fb-pixel Skip to main content
Send book review pitches and inquiries to contributing editor Kate Tuttle, .
BOOK REVIEW

In new memoir, Viola Davis shares feeling ‘invisible’ growing up in poverty in Central Falls

The actress found her calling when she saw Cicely Tyson appear in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

‘It’s made me increasingly paranoid:’ LGBTQ-themed library in Waltham reports books stolen for fourth time this year

The organizers of the “Little Queer Library,” a free community library in Waltham, said at least 50 books were stolen early Wednesday morning, the fourth time this year they've had books swiped.

‘The Wild Robot’ wins Massachusetts Children’s Book Award

The science fiction book, written and illustrated by Peter Brown, competed with 24 other middle grade books for the 2021-22 prize.
BOOK REVIEW

An artistic revolution by the seaside in ‘The Shores of Bohemia’

“The Shores of Bohemia,” John Taylor Williams’s atmospheric, gossipy book, recaps the 50-year history of Cape Cod — Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet in particular — as the summer home of impoverished artistic, intellectual, and political radicals who were willing to do without indoor plumbing, electricity, and heat in return for carefree sojourns in an arcadian landscape.
BIBLIOPHILES

Reading about war and wartime with Phil Klay

Like so many war veterans before him, Phil Klay returned from his tour of duty with the Marines in the Iraq War with many unanswered questions. He first explored those in fiction with his National Book Award-winning story collection, “Redeployment.” Now he turns to nonfiction in his new essay collection, “Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War." We talked about what he likes to read.
BOOK REVIEW

Love and time travel in Emma Straub’s ‘This Time Tomorrow’

Straub's fifth and delightful novel has a plot that may sound like it’s based on a sci-fi gimmick. But the deeper question it asks is: How do we talk with each other about things that really matter?

Latest Headlines in Books

NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS
An Illustration from Gretchen Legler's new book on living off the land.

A life closer to nature, a visit to Kendall Square, and a state Senator writes a book

Literary news from around the region.

BOOK REVIEW
Author William Brewer.

Going on a trip in ‘The Red Arrow’

The fictional present of William Brewer’s impressive debut novel, “The Red Arrow,” lasts one day, split across two train rides: from Rome to Modena and back again. Time is not linear here, nor is much else.

BOOKINGS
Bob Ryan (”In Scoring Position: 40 Years of a Baseball Love Affair”) reads in person at 7 p.m. Thursday at An Unlikely Story.

Author readings around Boston May 15-21

All author appearances are virtual and free unless otherwise noted.

BOOKS

Local bestsellers for the week ended May 8

Based on reporting from the independent booksellers of the New England Independent Booksellers Association and IndieBound.

Gina Gagliano is the new executive director of the Boston Book Festival, which will take place Oct. 29 this year.

Under new director Gina Gagliano, the Boston Book Festival announces return to Copley Square this fall

After two years of holding the event virtually, the Boston Book Festival will return to an in-person format Oct. 29.

Mr. Leo, in his office at U.S. News & World Report in 1995.

John Leo, columnist who took aim at liberal pieties, dies at 86

Mr. Leo viewed American life with a gimlet eye, leavened by a disarming sense of humor and a deep reserve of cultural and historical knowledge.

Author Rick Riordan spoke at an event at the MFA in 2015.

‘If you have a problem ... take it up with me.’ Rick Riordan blasts racist backlash over ‘Percy Jackson’ casting

Rick Riordan, the Boston-based bestselling author, posted a statement to his website Tuesday condemning individuals who have criticized casting for the upcoming Disney+ series based on his popular “Percy Jackson” books.

STORY BEHIND THE BOOK

‘Metropolis,’ set in Boston, centers around 6 characters and a storage facility

"What happens when people who come from completely different backgrounds and places start to interact?" That’s the idea behind B.A. Shapiro’s ninth novel, set in and around Boston.