Book Notes: Boiled Over’ spins a well-crafted Maine mystery
"Boiled Over: The Maine Clambake Mystery Series" by Barbara Ross. Kensington Books, New York, 2014. Paperback. $7.99.The carefully planned, high-stakes Founder's Day in Busman's Harbor, Maine, looks...
View ArticleBook review: Saving Babe Ruth’ examines the unseemly side of youth baseball
A generation ago youth sports was just about that, the youth.At practice, often the only adults at the ballpark, gridiron, ice rink or gymnasium were the coaches. On game days, players would ride their...
View ArticleBook Notes: The grandma who saved the Appalachian Trail
Emma Gatewood popularized, among other things, minimalist extreme hiking. To hike all 2,050 miles of the rough and immature Appalachian Trail in 1955, she hand-sewed a yard of denim to form a...
View ArticleBook Notes: For the love of the lobster roll
"Lobster Rolls of New England: Seeking Sweet Summer Delight" Written by Sally Lerman, "The Lobster Gal" at lobstergal.com. Photos by Sally Lerman and Jane Shauck. Published by American Palate, a...
View ArticleBook Review: The Indestructibles’
Since it was written by a colleague — Matthew Phillion, a fellow GateHouse Media journalist — I would have likely picked up "The Indestructibles" just as a show of support. But I challenge anyone to...
View ArticleBook Notes: Murder down on the farm
"'Til Dirt Do Us Part" By Edith Maxwell. Kensington Books, New York, 2014. 303 pages. $24.I want to recommend Massachusetts author Edith Maxwell's newest and thoroughly entertaining cozy mystery, but...
View ArticleInterview with The Giver’ author Lois Lowry
It's no surprise that Lois Lowry is such a prolific writer. The longtime Cambridge, Massachusetts, resident recalls spending her childhood as a voracious reader of all kinds of books, especially adult...
View ArticleBook Notes: People and their problems
By Rae Padilla FrancoeurMore Content Now"Problems with People Stories" by David Guterson. Knopf, New York, 2014. 163 pages. $25.95.David Guterson, most well known for "Snow Falling on Cedars" and...
View ArticleBook Notes: How much does reader need to be told?
By Rae Padilla FrancoeurMore Content Now"What We See When We Read: A Phenomenology with Illustrations," by Peter Mendelsund. Vintage Books, New York, 2014. 419 pages, paperback. $16.95."What We See...
View ArticleA change of venue: Boston crime author Dennis Lehane’s first movie script set...
BOSTON - The devil didn't make him do it, but Hollywood did.In "The Drop," his first script for the big screen, author Dennis Lehane has shifted his milieu from the mean streets of Boston to Brooklyn....
View ArticleBook Notes: Tavis Smiley looks at MLK’s last year
By Rae Padilla FrancoeurMore Content Now"Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Final Year" By Tavis Smiley with David Ritz. Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2014. 288...
View ArticleBook Notes: Do clothes make the woman?
By Rae Padilla FrancoeurMore Content Now"Women in Clothes" Edited and written by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leeanne Shapton and 639 others. Blue Rider Press/Penguin Group, New York, 2014.Why do women...
View ArticleBook Notes: Being Mortal’ mulls end-of-life care
"Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan Books, New York, 2014. 282 pages. $26.Society is slow to change. We've learned how to treat diseases and conditions...
View ArticleBook Notes: Penguin Book of Witches’ examines Salem hysteria
"The Penguin Book of Witches" Edited by Katherine Howe. Penguin Group, New York, 2014. 321 pages, paperback. $17.Katherine Howe's new book, "The Penguin Book of Witches," will be a go-to fall read for...
View ArticleBook review: 'The Next Elvis,' by Barbara Barnes Sims
"The Next Elvis: Searching for Stardom at Sun Records," Barbara Barnes Sims (LSU Press)One thing Barbara Barnes Sims doesn't do in "The Next Elvis," the memoir of her time working at Sun Records in the...
View ArticleBook Notes: Feast on Best Food Writing 2014’
"Best Food Writing 2014" Edited by Holly Hughes. Da Capo Press, Boston, 2014. 400 pages. Paperback. $15.99.With summertime and Halloween now solidly behind us, we can tuck into one of our favorite...
View ArticleBook Notes: In Mark Bittman’s new cookbook, faster is better
"How to Cook Everything Fast: A Better Way to Cook Great Food" By Mark Bittman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 2014. 1056 pages. $35 hardcover.In 1,056 pages, Mark Bittman, a food writer who...
View ArticleBook review: The Indestructibles: Breakout’ offers twists and turns galore
My fellow Gatehouse Media editor Matthew Phillion is at it again: "The Indestructibles: Breakout," his sequel to last spring's young adult superhero saga "The Indestructibles," comes hot on the heels...
View ArticleBook Notes: Harry Bosch is on The Burning Room’ case
Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch has a year to go before retirement from his job as cold case homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.And Bosch has traversed a long, grueling road from the...
View ArticleBook Notes: When the narrator is the story
By Rae Padilla FrancoeurMore Content Now"The Forgers" By Bradford Morrow. The Mysterious Press, New York, 2014. 256 pages. $24."The Forgers" is a smart, literary suspense novel that requires a trust...
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