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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Book review: True crime meets history in Sara DiVello’s 1920s murder mystery ‘Broadway Butterfly’
“Broadway Butterfly” by Sara DiVello (Thomas & Mercer) The unsolved murder of the beautiful Dot King captivated New York. But the hype around the case proved insufficient motivation to catch the killer. So what happened? In “Broadway Butterfly,” a jazzy true crime historical thriller, author Sara DiVello unearths piles of...
Child star Mia Armstrong is working on a picture book about her experiences with Down syndrome
NEW YORK — Child star and activist Mia Armstrong has a picture book coming out next year about her experiences with Down syndrome, what her publisher calls “all the joys and challenges.” Random House Children’s Books announced Monday that Armstrong’s “I Am a Masterpiece!” will be released next January. Illustrated...
Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness at Jan. 6 hearings, has book deal
NEW YORK — A former White House aide to President Donald Trump who became a prominent congressional witness against him and his allies in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol has a book deal. Cassidy Hutchinson’s “Enough” will be released Sept. 26 by Simon &...
50 shades of ballet? Melanie Hamrick on her steamy novel that makes ‘Black Swan’ seem tame
NEW YORK — Melanie Hamrick, who knows her way around a quick pirouette, had to move fast when her 6-year-old son Deveraux recently picked up a copy of her new novel, “First Position,” as she was signing books. “I didn’t realize how well he was reading,” the former ballerina and...
Book Review: ‘The Art Thief’ is an astonishing story that capitalizes on our love of true crime
“The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession” by Michael Finkel (Alfred A. Knopf) What is it about stories of transgression that keep us wanting more of them? Tales of heists, con artists and even murders permeate all corners of society, from Dostoevsky to “Tiger...
Central Park birder Christian Cooper is turning his viral video fame into a memoir and TV show
NEW YORK — There’s nothing that can keep Christian Cooper from enjoying his “happy place,” the bird-friendly Ramble of Central Park — not even his tense, viral video encounter three years ago with a woman walking her dog off leash in his refuge. Cooper is a lifelong birder, and Black,...
Cormac McCarthy, author of ‘No Country for Old Men’ and ‘Blood Meridian,’ dies at 89
Cormac McCarthy, the acclaimed fiction writer whose books were regarded as American masterpieces by critics and legions of fans but who refused to offer insight into what had inspired them or what they might mean, has died. Widely regard as one of America’s greatest living writers, McCarthy died on Tuesday...
‘George’ is about saving and being saved by a wild bird
“George: A Magpie Memoir,” by Frieda Hughes (Avid Reader Press) Frieda Hughes in an English poet and painter who has built a following on birding Instagram (friedahughes) with her beguiling videos of owls. She has also written several children’s books and a weekly poetry column for The Times of London....
Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell pens powerful graphic memoir ‘The Talk’
“The Talk” by Darrin Bell (Henry Holt & Company) Seeing the other children at the park playing with water guns, Darrin asks his mom for one. Her immediate response: No. Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Darrin Bell’s graphic memoir “The Talk” begins around age 6, when his mom first has “the...
T.J. Newman returns with a novel that’s on par with summer movie blockbusters 
Time is a precious commodity and some readers need to be hooked from page one. T.J. Newman ‘s 2021 debut novel “Falling” (Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster) begins with a sentence that blasts out of a cannon: “When the shoe dropped in her lap the foot was still in it.” The...
‘On the Rocks’ tells the story of the Primadonna restaurant owner
Joseph “Joe Joe” Costanzo Jr. slept in restaurant booths at his Primadonna Restaurant in McKees Rocks. He missed family events. His wife, Donna Costanzo, said the best way to see him was to work at the restaurant. He knew most diners’ names, greeting them with a hearty hello and a...
Stair climb: Harrison native to showcase images of steps at Oakmont Carnegie Library
Paola Corso is always looking to take the next step. The Harrison native writes about and photographs staircases not only for their beauty, but for their functional use as a journey to get from one place to another. “I am always looking for steps,” said Corso, who lives in Brooklyn,...
1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible sells for $38 million at New York auction 
NEW YORK — A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts sold Wednesday for $38 million in New York. The Codex Sassoon, a leather-bound, handwritten parchment volume containing a nearly complete Hebrew Bible, was purchased by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses...
Oprah teams with Arthur C. Brooks on book about happiness
NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey’s latest book project is one she helped write. Winfrey has teamed with the author, educator and Atlantic columnist Arthur C. Brooks on “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” to be published Sept. 12 by Portfolio Books. “I started reading...
Barbara Kingsolver, Hernan Diaz win fiction Pulitzer Prizes
NEW YORK — The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded Monday to two class-conscious novels: “Demon Copperhead,” Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic “David Copperfield,” and Hernan Diaz’s “Trust,” an innovative narrative of wealth and deceit set in 1920s New York. It’s the first time the Pulitzers have...
Review: ‘Heavens’ profiles figures in modern space race
“When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach,” by Ashlee Vance (Ecco) During the space race of the 1960s that was chronicled by Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff,” the era was personified by larger-than-life heroes like John Glenn, Gus Grissom and...
Frick Pittsburgh exhibit explores Black freedom through automobiles
A car is more than steel over an engine and four wheels. To some, it was a vehicle for freedom. That’s the inspiration behind “Pittsburgh and the Great Migration: Black Mobility and the Automobile,” the exhibition opening Saturday at the Frick Pittsburgh in Point Breeze. In the years between the...
‘No Addict Left Behind’ details heartbreak of addiction and the hope of recovery
Joey Pagano sat on the sidewalk across from the Charleroi police station. The year was 2011. He called his mother, Cindy Pagano, and told her he couldn’t take it anymore. He had just robbed a gas station. He needed drugs. His life was unravelling. “I wanted to die,” Pagano said....
Review: A gutsy memoir by child of an Andy Warhol superstar
“Don’t Call Me Home,” by Alexandra Auder (Viking) It takes guts and a sense of humor to kick off your debut memoir with an insult from Andy Warhol. “Seeing Alexandra was sad — a big rug-rat hanging off Viva — she’ll probably turn out a mess.” But Alexandra Auder uses...
Review: ‘Home for Wayward Girls’ about rising above abuse
“The Home for Wayward Girls” (Harper) by Marcia Bradley There have been a number of recent accounts of young people, particularly young women, who were sent to schools for so-called “troubled” or “bad” kids. In 2022, Elizabeth Gilpin published “Stolen: A Memoir,” about her experience in one of these schools...
Review: Laura Dern, mom Diane Ladd exchange intimate stories
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding),” by Laura Dern and Diane Ladd (Grand Central Publishing) When actor Diane Ladd was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and given six months to live, her only daughter and fellow actor, Laura...
Review: ‘The 1998 Yankees’ revisits team 25 years later
“The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever,” by Jack Curry (Twelve) Twenty-five years ago this fall, the New York Yankees won the World Series for the 24th time, part of a six-year run in which they won baseball’s championship four times. Jack Curry, who now...
Judy Blume, on top of the world (and her Key West bookstore)
KEY WEST, Fla. — At Books & Books, the nonprofit store Judy Blume and her husband have run for the past seven years, you will find her own work in various sections: from general fiction, among the other “B”-named authors, to a shelf dedicated exclusively to her — a name...
Judy Blume, on top of the world
KEY WEST, Fla. — At Books & Books, the nonprofit store Judy Blume and her husband have run for the past seven years, you will find her own work in various sections: from general fiction, among the other “B”-named authors, to a shelf dedicated exclusively to her — a name...
Book invites kids to turn native gardens into national park
Doug Tallamy, the wildlife ecologist and entomologist who urges home gardeners to join forces and create a pollinator-friendly “Homegrown National Park,” is now bringing kids into the effort. Tallamy has become a leading evangelist for the return of native plants and trees that can support birds, bees and other essential...


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
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