BOOKLOVES

In June 1675 a Rhode Island official named John Easton crossed the water to Montaup to hear the grievances of Pumetacom, the Wampanoag leader the English called King Philip. Forty armed men stood with the sachem. What he told Easton was a parable of the colony’s own beginnings. When the English came, his father had […]

A darkly funny, off-kilter romance where watching and helping blur into the same thing Eden’s life begins in crisis. A survivor of domestic abuse, she has only her neighbor’s cat, Fritter, and her friend Paige to lean on, and within the first chapters she crosses paths with her ex-husband, Alex. What follows in Maxine Meyer’s […]

A 50-year true crime saga that underscores the shocking darkness—and unending lightness—of the human soul jack·light·ing | ˈjak-ˌlīt-iŋ | Noun The hunting method of shining artificial light on game at night to stun or freeze it in place—exploiting the “deer-in-the-headlights” effect to make it an easy target. By extension, the kill itself: an amoral killing […]

The organ sits in an alcove by the fireplace where a green velvet love seat used to be, lit by a single wrought-iron lamp. It is carved with garlands and urns, it stands on clawed animal feet, and when Cynthia touches the keys nothing happens, because she has forgotten the bellows need pumping first. What […]

Traffic stops dead halfway across the Coronado Bridge. Rain hammers the minivan, the young driver is breathing into a paper bag, and the only edible thing anyone has found is a bag of hemp-laced dog biscuits meant to calm an elderly Pomeranian on flights. So three adults eat them, in solidarity. They are earthy, gluey […]

A superlative work of first-class mentorship  Garnet Morris’s second book, Do the Hard Things, transcends self-help to become something like a mentorship in book form. The distinction is subtle but important. Mentorship requires the author’s lived experience, depth of commitment, and a clear sense of responsibility for the message. In short, it requires palpable commitment […]

What happens when belief becomes humanity’s most dangerous technology? The Meme by Nicholas Rov Kent is a deliberately destabilizing intellectual experiment—in novel form. It may not be a traditional narrative, but it is speculative fiction that blends dystopian futurism, political philosophy, metafiction, and social satire. To call the book unconventional would be understating the matter. […]

A casserole hits the kitchen floor. Bazil Coutts has come in quietly, the way he always used to, and put his arms around his wife at the sink, and the dish is in pieces before either of them can speak. Geraldine looks at him, steps over the mess and climbs the stairs without a sound, […]