Librarian
2021-2022 Common Read Selection
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Ghostographs by Call Number: PS3613.O5647G46 2018ISBN: 9781941628157Publication Date: 2018-11-01Every old photo album contains a multitude of mysteries--the people who came before. Maria Romasco Moore's eerie and incandescent novella-in-flash GHOSTOGRAPHS is no exception. Brief, crystalline stories combine with vintage photographs to illuminate the hidden terrain of childhood and the pain of growing up, all in one small town at the edge of an abyss where the narrator comes of age among family, friends, and phantoms. It's a place populated with charming and unforgettable characters, where housewives send away for mail-order babies and young girls glow on front porches on hot summer nights. Where men get in staring contests with lamps and great aunts live in castles and collect haunted dogs. Where games of hide and seek refuse to end. It's a town full of secrets, where the hardships of adulthood threaten to invade the wild and magical domain of children. Haunting and evocative, funny and strange, the world of GHOSTOGRAPHS may be memory or might just be a trick of the light.
More information on the is available at the Common Read Main Website.
2019-2020 Common Read Events
There are events scheduled throughout the Fall 2021 Semester (plus a bonus event in Spring 2022) tied to this year's Common Read. Highlights include:
- October 7th - Author Maria Romasco Moore visits campus.
- October 20th - Library event on how to preserve your photographs (and your stories) as a Penn State student with in our Archive.
A full listing of the events is available at the link below.
Penn State Altoona Common Read Program
Since 2013, incoming first-year students at Penn State Altoona have been given a book during their orientation to the university as part of the "Common Read, Uncommon Experiences" program. The program was designed as a bridge into Penn State Altoona's unique intellectual community--regardless of the student's major. The Common Read invites students, faculty, and staff into discussions about a single book, creating a community of engaged thinkers and active, responsible citizens.
Laura Rotunno, associate professor of English and Common Read coordinator, says, "With the Common Read, we hope to get people reading, thinking, talking, and then reading again. We hope to create debate and discussion. The program is designed to remind us of the power of books to change us and the world."
Students remain engaged with the book and its themes throughout the academic year in their courses and at interactive co-curricular events, such as faculty panel discussions, writing workshops, library exhibits, theater performances, student-led events, and more. In the process, organizers hope to generate a common "buzz" of hallway discussions and impromptu campus happenings that involve students, faculty, and staff in education outside the limits of the classroom.