Copley Connects Fall/Winter 2024

Copley Library Debuts Game Nights By Regina Gong, Ph.D. , Associate Dean for Student Success and Strategic Initiatives Copley Library hosted two successful game nights during the fall 2024 semester. Both events were held on October 24 and November 21, starting at 7:00 pm at the Copley Lounge. Game nights offer a nontraditional approach to showcasing Copley Library as a welcoming, student-friendly space on campus. The goal is to attract students who might not otherwise visit the library, providing opportunities to socialize, network, and play games with their fellow students. In this more relaxed setting, students can also connect with librarians and library student workers and discover the range of spaces, resources, and support services available to them. It was wonderful to see our students figure out the games and work with each other as a team. Everyone ditched their smartphones, enjoyed the fun, yummy snacks, and chilled out. This event is one of several programs the Building Community Connections (BCC) Committee at Copley Library will unveil in the coming semesters. The Building Community Connections Committee is charged with developing and implementing programs and services that mitigate student loneliness and foster a sense of belonging within the library. Recognizing the library’s unique position as a hub for social interaction and engagement, the committee aims to address students’ lack of connection, ease feelings of isolation among students, and strengthen the library’s role in combating loneliness that contributes to their mental health challenges. Members of the BCC committee include library faculty (Millie Fullmer and Regina Gong [chair]) and staff (Jordan Kobayashi and Kelyn Carcamo Martinez).

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon By Michael Conlee Archives & Digital Initiatives Assistant If you’re the kind of person who enjoys getting lost in rabbit holes where the journey matters more than what you’re actually looking for, pick up The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. It’s a quick read packed with cryptic clues, goofy-yet-clever character names, and a conspiracy that may or may not exist, all wrapped in the haze of a late mid-century, fictionalized, suburban Los Angeles and its budding counterculture. Immersive, offbeat, and an oddly funny read. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad By Michael Massaro Engineering and Computer Science Librarian

This issue’s Copley Reads features two Golden Age murder mysteries written in 1949, the year of the founding of the University of San Diego. Both are set in London, and both are by female dynamos of the murder mystery genre, but they differ in content and context. We like to imagine the university’s first students enjoying these novels in their limited leisure reading time!

Crooked House by Agatha Christie By Kendall Olson Copy Cataloger/Library Assistant Crooked House is a classic murder mystery, and I loved every page

Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh By Martha Adkins Research and Instruction Librarian

Written in 1949 and set in London, this novel feature’s Marsh’s longtime protagonist, Roderick Alleyn, the Scotland Yard man with incredible intuition and ability to solve particularly tricky murders before the other characters realize what’s happening. This story

of it! The story centers on the Leonides family and the sleuth main character who has recently returned to London after World War II. He is excited to marry his fiance, when her Grandfather is murdered. She refuses to marry until the case is solved, and so naturally he is very determined to solve this case. I really enjoyed reading this because although it seemed that the perpetrator was obvious from the start, there were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming! The characters in the story all had very distinct personalities, and after the truth of the murder came to light, I enjoyed going back and re-reading all of the hints I missed the first time around. I would recommend Crooked House to those who frequently read mysteries and thrillers, and to anybody who is a newbie to the genre.

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad is a haunting historical fiction novel about the intersections of art, identity, and political resistance in Palestine. The book follows a girl named Sonia who returns to the West Bank after not having success with her acting career in London. Back in the

concerns the onstage murder of a musician, during an elaborate pantomime intended to depict a hard to-kill outlaw. Nobody realizes the murder has occurred until after the song, when the musician doesn’t get up for the big finish. As with many of Marsh’s novels, the story weaves us around and through a multitude of scenes and themes. We see the intricate psychology of a gossip columnist who writes under a pseudonym, the darkness of heroin addiction, the twists and turns of blackmail and high society, and we learn a few historical details about opinions about immigrants to England at this time. As usual with Marsh’s novels, the victim is not who we think it will be, and the murderer is not who we think it is. And as is the case with some of Marsh’s other novels, alongside the development of the characters in this novel who we meet only in this novel, we learn a few more details about the private lives of Roderick Alleyn and his deputy, Fox, and their friendship outside of crime solving. While not my favorite Marsh novel, Swing, Brother, Swing is a good one for fans of this era of mystery novels with clear resolution.

West Bank, she meets a director who is interested in casting her for Hamlet by Shakespeare. As Sonia becomes more devoted to her performance, this is where the book starts to blend her performance to the trauma that she’s experienced. This novel does a great job at using Sonia’s role as an actress as both an escape and a confrontation of her childhood trauma, which also dives into political issues such as colonialism, national identity, censorship, and surveillance. It also blends these elements in a surreal and dreamlike way, which helps transport the reader to her world and mindset.

Students gather in Copley Lounge on the lower level of Copley for games and camaraderie.

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