Monthly Archives: July 2019

Public historians write for a general audience. Their job is to be true to academic standards while telling a compelling story. They make sense of the past for those living in the present. Bruce Catton was master of the craft. … Continue reading →

“Surfside Sisters” by Nancy Thayer is your quintessential summer read: a woman, failing at work and romance, returns to the family beachside cottage (destination: Nantucket), where she must confront scorned family/ friends (situation: childhood pal) and overcome obstacles to win … Continue reading →

“The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs” by Katherine Howe finds a history professor in a race against time.  Connie Goodwin is tenure-track professor in Boston whose specialty is the history of witchcraft and magic in colonial America.     What her colleagues do … Continue reading →

“The Body Lies” by Jo Baker (“Longbourn”) is “a dark, riveting novel of psychological suspense”.   When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote English countryside, it’s meant to be a fresh start. But when a … Continue reading →

“The Most Fun We ever Had” by Claire Lombardo on of the most anticipated debuts of the summer. The Sorenson’s, an unapologetically straight couple, were unscathed by the 60’s and 70’s. Go figure that they raised four unruly daughters. The … Continue reading →

Gather round at the Center Harbor Town Beach today for a reading of the the folk tale, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, sing and dance to the Mosquito Moan, paint your own mosquito and play mosquito tag. Sound like … Continue reading →

 “Mistress of the Ritz” by Melanie Benjamin(“The Aviator’s Wife”) is a “captivating novel” that is based on an American woman who secretly worked for the French Resistance during World War II. By day, she plays  hostess to the occupying Germans … Continue reading →

“The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead is a “bravura follow-up” to his Pulitzer Prize winning     The “Underground Railroad”.  In it, two boys are sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. The Nickel Academy’s mission statement appears wholesome, … Continue reading →

New DVDs at the Nichols Library include “Dumbo”, Tim Burton’s take on the Disney story about the baby elephant that could fly. In “The Public”, a city library becomes battleground over homeless people seeking shelter during a winter emergency.  In … Continue reading →

Your teens might like these. Sarah Dessen’s “The Rest of the Story”, a young woman is sent to spend the summer with her late mother’s estranged relatives.  She soon finds herself torn between her mother’s working-class clan and her father’s … Continue reading →