On an Irish Island is a rich and interweaving portraiture of pure and traditional Irish culture. With the exception of mail twice a week and a visit from a priest barely once a year, the Great Blasket islanders lived fully separate from “modern civilization,” even though they were only a short boat ride away. An anachronistic hamlet, the Blasket community survived as a pre-literate society, but this did not at all mean the inhabitants were incapable of producing great literary works, as was obvious to many of the scholars who visited.

As a college first-year (or fresh person, as the upperclassmen would call me if I went to the fictional Westish College described in Chris Harbach’s The Art of Fielding), I can attest to the feelings of anxiety, stress and loneliness I felt when I first arrived at Mount Holyoke. I found myself often thinking, “Will I be able to make friends? What will my classes be like? How can I stand out? What if I don’t live up to my potential, or what if my potential isn’t as I high as I thought it was? What then, and why would I stay? What would I do?”

I love to read, but like most people on campus it is really hard for me to find time to read for pleasure, especially when I have 30 pages of Geology assignments on top of 50 pages of Psychology. Fear not, I have found a solution in the form of comedian Ali Wentworth’s new book, Ali in Wonderland.

The TOMS story is essentially one man putting capitalism and philanthropyin a blender and hitting Ice Crush. Blake Mycoskie’s book Start Something That Matters is his way of convincing readers to do the same. Mycoskie, founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS, the innovative and fast-growing shoe company, believes that anyone can make a difference in the world through their work and enjoy doing it. This short and concise book begins by telling the TOMS story, in which the twenty-nine-year-old author is inspired to do something about the prolific lack of footwear in Argentina.

It’s official: Mindy Kaling completes a holy comedic triumvirate with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. If you don’t believe me, then you really need to read Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Kaling’s recently released collection of essays.

Perfect for any high school or college-aged female looking for confidence and support, What You Really Really Want provides insight to young women on the most difficult topics of sex, safety and interpersonal relationships. Jaclyn Friedman covers a variety of issues with perspective from women of all different sexual, religious, and racial backgrounds.

ALL ACCESS: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Photography of Ken Regan, released this past October, brings readers behind the scenes and on stage with music legends like Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin. The 304-page book is a compilation of high quality snapshots by famous photographer Ken Regan, beginning in the 1960’s and up through the present. The introduction, by The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, and preface by Keith Richards add authenticity to the collection, and demonstrate the lifelong connections Regan has made throughout his career.

When a good friend recommended that I read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, I didn’t know whether to be insulted that the dark half-moons under my eyes had tipped her off to my impending senior angst, or grateful that she too shared my terror and found solace in that innocent blue and yellow hardcover. As the full title of the work suggests, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, recounts one woman’s year-long project to become happier. Unlike other more drastic undertakings, such as that chronicled in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, Rubin’s goal is not to find happiness by escaping the confines of a mundane life, but rather by enhancing the joys of everyday living.

On Saturday Oct. 22, the Willits-Hallowell Center hosted the 25th annual WriteAngles Conference. The conference’s goal is to promote communication among writers. “Writing is a solitary job,” conference coordinator Daisy Mathias said. “[Writers] love to hear other writers talk about writing and they love to do so [themselves].”

Don’t let the title fool you – The Marriage Plot is not just another evolution of a timeless tale of boy-meets-girl-romance. In fact, it’s anything but. This latest novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides explores the vagaries of young adulthood and follows the experiences of three Brown graduates of the class of ’82.