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Books

** FILE ** Lorena Hickok, former Associated Press political reporter, and a friend of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, appears in a 1941 portrait. (AP Photo)

The Mindful Reader: Phillips Exeter teacher exposes one woman’s in relief work during the Great Recession

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Phillips Exeter Academy history teacher Michael Golay’s new book, America 1933:The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of the New Deal, is the story of Lorena Hickok’s exhaustive reporting in 1933-34 for Harry Hopkins at the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Hickok was an intrepid traveler, visiting relief and work programs and talking to “people from all walks of life” all over the country. Her work is “an incomparable narrative record . . . of America in the depths of the Great Depression.” Golay explains Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt were close. Hickok even lived in Eleanor’s quarters at the White House. Quotes from … 0

the war below by James Scott (317 pages, $28)

‘The War Below’ educates on the importance of submarines in warfare

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Asked to list the most unforgettable events of World War II, most of us would surely cite the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Britain, the London blitz, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and the still-controversial dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Read this beautifully crafted and carefully … 0

THE ORDINARY ACROBAT: A Journey Into the Wondrous World of the Circus, Past and Present By Duncan Wall. Knopf. 322 pp. $26.95. ISBN 978-0307271723 It is called “the circus,” singular noun, definite article, as though there were only one. But the histo

The history of the circus

Thursday, May 9, 2013

It is called “the circus,” singular noun, definite article, as though there were only one. But the history of the circus is multitudinous, badly documented, clouded by legend and stereotypes; it is the history of many circuses over many years, each circus composed of many acts – rings within rings within rings. It’s … 0

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Concord family scours the state in search of covered bridges
A salmon waits in a bucket waiting to be measured and weighed. Winni Derby instates lie detectors for winners. Dakota Wright, 17, of Laconia, a Bishop Brady student, skipped prom to fish the derby with his father Mark and won in the overall salmon category. He will have to take a lie detector test at some point to verify that he caught it in Lake Winnipesaukee. (ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff) Fishermen subject to scrutiny at annual Winni Derby
Geoff Campbell of Grace Limo details one of the stretch limousines that will be dispatched out for prom season this year. (ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff) The Job Interview: Limo service prepares for the busy season
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Fishermen subject to scrutiny at annual Winni Derby
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A Native American tale with international pedigree
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THE MOTHERS By Jennifer Gilmore. Scribner. 277 pp. $26. ISBN 978-1451697254 Years ago, I had a writing teacher in college who responded to every paper the same way. “Enjoyed this essay about your cocker spaniel,” she would write at the top, “but I’d l

‘Mothers’: A memoir in novel’s clothing

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Years ago, I had a writing teacher in college who responded to every paper the same way. “Enjoyed this essay about your cocker spaniel,” she would write at the top, “but I’d like to see the story told … 0

Deb Baker, columnist

Investigating the devils amons us in ‘The Famous and the Dead’

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Have you ever suspected that devils walk among us, insidious creatures who pretend to be as benevolent as you or I, but who in truth exist to inject chaos into our world? I cannot doubt that such demons … 0

TELLING THE BEES By Peggy Hesketh. Putnam. 307 pp. $26.95. ISBN 978-0399159053 Some have compared Telling the Bees, Peggy Hesketh’s first, stately and beautiful novel, to The Remains of the Day, but to my mind it compares to the best of Elmore Leonard

A lonely beekeeper’s life gets interesting

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Some have compared Telling the Bees, Peggy Hesketh’s first, stately and beautiful novel, to The Remains of the Day, but to my mind it compares with the best of Elmore Leonard. There are murders here but much more … 0

This book cover image released by Atria Books shows "The Ophelia Cut," by John Lescroart. (AP Photo/Atria Books)

Review: ‘Ophelia Cut’ is tense, intricate

Thursday, May 9, 2013

A young woman makes a bad decision and her father ends up a murder suspect in The Ophelia Cut, John Lescroart’s latest courtroom drama featuring defense attorney Dismas Hardy. Brittany McGuire meets a man in a coffee shop … 0

An old checkerboard still sits beside the original pot-bellied stove inside the Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vt., Thursday, April 21, 2005. Since the store's first catalog in 1945 to a current level of 50 million catalogs, the store is still selling wheels of cheese, penny candies, and dill pickles from a pottery crock among the many products it's been selling since the 1940's. (AP Photo/Alden Pellett)

New book celebrates the New Hampshire country store

Thursday, May 2, 2013

As a busy lady bustles in to check on that package she’s been waiting for, she passes an old codger porch-sitting, marking time with the regular hurl of chaw into his spittoon. A slow but steady checker match … 1

Billy Collins is the 2013 recipient of the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize.

Poet Billy Collins selected for Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize

Monday, April 29, 2013

Billy Collins has been selected as the fourth winner of the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. He will receive the annual award, which carries a $3,000 prize, and read his poems in Concord on Oct. 3. … 0

WHITEY BULGER: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice By Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy. Norton. 478 pp. $26.95. ISBN 978-0393087727 What do Johnny Depp, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Peter Facinelli (he of Twilight fam

‘Whitey Bulger’: The Hollywood treatment

Sunday, April 28, 2013

What do Johnny Depp, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Peter Facinelli (he of Twilight fame) have in common? They’re all involved with plans to put the story of Boston’s most notorious mobster on the movie screen. Throw in Jack … 1

Author Christopher Locke

Concord: ‘A lot of power’

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Christopher Locke knew he was onto something big when his first attempt at writing, a short story featuring James Bond, camping and various bodily functions, shocked and upset his third-grade teacher. “I remember thinking, ‘This has a lot … 0

Poet Sharon Olds, photographed in November 2008. (Concord Monitor photo/Ken Williams)

Pittsfield poet Sharon Olds wins Pulitzer Prize for collection about divorce

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Sharon Olds, who lives and writes much of the time in a house overlooking a Pittsfield pond, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in poetry yesterday. The winning book is Stag’s Leap, a collection of poems about the breakup … 1

Poet Sharon Olds (Concord Monitor photo/Ken Williams)

An interview with Sharon Olds, Pittsfield’s Pulitzer-winning poet

Monday, April 15, 2013

On Monday Sharon Olds was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for Stag’s Leap, her 12th collection of poems. Three weeks ago, after the book won the Eliot Prize in England, I interviewed Olds at Graylag Cabins … 0

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