Just like any other insecure girl with an unhealthy love for boys who are really into bands, I loved Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park. Rowell’s fantastic when it comes to capturing that essence of hope and romance and awkwardness that is young love. (Or that is adult love, if you’re […]
You may remember Herman Koch from his super-creepy hit The Dinner, the story of a family pulled apart by secrets — and a pretty strong sociopathic streak. Now Koch is back with a new book, Summer House with Swimming Pool, that’s full of just as much weird family drama and […]
I made the mistake of reading E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars on the plane to Book Expo America, and I ended up crying uncontrollably while my seatmates looked concerned and tried to scoot as far away from me as possible. As long as I was reading, I couldn’t stop crying, […]
Wondering what happens to lost boys when they grow up? Jonathan Tropper will tell you. The men in his stories are broken in such realistic ways that you can’t help but recognize them as your friends, or your brother, or your dad. (Or yourself.) So casting Jason Bateman in the […]
Sometimes you run across a book that you want to love, and it turns out to be terrible. For me, The Storied Life of A.J. Filkry is that book. I promise you, I tried to finish this book. For one thing, I wanted to enjoy the story. Also, it doesn’t […]
In a couple of weeks, Church Street is bringing post-capitalists Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, a.k.a. The Minimalists, in for a conversation about living with less. We like Joshua and Ryan because they aren’t preaching an agenda, or pretending to have all the answers, or pushing some kind of […]
Steal Like an Artist is a great little book that encourages us to take plenty of time to get inspired, to get our hands dirty (literally), and to get down to the work of being artists. I could tell you about the book, that it inspires us to follow our […]
Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath, is released today, and he’s once again challenging our preconceptions — not only of the scriptural story of the shepherd and the giant, but of the whole idea of the underdog, a character that we Americans especially cherish. Gladwell knows we love a […]
Reading Heads in Beds is like getting a drink with your most smart, funny, cynical co-worker. You know, the one who takes the bland, soul-sucking parts of your day and turns them into hilarious anecdotes that make your struggles sound epic and interesting? The book is technically about the hotel […]
Bittersweet is the word I’d use to describe The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, if I only had one. It’s a coming-of-age boarding school book that’s mysterious, sexual, and lovely. It’s about the bonds that grow out of isolation and about the ones that are broken in the process. It’s […]
The back of The Silent Wife screams: “Suspense! Suspense! Suspense!” There’s the comparison to Gone Girl, which is so overused that it’s almost required on any new book involving marriage and murder. Then there are the reviews by other respected mystery authors: “Better than Gone Girl,” says Sophie Hannah “Left […]