In the Basement of the Ivory Tower: The Truth About College by Professor X

This book grew from a pseudonymous article in The Atlantic, also titled "In the Basement of the Ivory Tower." It chronicles one man's journey into adjuncting college writing and literature classes to supplement his income after buying a house just before the housing bubble crashed. Professor X is cynical of the idea that college is the way to wealth for most of his students and argues that we (as a nation) should re-evaluate our college system. While Professor X has come under a lot of attack for giving up on his students (attacks that he meets head-on later in the book), I think the book works as a call to look at our colleges. While I think that anyone could benefit from writing more clearly, I think Professor X is right to question the "go to college or else" mandate and to think about how much remedial work is possible in one semester. The memoir part of the book strikes me as a little bland at times (we bought an expensive house and then we couldn't afford it very well, so we fought about it).

Steal This University: The Rise of the Corporate University and the Academic Labor Movement edited by Benjamin Johnson, Patrick Kavanagh, and Kevin Mattson

This collection of essays proposes that American universities are changing in ways that harm them because of the rise of corporate interests, which focus on lowering labor costs as much as possible without worrying about the effects these changes will have on the laborers themselves or the quality of education they are able to provide. The book shows how the casualization of academic labor harms faculty and provides accounts of attempts (both successful and not) of various employees (including graduate students) to unionize and negotiate for better working conditions. Even though this book was written about a decade ago, it still feels very relevant and its arguments still managed to persuade me.

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

In this book Harry Dresden is back from the dead and stronger than ever--thanks to his agreement to serve as Queen Mab's Winter Knight. Harry has got to figure out how he can serve in this role without letting it corrupt him--but in the meantime, Chicago is likely to be at Ground Zero of a magical explosion of apocalyptic proportions (centering on Demonreach, of course) and Mab has given him his first assignment: kill her daughter, Maeve (an immortal, for those of you keeping score at home). I like the way that this book doesn't shy away from tough questions, or asking Harry to do morally questionable things. I think Butcher has done (and continues to do) a great job increasing the stakes so we see what's going on with the series long term (it's not just one adventure after another) while making each book individually great to read.

Trust No One by Linda Sue Park

This book finally started bringing the pieces together for the series finale (due out in March). Now I understand what the Vespers' goal is (other than torturing the captives and making Dan and Amy steal important things). I thought that there were a number of plot points that got dropped throughout the book--especially in reference to Amy's relationships with a variety of characters. I love the way this series picks up historical artifacts and mysteries and tries to tie them together--it's not always completely successful, but it is entertaining.

Philida by André Brink

This book tells the story of an enslaved woman on the brink of freedom who finds promises unfulfilled, and realizes she must craft her own identity and search for her own destiny. It was a lovely story, that gradually unfolds to its full significance. I found the multiple narrators and the care given to small parts of the story (especially Kleinkat) really enhanced my enjoyment. This complicated and uplifting book was longlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize.

Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture edited by Joan Gordon and Veronica Hollinger

This collection of essays examines the role of the vampire in contemporary literature. Its essays are grouped into four categories: the development of the vampire metaphor in an historical continuum, on writing vampire fictions, the role of disease and disease metaphors in writing contemporary vampire fictions (especially AIDS), and the vampire as an other (especially related to sexuality). I found some of the essays in the collection stronger than others ("Consuming Youth: The Lost Boys Cruise Mallworld" by Rob Latham on the ways in which the film The Lost Boys enacts the capitalist/vampire metaphor in our contemporary economy was particularly good), but all of the essays do better with reading a given text or set of texts than theorizing in new and exciting ways.

The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

This book concludes the Hyperion Cantos and the adventures of Raul Endymion and Aenea. I found the story really moving in places and challenging in others. There are parts that were just confusing for me: I'm still not sure I completely understand the motivations of the Techno Core, for example. But I found the story both intriguing and exciting. I think I would like to re-read all four of these books, but preferably one right after the other.