Staff Picks

  • Book Review: The Devil Made Me Do It!: Crime and Punishment in Early New England

    March 5, 2020Book Review: The Devil Made Me Do It!: Crime and Punishment in Early New England
    “The Devil Made Me Do It!”: Crime and Punishment in Early New England, by longtime Bath resident Juliet Haines Mofford, is an excellent and informative read. The book provides detailed stories on the types of crime and the punishments applied in the early days of our country. Whatever the crime — public intoxication, infanticide, ...
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  • Book Review: In Waves

    February 28, 2020Book Review: In Waves
    I am a huge fan of graphic memoirs and have ready many over the last few years as these books have grown in popularity.  One of my top five graphic memoirs is In Waves written and illustrated by AJ Dungo and published in 2019 by Nobrow Press.  This memoir is about surfing, grief, and loss.  ...
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  • Book Review: Nothing to See Here

    February 20, 2020Book Review: Nothing to See Here
    I recently finished this little gem of a novel, and was reminded of its sparkle and shine last night after seeing a wonderful interview with the author, Kevin Wilson, on the PBS News Hour. If you are looking for a quick read that will warm your heart on a cold winter day, look ...
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  • Book Review: Mrs Bridge

    February 14, 2020Book Review: Mrs Bridge
    On the surface, this is a story about the life of a housewife, Mrs Bridge, who lives in Kansas City with her husband and three children between the two World Wars. Beneath the surface, this novel is actually about a lonely woman who avoids change at all costs and who cannot comprehend the fact that she is living an ...
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  • Book Review: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts

    February 7, 2020Book Review: Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
    I spotted Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts on my husband’s nightstand and thought it looked like fun.  I wasn’t disappointed! It’s a thoroughly delightful read, set in Boston, so it’s fun to recognize the many names and places in the book. Tuesday Mooney is a quirky researcher for nonprofits (one reviewer likens her ...
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  • Book Review: There There

    January 31, 2020Book Review: There There
    There There is a gripping debut novel by Tommy Orange. Orange tells the stories of twelve different “Urban Indians,” all at least in part Native American, as they travel to and interact at “The Big Oakland Powwow.” Orange is himself a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma; he uses ...
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  • Book Review: The Man With No Face

    January 23, 2020Book Review: The Man With No Face
    The Man With No Face is a standalone mystery/espionage novel by the well-known Scottish author Peter May. It was first published in 1981 under the title Hidden Faces. As the novel opens, Neil Bannerman, a journalist with Scotland’s Daily Standard, is exiled to Brussels by his angry editor. His assignment is to cover the political ...
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  • Book Review: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

    January 17, 2020Book Review:  Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
    This non-fiction account on “the troubles” in Northern Ireland was on many top ten lists for 2019. Since my knowledge on this subject might not even fill a thimble, and I like “true crime” as a genre, I decided this was a great New Year’s project for me. Patrick Radden Keefe is a staff ...
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  • Book Review: Children of Virtue and Vengeance

    January 10, 2020Book Review: Children of Virtue and Vengeance
    You would think that Tomi Adeyemi would take her foot of the gas a little in Children of Virtue and Vengeance, the second volume of the Legacy of Orisha series, given that the action continued at breakneck speed the entire first book – but you’d be wrong.  In the first book of the best-selling young ...
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  • Book Review: Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All

    December 11, 2019Book Review: Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All
    This book is the result of a collaboration by seven young adult authors, all women; their work provides a very readable history of Tudor England from the perspectives of Henry VIII’s six wives. Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr all come to life on the ...
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News & Updates

  • October 8, 2025
    Spooky Staff Picks

    It’s spooky season, and PFL staff love a creepy read!&n…