Author readings
- Boston area authors visits
Community
best sellers
Hardcover Nonfiction
1. Outliers
By Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown.
2. American Lion
By Jon Meacham. Random House.
3. Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
By Ina Garten. Clarkson Potter.
4. Dewey
By Vicki Myron. Grand Central.
5. Hot, Flat, and Crowded
By Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Hardcover Fiction
1. The Private Patient
By P.D. James. Knopf.
2. A Mercy
By Toni Morrison. Knopf.
3. The Hour I First Believed
By Wally Lamb. Harper.
4. The Given Day
By Dennis Lehane. Morrow.
5. The Tales of Beedle the Bard
By J.K. Rowling. Scholastic.
Features
Interactive Map
Literary tour of Boston
Boston has served as the backdrop for many books — plan your tour with our guide.
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- Discuss Books to fit your mood?
- Read if you're in the mood
... to Be Afraid, Very Afraid - ...for Romance
- ...to Laugh and Cry at the Same Time
Photo Gallery
Zinn turns to comics
Howard Zinn has turned to a new platform to give his version of US history — the graphic novel.
- Related No ordinary comic book
Photo gallery
Guilty pleasure reads
We can't feel guilty about recommending any of these entertaining novels from 2007, although in one or two cases, perhaps we should.
Memorable children's books
Four picture books this year share one thing: they are as rich for an adult as for a child.
Photo Gallery
Graphic novel roundup
Inquiries into history and outsider status spark a striking sampling of recent graphic literature.
Photos
Q&A; with Steve Almond
Heavy metal, candy, sex, Kurt Vonnegut, and other habits occupy Somerville writer Steve Almond when he's not typing.
G FORCE | BEATRICE GORMLEY
A writer with a niche in presidential ambitions
Westport resident Beatrice Gormley wrote bios on both Barack Obama and John McCain this year. As Gormley explains, biographically betting on two horses in the same electoral race is nothing new.
Best Books of 2008
Getting the goods
See the complete guide to the most memorable fiction titles of 2008, from entertaining to inspiring.
Krugman makes a timely 'Return'
Paul Krugman's latest work is a retread of his 1999 work "The Return of Depression Economics," a review of the lessons learned from the surprise crises that struck developing economies in the 1990s.
review
'Capitol Men' takes a hard look at Reconstruction
As historian Philip Dray's insightful, if at times sprawling, account makes clear, if African-Americans were ready to use their new freedoms (and they were), Southern whites were decidedly not ready to let them.
review
A funny, moving O.C., in real life
Gustavo Arellano's "Orange County: A Personal History" bounds between history, reminiscence, and portrait.
Author M.T. Anderson talks about his craft
M.T. Anderson (above) marches to the beat of his own inner drummer, hearing staccato rhythms where most wouldn't. When the Stow native graduated from high school in the late 1980s, for instance, he entered Harvard University but quickly rejected it for the other Cambridge, in England, where he devoured literature taught with the depth and rigor he needed. When years ... (Globe Staff, 12 a.m.)
Mother's day
According to Brandeis professor, author, and mother Joyce Antler (below), each generation "reinvents the Jewish mother stereotype according to its own needs." For example, the author's daughter, comedian Lauren Antler, jokes about the feminist Jewish mother: "Misogyny happens out there whether it's raining or sleeting or snowing or whatever. Are you going to wait for a man to shovel the ... (Boston Globe, 12/15/08)
Where the wild things were
A PASSION FOR NATURE: The Life of John Muir By Donald Worster Oxford University, 535 pp., illustrated, $34.95 Think you know the real John Muir? Think again. (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Short Takes
ALEX AND ME By Irene M. Pepperberg Collins, 232 pp., $23.95 The last words Alex said to his longtime companion, Irene, before his unexpected death at age 31 were "You be good. I love you," an exchange no less touching for the fact that Alex was a parrot. And not just any parrot but the avian prodigy that Irene Pepperberg ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Origin of specie
THE ASCENT OF MONEY: A Financial History of the World By Niall Ferguson Penguin, 441 pp., illustrated, $29.95 Speaking at a conference of self-satisfied bankers in the Bahamas in November 2006, Niall Ferguson, a history professor at Harvard University, was dismissed as an alarmist for suggesting that the good times would not last indefinitely. Alas, he was vindicated, and not ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Cranking up classics, Christmas, kittens
DEWEY:The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World By Vicki Myron with Bret Witter Hachette Audio, abridged nonfiction, four CDs, four hours and 30 minutes, $22.98, read by Suzanne Toren; also available as a download from www.audible.com, $18.19 HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!: And Other Gifts From Dr. Seuss By Dr. Seuss Listening Library, unabridged fiction, two CDs, two hours, ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Beyond Words
Vanity Fair: The Portraits -- A Century of Iconic Images By Graydon Carter and the Editors of Vanity Fair Abrams, 383 pp., $65 Irving Berlin, Radiohead. Woodrow Wilson, George W. Bush. Al Jolson, Tom Hanks. Colette, Susan Sontag. W. C. Fields, Whoopi Goldberg. Lionel, Ethel, John, and Drew Barrymore. Images of these and dozens of other famous figures in art, ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Rich fare for lean times
Books, always excellent gifts in my view, seem especially fitting this year given that so many people will have plenty of time for reading in the months ahead, what with not having jobs and all. In that spirit, let us start with "Elizabeth David's Christmas" (edited by Jill Norman with a foreword by Alice Waters, Godine, $25.95), a collection of ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
The sputtering engine of capitalism
In 1988, Michael Lewis left the trading floor of Salomon Brothers to become a writer. "Liar's Poker," his memoir of life in the "testosterone tank" of Wall Street, brilliantly conveyed the craziness of that world, and books like "Moneyball" and "The New New Thing" followed. As editor of "Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity" (Norton, $27.95), Lewis selected over ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Shelf Life
A 'Carol' echoes Charles Dickens was in desperate financial straits when he dashed off "A Christmas Carol" in the fall of 1843. His publisher rejected it, so he put out the book on his own. It was an immediate hit. That's how the story goes in Les Standiford's new book, "The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas ... (Boston Globe, 12/14/08)
Latest from the wires
More layoffs in publishing: This time at Macmillan (AP, 12/15/08)
More layoffs in publishing: This time at Macmillan (AP, 12/15/08)
More layoffs in publishing: This time at Macmillan (AP, 12/15/08)
Exhibits examine ties between Jews and comic books (AP, 12/13/08)
Exhibits examine ties between Jews and comic books (AP, 12/13/08)
Reporter's blog on Chicago sit-in to become book (AP, 12/13/08)
Reporter's blog on Chicago sit-in to become book (AP, 12/12/08)
Reporter's blog on Chicago sit-in to become book (AP, 12/12/08)
Jon Stewart says buy a book, kill some time (AP, 12/11/08)
BC-Best-sellers-Books-PW (AP, 12/11/08)
BC-Best-sellers-Books-USAToday (AP, 12/11/08)
BC-Best-sellers-Books-WSJ (AP, 12/11/08)
BC-Best-sellers-Books-USAToday (AP, 12/11/08)
BC-Best-sellers-Books-WSJ (AP, 12/11/08)
Jon Stewart sez: Buy a book, kill some time. (AP, 12/11/08)