicker of Hope. In the Outcasts series’ fourth book, the heroes find themselves questioning whether the world is even worth saving and facing doubt about themselves and each other. But, according to the publisher, “the power of friendship endures. For beneath an ocean of darkness, there is always a flicker of hope.” When he is not writing, Abdella is teaching history at St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Mass.
The Master Plan
This summer, the Boston College Class of 2023 has been reading The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House, 2019) by Chris Wilson, with Bret Witter. Wilson grew up in violent circumstances and was sentenced to life in prison for first degree murder. In prison, he got his diploma, earned an associate’s degree, and read hundreds of books. He focused on self-improvement and developed a “master plan” to turn his life around, and if he ever got out of prison, develop a business and help others. Listen to Wilson talk about his book on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” Wilson will speak to the Class of 2023 at First Year Academic Convocation on Sept. 5. Learn more about BC’s tradition of the common read for first-year students and convocation in this video.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged First Year Academic Convocation, prison, redemption, violence
Leave a comment
Searching for home
The thread running through Michael Brendan Dougherty’s book My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Son’s Search for Home (Sentinel/Penguin Random House, 2019) is the author’s spiritual development, which culminates in the discovery of his own vocation as a father. Boston College Philosophy Department faculty member Santiago Ramos, who received his doctorate from BC, reviews Dougherty’s book for Commonweal magazine.
Posted in Boston College Book Reviewer
Tagged Ireland, memoir, Philosophy Department
Leave a comment
Portraits of the American West
Frank Bergon, a novelist, critic, and essayist who grew up on a ranch in California’s San Joaquin Valley, brings his intimate knowledge of the area and writing talents together in his new book, Two-Buck Chuck & The Marlboro Man: The New Old West (University of Nevada Press, 2019). Bergon’s book is a collection of essays about real-life figures from the American West, a diverse area of ethnicities and lives that straddle the Old West and 21st century realities. Their stories are often unheard and their region of the country often misunderstood. Bergon is a Boston College alumnus who has taught at the University of Washington and Vassar College and is a member of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. His other books include Jesse’s Ghost, Shoshone Mike, and Wild Game.
The tale of Arthur the Theologian
Arthur the Theologian and his encounter with Burns Library’s copy of the Douai Bible, the first Modern English bible, gained some modest fame in 2013 thanks to a post in the Burns Library’s blog. Arthur the Theologian returned to the spotlight this summer when artwork from Burns Library Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard was featured in the Annual Print and Paper Exchange exhibit from the New England Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. Hebard’s whimsical collage, titled “A Transformed Arthur the Theologian is greeted by St. Peter at the Gate of Heaven,” brings the tale of Arthur the Theologian to its conclusion.
Amy Lynch mysteries
Paula Kane Norton, a Boston College alumna who worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years, has tapped into that experience to create the character of Amy Lynch, an investigator for New England Casualty and Indemnity and star of Norton’s series of mystery novels. Writing under the name P.K. Norton, the BC grad has published her latest Amy Lynch mystery, titled Deep Secrets (Stillwater River Publications, 2019), which has Amy looking into the circumstances that put her friend Tom Griffin into a coma and a possible connection to a top-secret government project. Norton is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Cape Cod Writers Center.
Zyratron
Zyratron is the main character in a series of sub-par black & white horror movies from the 1960s. The film’s producers tried to market a line of Zyratron figurines that went nowhere. Decades later, television studios desperate for programming broadcast the Zyratron films in the middle of the night. Soon a small but dedicated following grows and the Zyratron figurines become valuable collectibles. So valuable, that someone is willing to kill for them. That’s the premise of The Zyratron Affair, a mystery novel written by Boston College graduate Joe Nowlan. Nowlan is an author and freelance business writer and editor. His previous novel is Media Blitz.
Wounded healer
For nearly 50 years, Boston College graduate Edward Smink has worked as a caregiver in multiple healthcare and leadership roles. He also has experienced compassion fatigue and burnout. Smink has tapped into these experiences for his book, The Soul of Caregiving: A Caregiver’s Guide to Healing and Transformation. Smink’s goal is to share his insights and wisdom with other caregivers. “I learned the hard way in setting appropriate boundaries and the need for self-care,” he writes on his website. “Through the compassion of a skillful counselor, I soon learned how to build the skills of compassion resilience. The ancients of old would call me a wounded healer. I like that because it reminds me of not only my skills as a caregiver, but also that I as a caregiver have limitations. I learned that understanding my own woundedness helps me to be hospitable to the woundedness of another.”
Gore in the Garden
Colleen Shogan‘s mystery series featuring Congressional staffer and amateur sleuth Kit Marshall continues with Gore in the Garden (Epicenter Press, 2019). A high-ranking government official is found at the United States Botanic Garden, and Marshall is asked to investigate. According to Shogan, “The search for the killer requires [Kit] to tussle with an investigative journalist right out of a noir novel, a congresswoman fixated on getting a statue of James Madison installed on the Capitol grounds, and a bossy botanist who would do anything to protect the plants he loves.” Shogan, who works at the Library of Congress, is a graduate of Boston College. Gore in the Garden is book #5 in her Washington Whodunit series.
BC Bookmarks 