Book: The News From Spain

Author: Joan Wickersham

Reviewer: Dr. Angela Wiseman, Assistant Professor, Elementary Education

This book features seven short stories that focus on love and relationships among very different kinds of people at different times in history (in fact, two of the stories are based on prominent historical figures).  The one strand that connects these stories together is that a phrase “the news from Spain” that emerges in each story.  By using vivid descriptions, realistic characters, and true to life relationship contexts, I found myself drawn into complex and insightful stories.

Book: More Ghost Stories
Author: M. R. James
Reviewer: Robert St. Amant, Associate Professor, Computer Science

This collection contains one of my favorite stories of the supernatural, “Casting the Runes.” It begins with letters of regret to a Mr. Karswell, who responds badly to the rejection of his work on alchemy… In this collection, published exactly 100 years ago, the stories have an atmosphere perfectly suited to the events: “So he put his hand into the well-known nook under the pillow: only, it did not get so far. What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth.”