Despite its title, "The Cookie Book" is not a handy guide for home bakers who want to whip up some new treats—instead, it’s a rollicking, joyful, and highly informative guide to women’s “cookies.” “‘Why a book about the... Read More

Malevolent machines remain a mainstay in science fiction, with evil supercomputers as a well-known version of vicious manmade artificial intelligence. Calvin J. Brown’s brilliant debut novel, "Six", turns the trope upside down. Six,... Read More

In New York City, a lot can happen in a day. So discover the characters in this exquisite debut novel by Richard Kramer (writer for My So-Called Life). Teenaged Wesley’s family is quintessentially new New York. He’s ensconced in a... Read More

There are any number of clever ways of categorizing "True Swamp", each of them more or less accurate; most recently, I’ve taken to referring to it as a profane post-punk Pogo. However, the single word that all of those descriptions... Read More

Mary Tabor’s Who By Fire, about a man reckoning with his wife’s death, serves up language so precise and assured that it leaves a reader breathless with its quiet force. There are no loose ends in this intricate story by an... Read More

How can one not like characters who are “encumbered by education and no fortune,” or who, when asked if they are drunk, describe their condition as being “a little short of the high mark of sobriety”? Such are but two of the many... Read More

Marty King has made mistakes in his life, but agreeing to help a friend with a bank robbery ranks right near the top. Marty’s panic when things don’t go as planned leads to the deaths of two people—and a life sentence for murder.... Read More

In the best of circumstances, juvenile justice treads a tenuous path between punishment and rehabilitation. In 2009, a scandal broke in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, that showed how precarious this route could be when Judge Mark A.... Read More