top of page
literary inspiration around every corner
AROUND TOWN
page by page
Review: "Manhattan Beach"
I’ve only read one other novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. But my love for that book had me certain I would love the...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 30: "The Sense of an Ending"
Today, on the last day of August, my "30 books in 30 beach days" series is coming to a close. Never one for subtlety, I'm taking the...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 28: "The Underground Railroad"
Today's selection, Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, will have you speeding along at a breakneck pace to discover the fate of...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 27: Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton
This weekend, I spent two impossibly beautiful, blue-skied days in the Berkshires. Of course, I made a stop at The Mount, Edith...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 25: "Twenty Poems to Bless Your Marriage and One to Save It"
On this beautiful summer day, you'll forgive me for an incredibly cheesy (but incredibly appropriate!) inclusion in this series. I got...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 24: "Netherland"
Today's review is of Joseph O'Neill's beautiful post-colonial novel, Netherland. Most of the novel is told in an extended flashback,...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 23: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
If we're going to run the full literary gamut in this 30 books series, we're going to need to include something by Shakespeare. I have a...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 22: "A Gentleman in Moscow"
"Delightful" isn't often a word you'd think of to describe a post-revolutionary Russian novel. But Amor Towles' year-old novel A...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 21: "Home"
With everything going on in the news, today feels like a particularly good day to share a particularly good book from the particularly...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 19: "Wait Til Next Year"
Are you shocked? This is the first time I've ever written a review for a work of non-fiction here. It feels weird. But summer wouldn't...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 18: "Like Water for Chocolate"
Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate is a beautiful, vivid picture of magical realism, set in Mexico. It is a star-crossed love...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 17: "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett
I'm torn about today's review of the epic Ken Follett novel The Pillars of the Earth, because I liked the story and appreciated the...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 16: "A Prayer for Owen Meany"
After a few days in New Hampshire, back to our regularly-scheduled programming! Hiking through the White Mountains in New Hampshire this...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 15: "The Golden Compass"
On the verge of the weekend, I have an exciting suggestion for your beach read: a throwback to the mid-90s, a time before even Harry...
30 Books in 30 Beach Days Day 14: "Winesburg, Ohio"
Though I now live in a city (hi, Boston), I am at heart a lover of the small town. So much so, in fact, that I wrote my college thesis...
bottom of page