8 must-read novels for teens
Today is Celebrate Teen Literature Day, and what better way to celebrate than by rounding up our own favorite YA titles? From classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird" to more recent titles like...
View ArticleBook Notes: Author offers guide on getting back out there
"Getting Back Out There: Secrets to Successful Dating and Finding Real Love After the Big Breakup," by Susan J. Elliott. Da Capo Lifelong/Perseus Books Group, Boston, 2014. 271 pages. $14.99."Getting...
View ArticleBook Notes: Author offers an intimate look at homelessness
"Gotta Find a Home: Conversations with Street People," Book I of three books By Dennis Cardiff. Published by Lifetales Books, an imprint of Karenzo Media. 2014. Available online for $2.99.Joy is the...
View ArticleBook Notes: Recommended reading from the experts
What better way to learn about books than to attend the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference, as I am privileged to do every year in Manhattan at the end of April. Hundreds of authors...
View ArticleCountry music star shares favorite family recipes in Oh Gussie’
Get ready to visit in the kitchen with an award-winning country music star known for her bubbly personality and curly blond tresses.Kimberly Schlapman, of the group Little Big Town, wants to share her...
View ArticleBook review: Miss Julia a murder suspect in latest series entry
North Carolina writer Ann B. Ross' 16th "Miss Julia" novel starts a bit slowly, but soon hits the madcap goings-on that fans clearly love."Miss Julia Lays Down the Law" finds our heroine in hot water...
View ArticleBook Notes: Krakauer’s new novel offers an intense look at rape on campus
"Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town," by Jon Krakauer. Doubleday, New York, 2015. 367 pages. $28.95.Jon Krakauer's new book, "Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College...
View ArticleKids’ books: Big rig fans will love Buster the Little Garbage Truck’
Pick up your toys, please.That's something you have to do every day. You wouldn't want somebody to trip, would you? Or somebody to step on something, and break it? No, it's much better to pick your...
View ArticleBook review: In The Canterbury Sisters,’ women share their stories on trek...
It's November, not April, when a group of American pilgrims set out to trace the route of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Still, in Charlotte author Kim Wright's "The Canterbury Sisters," a lot of tales...
View Article12 books to bring on your summer vacation
Don’t want to spend your beach days flipping through tabloid mags? Looking for something to read on the airplane flight to your summer vacation destination? We’ve rounded up some of the summer’s...
View ArticleBook Notes: A memoir of a marriage
"The Light of the World." By Elizabeth Alexander. Grand Central Publishing, New York, 2015. 209 pages. $26."Ficre the miracle," writes poet, essayist and professor Elizabeth Alexander about her husband...
View ArticleBook Notes: The stories behind the recipes
"New England Open House Cookbook," by Sarah Leah Chase. Workman Publishing, New York, 2015. 400 pages. $22.95.There as many reasons to like "New England Open House Cookbook" by Sarah Leah Chase as...
View ArticleKids’ books: Kids in need of a good read can get caught up in The Trap’
The summer stretches for miles, and you've got plans.You're going to pack each day with as much fun as you can. It's gonna be great — although, admit it: by the time summer ends, you'll be a little bit...
View ArticleBook Notes: Edith Maxwell serves up third Local Foods mystery
"Farmed and Dangerous," by Edith Maxwell. Kensington Books, New York, 2015. $25.As if Cameron Flaherty, the intrepid farmer trying to grow a business and organic produce on Boston's North Shore, didn't...
View ArticleDavid Murdock: Hooked on hard-boiled detective fiction and film noir
There are certain types of books and movies that have fascinated me for so long that I have no idea when I first encountered them. It just seems like they've always been a part of my life. I have loved...
View ArticleAfter book and film success, Matthew Quick settles back into writing
Matthew Quick has looked through the silver lining."It's funny, when you start writing you say, I want to be a fiction writer' and you really have no idea what that means," said Quick. When his debut...
View ArticleBook Notes: Private eye uses brutal mind games
"Brutality," by Ingrid Thoft. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 2015. 452 pages. $26.95.The young and successful Boston private investigator Fina Ludlow has found an M.O. that works wonders. She pesters...
View ArticleBook Notes: Judd Apatow’s comedy interviews are the perfect summer read
"Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy," by Judd Apatow. Random House, 2015. $27. Since I usually review books I like, it's a short hop, skip and jump to this: "Sick in the Head:...
View ArticleBook Notes: Short stories explore life in the Bronx
"Bitter Bronx: Thirteen Stories," by Jerome Charyn. Liveright Publishing Corp./Division of W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 2015. 223 pages. $24.95.Most people who read Jerome Charyn's new book of...
View Article5 things we now know about Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman'
Reclusive 87-year-old author Harper Lee’s follow-up to "To Kill a Mockingbird" will be released tomorrow, but you can read the first chapter now on The Washington Post’s website. (The Post published...
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