Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin

Ally Hughes is a single mom to her ten year old daughter Lizzie. She is a female studies professor at Brown with a heavy course load, has a highly critical mother who refuses to butt out of her daughter's life, and has absolutely no time or desire to date, let alone fall in love. Then she meets Jake, a bright student who has taken nearly every class Ally Hughes has to offer. One weekend, when Ally is supposed to be fixing her house, grading final papers, and not falling in love, she winds up spending the weekend having a fling with Jake.

Fast forward ten years. Ally is still single, tends to interfere with her grown daughter's life, and has recently lost her mom to lung cancer. What Ally doesn't know is that her world is about to change, when her daughter Lizzie brings home her new boyfriend to celebrate her birthday dinner. Imaging Ally's shock when Lizzie's new boyfriend winds up being Jake. Lizzie's birthday dinner is bound to be one awkward family dinner.

Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes is a laugh out loud funny book, that reads along the lines of a romantic comedy, with a feminist feel. Will Ally finally realize that she can still embrace her feminist ways and fall in love?

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

Over the course of a year, Professor of Creative Writing, Jay Fitger, is asked to write numerous Letters of Recommendation for students and fellow faculty members. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher is an acerbically funny novel told exclusively through these letters. Being a creative writing professor, Fitger can write skillfully and passionately about the qualities and accomplishments of his students and former students, whether they are applying for scholarships, fellowships, internships, or jobs as nannies, grocery clerks or RV park attendants. Conversely, he can also use his writing skills to cleverly damn, with faint praise, fellow, undeserving (in his mind) faculty members seeking promotions or new positions. Disgruntled with the modern world, he inevitably strays off point in these letters to complain about the state of higher education, the lack of respect for the English Department (as compared to the Economics Department), remodeling projects on campus, the difficulty of using modern technology and the unhappy state of his private life. Although he appears to be a relentless curmudgeon, Professor Fitger is actually a man who simply cares too much. As one colleague explained: “Fitger behaves like more of an ass than he actually is.”

Check out Dear Committee Members @ the library!