April 23 is the day observed as Shakespeare’s birthday throughout the world. Normally the occasion would be marked by live play performances, open-air celebrations, sonnet slams and Shakespeareaoke. Due to COVID-19, events have been postponed, or cancelled altogether, and others have moved online. So this year (or this month at least), celebrations of the bard’s birth will…
I’m re-reading The Great Gatsby for the first time since college and am astounded. I remember loving the lush, delicate writing at the time but little else. Now I can’t get over the deceptive, seeming simplicity of this very short novel that has so much going on it: a snapshot of the Jazz Age, a critique of…
The Library of America is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to producing durable high-quality editions of the best of American writing. And it’s not just fiction: their nonfiction volumes include the World War II reporting of A.J. Liebling, the movie reviews of James Agee, and the four-volume collection of diaries and letters, The Civil War Told…
Fates & Furies- Lauren Groff’s third book, describes marriage over a 23 year period, very vividly. The book illustrates marriage from two different perspectives, the husband and wife, seemingly, somewhat realistic, but who really knows for sure? After all, how many of us are completely honest in marriage? I enjoyed the book immensely; many reviews…
Recently I walked past a re-shelving cart and noticed a paperback romance called Some Like It Scot, with cover art depicting a heterosexual couple under-dressed for Scottish weather. According to the catalog record, the novel is part of a series called Scandalous Highlanders. Then scanning the shelves where we keep paperback romances at SPL, I…
It’s official: Whitey Bulger has been found guilty – of a whole lot of stuff – and will presumably be spending the rest of his life behind bars. Many of us would like to forget all about the notorious thug but, human nature being what it is, a fair number of us want to know all…
An SPL blog reader recently suggested to me that I write about “crazy books in the collection.” With over 200,000 volumes SPL definitely has its share of those (among my favorites are a slim little volume on the guys who figured out how to embalm Lenin and a book about the first scientific studies of…
There’s no doubt about it: we’re fascinated by organized crime. Whether it’s The Godfather, Goodfellas or The Sopranos, we can’t get enough of books and dramas that claim to show us the mob from the inside, an alternative underground world with its own laws and loyalties. Citizen Somerville is the genuine article: the memoir of…
Enter Somerville, a city packed with stories larger than itself, to salute a heritage that justifies the fierce pride of its citizens. Share a perch on one of Somerville's celebrated hills with Dee Morris and Dora St. Martin and watch the raising of America's first flag and the stringing of its first telephone line. Strolling…
