In “Monument,” a poem in Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey describes watching ants bring soil up from her mother’s grave. “Believe me when I say/ I’ve tried not to begrudge them/ […]
book review
BOOK REVIEW
The Wild, Weird, Witty Way of Birds
Jennifer Ackerman finds reflections of ourselves at the edges of bird behavior
Long ago, my children and I celebrated at the library whenever we came across a favorite picture book by Arnold Lobel. No matter how many times we read it, The […]
BOOK REVIEW
Sylvia Harvey Shines a Light on The Shadow System
Family stories reveal the ripple effects of incarceration in America
Sylvia A. Harvey, in her book The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family, offers a crash course on the gruesome realities of American prisons. Beginning with her own […]
BOOK REVIEW
In Why Fish Don’t Exist, Lulu Miller Finds Truth in Taxonomy
Reflecting on the obsessions of a Stanford scientist, she heals herself
Lulu Miller calls David Starr Jordan, the protagonist of her book Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, “David.” Born in the […]
BOOK REVIEW
Racism and The Broken Heart of America
Walter Johnson’s history of St. Louis documents the causes of a continuing crisis
In the months after the murder of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, historian Walter Johnson began work on The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and […]
AUTHORS
Mona Awad Masters the Fine Art of Horror
Her new novel, Bunny, is about female bonding gone bad
In her latest book, Bunny, Mona Awad has crafted a darkly funny horror story about female friendships, class anxiety, art, and academia that has been likened to Heathers, Mean Girls, […]
PERSONAL ESSAYS
How Evan James Realized I’ve Been Wrong Before
Lessons of love from adventures abroad and at home
In his moving and beautiful collection of essays, I’ve Been Wrong Before, Evan James reflects on the time he spent in a myriad of places around the world — San […]
MYSTERIES
A Whodunit at Whaler’s Wharf
Jeannette de Beauvoir draws inspiration from Provincetown
The Matinée Murders, the newest in Jeannette de Beauvoir’s Sydney Riley series of mystery novels, may be a work of fiction, but it is full of real people and takes […]
SOCIAL STUDIES
Ulrich Beck’s Prescient ‘Risk Society’
When living under a state of emergency becomes the norm
In a matter of weeks, reality has lost its familiar form. Invisible threats fill the air, smearing door handles and packaging, reshaping even the most minor intimacies — the touch […]
AT THE LIBRARY
Thanksgivings Every Day
Braiding Sweetgrass By Robin Wall Kimmerer Milkweed Editions: 2015 In Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, author Robin Wall Kimmerer asks readers to “imagine raising […]
book review
‘Find Me’: The Return of Elio and Oliver
André Aciman writes a follow-up to 'Call Me by Your Name'
In the 2007 novel Call Me by Your Name, André Aciman created a beautiful and sensual love story about two young men — Elio, a 17-year-old American piano prodigy spending […]
book review
In ‘Blowout,’ Rachel Maddow Deconstructs the World’s Petro-Nightmare
Putin’s Russia and the U.S. oil industry are in a cycle of doom
A book on the oil and gas industry, Russia, and government corruption? Sounds a bit daunting. But Rachel Maddow, host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, author of The New […]
