Paper of Wreckage is a vibrant oral history of the New York Post that recounts the tabloid’s sordid—and legendary—glory days.

Art, Lifestyles, Nonfiction

Great Women Sculptors

The beautifully printed, encyclopedic Great Women Sculptors brings together more than 300 artists who have been excluded from institutions and canons on the basis of gender.

LGBTQ+, Nonfiction, Social Science

Nonfiction Social Science LGBTQ+

American Teenager

Nico Lang’s powerful American Teenager closely follows seven transgender young adults, rendering complex, searing and sensitive portraits of their lives.

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Erika Krouse, private eye

by Alice Cary

Meet the fiction writer who unexpectedly became a private investigator and helped crack a landmark sexual assault case.

Family & Relationships

Family & Relationships

Review

Review by bookpagedev

by Joanna Brichetto

The Girl Code: The Secret Language of Single Women by Diane Farr is a delightful romp through the dating world. The author, former cohost of MTV’s Loveline and a contributor of dating advice to Cosmopolitan, uses a cheeky, up-front tone that befits advice on modern liaisons. As an “homage to friendship,” it is a welcome antidote to the plethora of dating “rule books” prescribing pre-feminist deceit and manipulation. It even dares to assert that a woman can be complete without a man. (She does, however, need good girlfriends.) The code offers inventive vernacular for various body parts, dating situations and types of men. With it, you too can respect the Ugly Underwear Rule, identify the Bad Hygiene Stage with Mr. Right Now, deal with Rug Burn and endorse Girl Patrol. For etiquette any single girl could use, check out the tongue-in-cheek, yet entirely sensible “Code of Behavior &and Ethics,” which details boundaries good girlfriends never cross. The Girl Code makes a great bridesmaid token or gift for a buddy in any stage of the dating drama.

Thirty marriage and family experts team up in Why Do Fools Fall in Love? Experiencing the Magic, Mystery, and Meaning of Successful Relationships, edited by Janice R. Levine and Howard J. Markman. Diverse essays attempt to explain how we fall in love, stay in love, and how love gives life meaning. By looking at evidence from master marriages (as opposed to disaster marriages), we can learn what “chemistry” really is beyond endocrine glands. Sneak peeks at celebrity marriages and insightful marginalia jazz up a thoughtful, attractive book good for ailing or successful relationships.

Another approach to the mysteries of enduring love is a systematic plan from therapist and relationship coach Dr. Mark Goulston.

In The 6 Secrets of a Lasting Relationship: How To Fall in Love Again and Stay There, he identifies and explores six “pillars” upon which every relationship rests: chemistry, respect, enjoyment, acceptance, trust and empathy. Case studies, worksheets and insights go beyond theory to offer realistic steps toward goals. The plan is tailored to appeal to the sensibilities of women and men, which is a refreshing change from the many self-help books aimed solely at women. The Marriage Plan: How to Marry Your Soul Mate in One Year or Less by Aggie Jordan also takes the high road with a plan based on honesty and self awareness. The goal is not just to make it to the altar, but to make it there with a soul mate. A 13-step plan will, if not guarantee complete victory within the time limit, at least leave you exquisitely attuned to authentic needs and clear-cut goals, not to mention poised to recognize and attract Mr. Right. The author’s credentials are impressive. After decades of teaching goal-setting and achievement to Fortune 500 executives, Jordan simply applies the same positive, practical approaches to marriage. Be careful what you wish for: with a plan like this, it is likely to come true.

Another new book that gets right down to the business of love is Prenups for Lovers: A Romantic Guide to Prenuptial Agreements, by Arlene G. Dubin. At first glance, the title may seem like an oxymoron, but smart couples will find this a wise guide from the ring to the altar. The very first chapter will convince skeptical readers the dreaded p-word is not just for celebrities or creeps with more cash than commitment. Think of a prenup as a financial housekeeping tool, a handy way to start a lifetime commitment to financial planning. The author admits money is harder to talk about than sex, but couples who “invest” in a prenup will be more likely to remain a couple (70% of all divorces are caused by financial conflict). Prenups require full disclosure, compromise and open communication: three things crucial to the beginning of a lasting marriage. Samples and individual profiles show how a prenup can easily be tailored for any situation, even when the couple is already married. What if prenups and pragmatic plans aren’t your cup of tea? Brew up your own Love Potion #9 with Silver’s Spells for Love. Best-selling author Silver Raven Wolf shares over a hundred “magikcal” recipes to get love, keep love and even get rid of love. Romantic love gets the most attention with intricate spells like Lust Powder and “Come Jump Me” Love-Drawing Oil, but other kinds of love get neat spells too. Summon a new pet into your life, find a job you adore, open yourself to new friendships, welcome a baby into the world. Spells require fairly ordinary supplies like candles, herbs and common household items. The most potent ingredient, however, seems to be intent: the sincerity and focus of the weaver of the spell. Lest casual readers think a few magic words and white tapers will make them blissfully happy ever after, the author reminds us “love isn’t a trifle . . . it takes courage, perseverance and wisdom to make any relationship work.” Joanna Brichetto lives and loves in Nashville.

ous advice for would-be lovers Why do fools fall in love? Perhaps only fools attempt to reason why. Luckily for lovers and would-be lovers, an engaging new crop of books dares to delve into the mystery. The Girl Code: The Secret Language of Single Women by Diane Farr is a delightful romp through the dating […]

Review

by bookpagedev

Children's & YA, Fiction, Nonfiction

Nonfiction Fiction Children's & YA

When rereading leads to love

Feature by the editors of BookPage

by the editors of BookPage

Rereading our favorite books is such a comforting practice, but this month, we’re celebrating the special occasion when you get to reconsider a book that you merely appreciated in the first go-around. With some time and a new perspective, a second reading can lead to love.

Interior Chinatown

Experimental or unusual literary structures can be pretty polarizing; either you’re up for a novel told in Slack messages (Several People Are Typing) or as an interview transcript (Daisy Jones & The Six and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev), or you’re just not. But here’s a well-known secret: Sometimes, the great equalizer is audiobooks. Charles Yu’s satirical masterpiece Interior Chinatown is structured partially like a TV script, which is intriguing in print but, perhaps unsurprisingly, makes for the best audiobook I’ve ever listened to. Narrator Joel de la Fuente balances caustic humor with the painful reality of Hollywood racism as he gives voice to Willis Wu, a Taiwanese American actor who dreams of ascending beyond the role of “Generic Asian Man” and achieving the much-coveted role of “Kung Fu Guy.” Willis’ internal monologue alternates with scenes from the crime show “Black and White,” about a white detective and her Black partner, culminating in a brilliant indictment of pop culture stereotypes. Genuinely satisfying satire is rare, but when it’s good, it’s really, really good.

—Cat, Deputy Editor

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Rereading a book can lead to a discovery of something new about that book. Other times, to revisit something you read in another part of your life is like stepping into your own past and witnessing all the ways you’ve changed. When I first read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe in 2012, I was in my mid-20s and finishing my library science degree. I hadn’t really been in love yet. I was still, in many ways, not yet grown. Late last year, as I once again picked up this award-winning YA novel, I was struck by how removed I felt from Ari’s earnest adolescent musings. The paradox of children’s and YA literature is that it’s created by and introduced to young readers by adults. Somehow, it seems I’ve become one of those adults, but the simple, stunning beauty of Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s prose still makes this raw, heartfelt story of teen boyhood transcend the boundaries of age or time.

—Stephanie, Associate Editor

Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey can seem like the silly kid sister of Jane Austen’s other novels. As a teenager, when I first read the story of gothic novel-obsessed Catherine Morland, I thought it was frivolous fluff and nothing more. It wasn’t until I reread the novel in college, armed with a much richer understanding of the gothic and what a pop culture juggernaut the genre was during the Regency, that I was able to understand how funny it was; imagine someone approaching their life as if it were a twisty thriller a la Gone Girl. But beyond its success as a culturally specific rom-com, Northanger Abbey should be mentioned in the same breath as early meta narratives like Don Quixote. Austen tracks Catherine’s growing maturity with enormous fondness: Her leaps of logic may be outrageous, but her warped impressions of the people around her are often shockingly astute. It’s a hilarious coming-of-age story that’s also a meditation on how fiction can both blind and guide us. (Also, kind but sassy Henry Tilney is one of Austen’s best heroes, full stop.)

—Savanna, Associate Editor

Hiroshima

I first read Hiroshima in my high school history class. Personally, as an 18-year-old student at an Alabama public school, I still had a ways to go in the appreciation of great books—even one so groundbreaking as John Hersey’s 1946 account of six individuals who survived the atomic bomb that America dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Luckily, I got the chance to revisit it in my master’s program, when I was better equipped to savor Hersey’s precise reporting and vivid, compassionate writing. (One description of a man who jumped into a river after the bomb exploded still haunts me.) Originally published in The New Yorker, this slim book packs a narrative and historical punch. Chapters alternate among the six subjects’ experiences, beginning with the morning of the bomb and continuing through the following year. (An additional chapter was added later, revisiting the six survivors after 40 years.) What emerges is a breathtakingly intimate portrait of atomic warfare’s inhumanity, especially the way it fuses suffering to survival.

—Christy, Associate Editor

Normal People

As a college freshman in March 2020, I found myself back at home after only one day on campus following spring break, and I turned to audiobooks to occupy myself. As I listened to Sally Rooney’s second novel, narrated by Aoife McMahon, I enjoyed hearing the characters’ Irish accents and piecing together their lives between time jumps. Still, the characters’ actions didn’t make sense to me at many critical points, and finishing the book left me with a funny feeling. I didn’t dislike it, but I felt like I was missing an essential component of what made it special, even after a conversation with the friend who’d originally recommended it. My recent second listen revealed how naive my initial evaluation was. The subsequent years of my college experience haven’t been like Marianne’s and Connell’s, but I now viscerally relate to their feelings of being lost in emerging adulthood. After updating my Goodreads rating to five stars, I called that same friend with my new revelations.

—Jessie, Editorial Intern

A great second date can really turn things around.

Review

by bookpagedev

European History, History, Nonfiction

Nonfiction History European History

The Dark Queens

Review by Anne Bartlett

by Anne Bartlett

Sure, the Plantagenets fought each other for a couple of generations, and the Tudors had wives and dynastic rivals beheaded. But if you think their reigns were bloody, just wait until you meet the Merovingians, the riveting royal family in Shelley Puhak’s The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World. The violent struggles of House Brunhild and House Fredegund make those later conflicts look like kindergarten playtime.

The Merovingians were the rulers of the Franks in the Middle Ages, in territory now encompassing most of France and western Germany. History books have tended to neglect them—but two Merovingian queens have survived in legend and art, in much distorted forms. Puhak, an acclaimed poet, now brings a feminist eye to Queens Brunhild and Fredegund, who in real life were savvy, powerful and dangerous women.

Brunhild, a Visigoth princess, and Fredegund, a formerly enslaved woman who charmed her way to a throne, were married to half-brothers, each of whom ruled over part of the Frankish territory. The brothers were deadly competitors, and after they were both assassinated, their widows took power as regents for young sons and continued the savage rivalry.

Murders, kidnappings, perilous escapes, suicide missions, poisoned knives, marriage plots, witchcraft allegations: This book has them all. Fredegund, the more vicious ruler, attempted 12 assassinations and succeeded at six. Brunhild maneuvered her way into regencies for her son, grandsons and great-grandsons. One queen died in her bed; the other met an end so horrible that it’s the only thing many French people know about her.

The king who ultimately succeeded to both their thrones consciously erased them from history in a Stalin-esque purge. Later medieval writers vilified them as bossy harridans. Bizarrely, Brunhild lives on in name only as the “Brünnhilde” of the German epic poem “The Song of the Nibelungs” and Wagner’s Ringoperas.

Puhak doesn’t pretend these women weren’t ruthless in their pursuit of power, but she also acknowledges the misogynist social and political context that shaped them. Most of all, The Dark Queens demonstrates that Brunhild’s and Fredegund’s names deserve to be in the historical annals as much as any king’s.

Murders, kidnappings, perilous escapes, suicide missions, poisoned knives, marriage plots, witchcraft allegations: The Dark Queens has them all.

Review

by bookpagedev

Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Review

Review by bookpagedev

by Lynn Green

say, can you sing The Star-Spangled Banner? America’s national anthem is undoubtedly one of the few that expresses its themes in the form of a question. From the opening line, (O say, can you see?) to the closing couplet (Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?) the song by Francis Scott Key manages to pose two questions central to our democracy. First, Key asks, will the American flag fly at dawn over Fort McHenry, after an important battle in the War of 1812? And lastly, almost 200 years later, does the flag still fly over a free nation? Although they think it’s a difficult song to sing, most Americans don’t know much about Francis Scott Key or how he came to write the Star-Spangled Banner. Now, just in time for Flag Day, New York Times reporter Irvin Molotsky has written a brief, informative history of Key’s poem and the flag that inspired him. The Flag, the Poet ∧ the Song brims with fascinating trivia about the anthem and clarifies many of the myths about the song and the flag. If you slept through your American history classes on the War of 1812, you’ll appreciate Molotsky’s clear explanation of what caused the war and why it was important to our young nation. You’ll learn why Key was on a mission of mercy that landed him near Fort McHenry on the night of the battle. And the next time you’re at a baseball game, straining to hit the high notes of our unsingable anthem, you can rest assured that you know more about “the rocket’s red glare” and “the bombs bursting in air” than anyone else in the stadium.

say, can you sing The Star-Spangled Banner? America’s national anthem is undoubtedly one of the few that expresses its themes in the form of a question. From the opening line, (O say, can you see?) to the closing couplet (Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?) the song by Francis Scott Key manages to pose two […]

Review

by bookpagedev

Family & Relationships

Family & Relationships

Review

Review by bookpagedev

by Joanna Brichetto

Another approach to the mysteries of enduring love is a systematic plan from therapist and relationship coach Dr. Mark Goulston.

Will

by Mari Carlson

Will Smith’s autobiography is a hero myth for readers seeking self-awareness.

History

History

An exceptional biography of Adams

Review by bookpagedev

by Roger Bishop

The extraordinary talents and outstanding accomplishments of John Adams tend to be overshadowed by the illustrious and colorful careers of his contemporaries George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Adams himself thought his own major attributes were "candor, probity, and decision," and those qualities were crucial as he shared in the leadership of a revolutionary people who made the difficult transition to a stable, responsible, representative government. David McCullough, who has received National Book Awards for both history and biography and whose Truman received the Pulitzer Prize, superbly captures the life and times of this remarkable figure in his compelling new book, John Adams.

In 1787, after completing a book that he thought would make him unpopular, Adams wrote to a friend, "Popularity was never my mistress, nor was I ever, or shall I ever be a popular man. But one thing I know, a man must be sensible of the errors of the people, and upon his guard against them, and must run the risk of their displeasure sometimes, or he will never do them any good in the long run." That quote, McCullough says, is "about as concise a synopsis of Adams’ course through public life as could be found."

Certainly Adams made mistakes in judgment. But when one surveys the range of his thought and actions during his entire public career, it is remarkable how astute he was in both the long and short terms. For example, Adams chaired the committee that asked Jefferson to draft a Declaration of Independence. But, after much revision, it was Adams whose speech to the Continental Congress convinced the delegates to pass it. As a delegate from New Jersey remembered: "[Adams was] the man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independency. . . . It was he who sustained the debate, and by the force of reasoning demonstrated not only the justice, but the expediency of the measure."

In February 1778, when Adams was appointed to serve as one of three men to negotiate an alliance with France, "It marked," for Adams, "the beginning of what would become a singular odyssey, in which he would journey farther in all, both by sea and land, than any other leader of the American cause." He would help negotiate the peace treaty that ended the war with Great Britain in 1783 and become our first ambassador to that country in 1785. His most important service abroad, however, may have been negotiating for bank loans. "With his success obtaining Dutch loans at the critical hour of the Revolution," McCullough says, "he felt, as did others, that he had truly saved his country."

As the second U.S. president, he presided over a divided country and a divided party. Despite these disadvantages, under his leadership the Navy was greatly strengthened and proved decisive in keeping the young country out of war with France. As Adams wrote to a friend: "I desire no other inscription over my gravestone than: ‘Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800.’ "

McCullough skillfully interweaves accounts of his subject’s private and public lives, focusing in particular on Adams’ marriage to Abigail Smith, who was "in all respects his equal." The author’s insight into the relationship and, at times, rivalry between Adams and Thomas Jefferson is also of particular interest. Their unique correspondence after both were out of office remains one of the most important literary treasures from the Founding Fathers. "The level and range of their discourse were always above and beyond the ordinary," McCullough writes. "At times memory failed; often hyperbole entered in . . . they were two of the leading statesmen of their time, but also two of the finest writers, and they were showing what they could do."

This exceptional biography should be enjoyed by anyone who wants to explore in some detail the complexity of the Revolutionary and Early American eras as experienced by one who was a crucial mover and shaker.

Roger Bishop is a regular contributor to BookPage.

The Invisible Kingdom

by Sarah McCraw Crow

With a mix of analysis and compassion, Meghan O’Rourke chronicles the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune disease alongside her own long search for healing.

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Trending Nonfiction

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How to Stand Up to a Dictator

Maria Ressa

By Sarojini Seupersad

Maria Ressa’s book is a political history of the Philippines and an intimate memoir, but it’s also a warning to democracies everywhere: Authoritarianism is a threat to us all.