Several years ago, I worked with a performer named Tom Bergeron in a physical theater troupe in Amherst, MA. The troupe was short lived, and we all dispersed to try our fortunes elsewhere. After several years of working for Boston-area television and radio stations, Tom made a career for himself as a television show host …
The Count of Monte Cristo is about an escaped prisoner who seeks revenge on the people who caused him to be wrongfully imprisoned. Set primarily in Marseilles and Paris, this book is a great summer read because it transports the reader into tumultuous yet whimsical 19th century France. Packed with adventure, romance and plot twists, …
Really, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m in awe of this collection. Its ambition and scope doesn’t surprise me, since I’ve known the brilliant whirlwind Camille Dungy for many years, but still, I’m amazed at what she’s accomplished here. This is an important book—there’s nothing else like it that collects and focuses on …
Continue reading “Matt O’Donnell, Associate Editor, Bowdoin Magazine”
This book characterized as “the best baseball book no one has read” recounts the death of Ray Chapman, the shortstop of the Cleveland Indians, in 1920. It also provides great insight into the very different nature of the game at that time and reveals how the players dealt with the sudden loss of their beloved …
I originally picked up An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England because its author, Brock Clarke, is teaching one of the classes I will take in the fall. What I found within was a compelling story about discovering the bonds which hold your relationships together. The unwitting hero of the novel, Sam Pulsifer, …
“There are no other Everglades in the world.” With that sentence begins one of the greatest books in environmental history. Highly recommended by Professor Klingle, this book is largely credited with the creation of a national park dear to my heart. I am from Southwest Florida and live within half an hour’s drive from the …
I am currently in the midst of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is fast-paced for such a fat book –and, therefore, it is hard to put down: it is often dialogue based and the dialogue is brisk. The opposite two protagonists dominate the text: the one, infinitely already developed and self-contained, …
This book, a New York Times #1 Bestseller, is a travel-lover’s dream. It lists and describes 1,000 different places around the world that are “the best the world has to offer.” This is a perfect book for those who need inspiration for travels over the summer, or for those who are stuck at home and …
Stone Butch Blues is one of those books that came out when I was in college that people talked about so much, I thought I had read it. This winter over lunch with a student I realized that I had confused it with another book and had indeed not read it. It was time. Over …
Antjie Krog is a South African poet and journalist who earned international renown for her coverage of South African’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as reported in her first book, Country of My Skull. In her new book, Begging to be Black, Krog combines fictional, philosophical and historical writing, a fascinating mixture of literary genres that …