Ensights Magazine

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Faculty Bookshelf: Winter 2023

Editorial Staff
What have our faculty and staff been reading this year?

Jim Mann, MS Mathematics Teacher

Jim Mann
Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir

"One of my favorite genres is smart science fiction. Andy Weir (The Martian) wastes no time dropping his readers into a world of scientific adventure as the protagonist, Ryland Grace, awakes from an induced coma only to find himself on board a space station, light-years from home. Short-term amnesia forces Ryland to search for clues that can help explain his mission and the reasons for his presence on the ship. What he doesn’t know is that he alone is Earth’s only hope for survival. This book is filled with heart, humor, science, and many OMG! moments along the way."

Kevin Brown, HS English Teacher

Kevin Brown
Small Things Like These
by Claire Keegan

"With Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan has chosen a title that seemingly fits her work perfectly, in theme, length, and style. Her novella centers on Bill Furlong, a coal and fuel seller in 1980s Ireland. His life seems quite small, as he goes about his daily routine, working hard delivering and selling coal, logs, and other fuel to customers, and striving to provide for his wife and four daughters. As Christmas approaches, though, he has an encounter that will lead him to make a moral choice, forcing him to confront his privilege and decide what his and his family’s life should be like moving forward. Keegan’s sentences crackle with clarity, presenting exactly what the reader needs to know, and little more. The book is brief—just over a hundred pages—a work readers can digest in one sitting. It seems a small thing, much like Furlong’s life, but it contains so much more, as it grapples with Ireland’s recent history of Magdalene houses. At one point, Furlong thinks, 'Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?' That one question sums up decades of dark Irish history, but also so many decisions we fail to make in our lives. Keegan’s novella is a great thing, indeed."

Zach Schneider, HS History Teacher & Football Coach

Zach Schneider
The Nazi Hunters
by Andrew Nagorski

"This is a highly engaging book that introduces to the reader many individuals who made it their lives’ work to locate former Nazis who were responsible for the atrocities committed by the Third Reich during World War II. In my opinion, this book serves as a reminder that we must not forget what has occurred in the past, because if we do, we may be “doomed to repeat it.”

Ashley Glotta ’14, HS Seminar Teacher & Volleyball Coach

Ashley Glotta
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
by John Mark Comer

"This book is about learning traits and disciplines to slow your life down and have a healthier physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life in the current fast-paced society that we live in. I recommend this book because we all absolutely need to slow down our lives to be healthy."

Meredith Warren, LS/MS Band Teacher

Meredith Warren
The Nineties
by Chuck Klosterman

"This book discusses historical trends and pop culture happenings during the 1990s. As someone who came of age in the ‘90s, I enjoyed reading about these events with an adult perspective and learning how some of the trends of that time are impacting us today."
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Red Gables Campus (K–8)

Nashville, TN 37205
(615) 383-0661

Frist Campus (9–12)

Nashville, TN 37221
(615) 301-5400
Ensworth is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade, independent day school.