Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library

Posted by Nancy Berkowitz at 1:55 PM | Permalink

More a brief synopsis than review, let me highlight two great reads --- perhaps for your intersession enjoyment?!

Both books are available in the Tower Reading Room: A Guide to the Birds of East Africa and The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood.

Also, there's a complimentary book in the Stacks entitled Exporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey written by USC Professor of Law, History and Political Science, Mary Dudziak.

Synopsis follows:

Continue reading "Books for the Break" »

Posted by Dumin, Beatrice Lewin (Library) at 1:51 PM | Permalink

• The Little Book by Selden Edwards (Chicago Tribune review: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-selden-edwards-16aug16,0,7604778.story)
• The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee (Christian Science Monitor review: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0318/p14s01-bogn.html)
• Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/books/review/Johnson-G-t.html)
• Fidelity: Poems by Grace Paley (Los Angeles Times review: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/23/books/bk-reynolds23)
• Pitch Perfect by Mickey Rapkin (Slate.com: http://www.slate.com/id/2195204/)
• Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (Newsweek review: http://www.newsweek.com/id/158581)
• Indignation by Philip Roth (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/books/review/Gates-t.html)
• Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/books/review/Baker-t.html)
• The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008 by Bob Woodward (Los Angeles Times review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-rutten10-2008sep10,0,1049807.story)
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski (Chicago Tribune review: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/booksmags/chi-the-story-of-edgar-14jun14,0,2081358.story)

Posted by June Kim at 3:29 PM | Permalink

The Law Library recently purchased a copy of Daoud Hari’s The Translator: A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur.

Do you remember the news story about an American reporter, Paul Salopek, accused of espionage and jailed by the Sudanese Government two years ago, while in the Darfur region on assignment for National Geographic? This book is written by the Zaghawa tribesman who was his translator, Daoud Hari.

Although Hari relates the events surrounding his association with Salopek, he does so within the much broader scope of events that informed his own youth and young adult life, his family’s history and current situation, the destruction of his village, the devastation of his people and the region. Through his simple, clear voice he places before you, his “reader friend,” the questions that the genocide in Darfur raises concerning the application of justice within the global community. (You will find a copy of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the back of the book).

Some of what Hari writes is extremely difficult to read, much less imagine as reality, because so horrific . At one point, as he speaks to children in his sister’s village, the smallest detail brought his images oddly back home:

                “Tell me what happened,” I asked the eldest boy, who was perhaps fourteen and would surely be among the resistance troops in a few days or weeks. He was wearing torn jeans and a shredded UCLA sweatshirt that probably had come through the marketplaces from Algeria to El Fasher, having first been donated years ago in the United States.” (p40) 

Continue reading "New Book in the Tower Reading Room - Short Review" »

Posted by Dumin, Beatrice Lewin (Library) at 1:36 PM | Permalink

Saturday, September 27 kicks off the 27th anniversary of the American Library Association's Banned Books Week. Since 1982, the ALA has helped to organize events throughout the United States to celebrate our freedom to read and to express our opinions, however "unorthodox" or "unpopular" they may be.

According to the ALA, the most challenged book in 2007 was Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's award-winning And Tango Makes Three, a children's book based upon a true story about two male penguins in New York's Central Park Zoo who cared for an orphaned egg. A book is "challenged" when a library or school receives a formal complaint requesting that a book be removed from the library or school's curriculum and bookshelves because of its content or "inappropriateness." Please click here for a list of the ten most challenged books in 2007. A list of the 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000 may be found here. 

For a list of events and suggestions for ways you can celebrate our freedom to read and to express ourselves, please visit this page of the ALA's website or check out some of the local events listed here.

Posted by Vicki Steiner (Library) at 12:07 PM | Permalink

• City of Thieves by David Benioff (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/books/review/Fishman-t.html)
• Summer Blowout by Claire Cook (Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Blowout-Claire-Cook/dp/1401322417)
• Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin (Entertainment Weekly review: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20198689,00.html)
• Gadget Nation by Steve Greenberg (Publishers Weekly review (scroll down): http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6561628.html)
• The Story of a Marriage: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/books/review/Scarf-t.html)
• The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/books/review/Schine-t.html)
• Claim of Privilege: A Mysterious Plane Crash, a Landmark Supreme Court Case, and the Rise of State Secrets by Barry Siegel (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/books/02liptak.html)
• Armageddon in Retrospect and Other New and Unpublished Writings on War and Peace by Kurt Vonnegut (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/books/review/Blount-t.html)
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-wroblewski13-2008jul13,0,6790584.story)

Posted by June Kim at 4:27 PM | Permalink

The library has received the following books:

• America America: A Novel by Ethan Canin (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-canin22-2008jun22,0,7022861.story)
• The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price (New York Times book review: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/books/review/Hirschorn-t.html?fta=y)
• The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/books/review/Gates-t.html)

The books are currently on book stands in the Tower Reading Room.

Posted by June Kim at 5:35 PM | Permalink

The library has recently received the following books:

• The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/books/review/Barcott-t.html)
• The Finder by Colin Harrison (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/books/review/Hamill-t.html)
• The Soloist by Steve Lopez (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book21apr21,0,4689884.story)
• Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver (Excerpt: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24263513/)

UCLAW students, faculty and staff may find the books on stands in the Tower Reading Room.

Posted by June Kim at 2:20 PM | Permalink

In addition to the five titles listed in the blog entry below, the library has also received the following books:

• The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine (Seattle Times book review: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2004399036_hakawati11.html)
• Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (Entertainment Weekly book review: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20188298,00.html)

UCLAW students, faculty and staff may find the books on stands in the Tower Reading Room.

Posted by June Kim at 12:42 PM | Permalink

The following Tower Reading Room (TRR) books are available for check-out:

• A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer (Times Online review: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article3592525.ece)
• The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman (The Economist Online review: http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11043843)
• Amalia's Tale: A Poor Peasant, an Ambitious Attorney, and a Fight for Justice by David I. Kertzer (Washington Post Book World review, Sunday, March 2, 2008; page BW15: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022803430.html)
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . .  One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (USA Today book review: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-12-19-three-cups_N.htm)
• Translucent Tree by Nobuko Takagi (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-discoveries13apr13,0,6542402.story)

They are now on book stands in the Tower Reading Room. Please note that only UCLAW students, faculty and staff may borrow books from the TRR collection.

Posted by June Kim at 10:54 AM | Permalink

The library has recently purchased the following books:

• Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/books/review/Brockes-t.html)
• The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild by Craig Childs (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book18dec18,1,1257909.story)
• The Gathering by Anne Enright (Los Angeles Times book review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-rutten3oct03,1,3363241.story)
• The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/books/review/Morris-t.html)
• Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography by Andrew Morton (New York Times book review: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/books/10masl.html)
• What is Life?: Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology by Ed Regis (Reviews from Christian Science Monitor and Nature: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0408/p13s03-bogn.html & http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v452/n7188/full/452692a.html)

If you are interested in borrowing these books (UCLAW students, staff and faculty only), they are in the Tower Reading Room (on book stands).

Posted by June Kim at 11:58 AM | Permalink

With summer fast approaching, you may want to check out some of the new titles added to the Library's recreational reading collection. Take a look at the display of Tower Reading Room (TRR) books in the bookcase outside the entrance to the Library.

Titles include Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates, The Family that Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max, You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore, Children of Men by P.D. James, Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Ava Gardner: "Love is Nothing" by Lee Server, Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy, Heyday: A Novel by Kurt Andersen, A Long Way Home: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah, and many more.

If you are interested in checking out any of the books in the display case, please inquire at Circulation. (Note: Only UCLA Law School students, faculty and staff may borrow these books.)

Posted by June Kim at 12:53 PM | Permalink

The Law Library has recently purchased 2 novels for the Tower Reading Room (TRR): the contemporary thriller True Evil by Greg Iles and the historic horror/thriller The Terror by Dan Simmons.

In True Evil, Greg Iles returns to his trademark Southern milieu in this terrifying thriller, an unnerving tale of evil lurking beneath the veneer of idyllic suburban life. He tells the chilling story of a divorce attorney who may be orchestrating the deaths of his clients' spouses (from book jacket).

In 1845, 129 men, led by Sir John Franklin, set sail from England in search of the legendary Northwest passage. Outfitted with the latest maritime and scientific equipment and packed with enough provisions to last years, the ships (the HMS Terror and flagship HMS Erebus) and her crew were never seen again. In The Terror, Dan Simmons takes this mystery as inspiration for his novel, "mixing historical adventure with gothic horror -- a sort of Patrick O'Brian meets Edgar Allan Poe against the backdrop of a J.M.W. Turner icescape. Meticulously researched and brilliantly imagined, The Terror won't satisfy historians or even Franklin buffs, but as a literary hybrid, the novel presents a dramatic and mythic argument for how and why Franklin and his men met their demise." (from Washington Post book review, linked below)  

Both books are now on the shelves in the TRR. For links to book reviews and to excerpts provided by the publishers, click below.

Continue reading "True Evil and The Terror" »

Posted by June Kim at 2:11 PM | Permalink

The Law Library has recently purchased the biography, Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made by Jim Newton, for the Tower Reading Room collection.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this collection, the Law Library’s Tower Reading Room (TRR) collection contains books for recreational reading (for the exclusive use of our law students, faculty and staff). Most of the books are of current interest (not necessarily related to the law) that may be difficult to obtain elsewhere on campus because they are so new or in such high demand.

In Justice for All, Jim Newton, a reporter, editor, and bureau chief at the Los Angeles Times for nearly twenty years, “brings readers the first truly complete consideration of Earl Warren, drawing on unparalleled access to government, academic, and private documents pertaining to Warren’s life, as well as extensive cooperation from his living children and associates. Newton illuminates both the public and private Warren, the father of six whose own father was murdered, the stoic leader of the Masons who was touched by the difficulties of children, the study yet prickly man.” (book jacket)

If you are interested in reading this book, it is now on the shelf in the TRR.

By the way, we also welcome suggestions for additions to this collection. For information on how to submit a request and for a complete list of TRR titles, please see the Specialized Collection page on the Law School’s Intranet (Lawnet log in required) at http://www.law.ucla.edu/home/index.asp?page=1397.

For links to book reviews, click below.

Continue reading "Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made by Jim Newton" »

Posted by June Kim at 4:30 PM | Permalink