BPL Blog
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, Sep 21
Hilderbrand's latest summer offering, The Identicals, is once again set in Nantucket (as well as Martha's Vineyard) and centers around identical twin sisters, Harper and Tabitha Frost. With their parents's divorce, the 17-year-old girls are being torn apart and forced to pick a parent to live with and do so by the game, rock, paper, scissors. So off to Martha's Vineyard goes Harper happily to live with her laid-back dad while Tabitha resentfully goes to live with her mother in Nantucket. Both...
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, Sep 21
Iris and Will are a seemingly very happily married couple who are trying to start a family. After Will leaves on a business trip, Iris, a school counselor, learns that a plane has crashed and she is asked to speak with the students about this tragedy. It isn't long before she is notified that Will was on the plane leaving Iris gobsmacked as she was told by Will that he was heading to a different destination. Iris finds herself consumed with learning the truth about Will, and her twin brother,...
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, Sep 21
Maddy is the perfect mother and perfect wife living the perfect life. Fabiaschi's I Liked My Life is the story of Maddy, mother to 17-year-old Eve and husband to Brady, who is seemingly living the good life in a posh Boston neighborhood until she commits suicide. Now Brady and Eve are left to pick up the pieces and make sense of this tragedy. What would make a woman, who on the surface has everything, do something like that? Eve and Brady can't move on until they take a good look at Maddy's...
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, Sep 21
A gang of thieves pull off a heist at Princeton University where they manage to steal several original F.Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts insured at twenty five million dollars. Although they were savvy enough to use a smoke screen to throw off the police, it isn't long before a couple of the career criminals are caught. Panicking that the authorities are closing in, the manuscripts are then sold for a song. In the meantime, the FBI and an independent firm hired by the insurance company are...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Sep 18
If you are drawn to unusual travel destinations – very, very far off the beaten track -- you will find many intriguing side trips in this collection. In it you will find utopian communities, abandoned cities, haunted spaces, demon forests, and necropolises, abandoned cities, islands, and tunnels, and architectural oddities of all kinds, and even a flaming, sulfurous pit known as the “Door of Hell.” This beautifully-designed book contains many maps and atmospheric black-and-white photos.
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Sep 18
Aware that there are “a lot of things that conspire to keep women, in particular, from the outdoors,” McConnell has written an approachable and sometimes amusing guide addressing practical questions that an aspiring outdoorswoman might hesitate to ask. She covers the where to go (from urban green spaces, campgrounds and parks to wild lands such as reserves and refuges), what to do, and what to bring (essential clothing, tents, food, and gear), as well as tips on weather, navigation, and...
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, Sep 07
It's 1940 and the small country village of Chilbury has sent their men off to war, readying themselves for a possible Nazi invasion. The vicar has disbanded the choir due to the lack of bass voices but the ladies of Chilbury, led by a young progressive music teacher called Prim, declare the women will carry on as the "Ladies' Chilbury Choir". The story is told through diary entries and letters of various characters in town as they endure the changes in social conventions, the appearance of...
Posted by JGranatino on Tue, Sep 05
This oversized coffee-table book chronicles the history of Rolling Stone magazine, as it reflected and also impacted popular culture of the 1960s-2010s For music aficianados, it will revive many memories of artists influenced our tastes and even “defined our lives,” including reprints of memorable stories and interviews. Lavish color and black-and-white photographs by the likes of Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon pay homage to these artists. Also showcased are writings by some of the...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Aug 28
Sandra Uwiringiyimana was only ten when the refugee camp her family sheltered in was attacked by rebel forces in the Congo. The massacre took 166 lives, including her 6-year-old sister. Her family was eventually able to come to America but found their vision of the American Dream was in sharp contrast to the reality. Not only were they trying to come to terms with grief and loss, but coping with issues only immigrants might understand such as language barriers, poverty and cultural differences...
Posted by JGranatino on Wed, Aug 23
In recent years, the expression “man cave” has been used to describe an informal room where men can “be themselves,” furnishing the space as they wish. The “she-shed” is a woman’s equivalent: a place to relax while surrounded by treasured objects, to engage in creative pursuits, or simply to “get away from it all.” Author Kotite’s beautifully-photographed book showcases a variety of she-sheds: modified utility sheds, kits, and greenhouses, artfully adapted salvage and recycled materials, and...
