Book Reviews

(02/15/12) In his new book, Happy Life, Vermont poet David Budbill uses the ancient Chinese poets as inspiration. Our book reviewer, Betsy Kepes, reflects on Budbill's reflections. more

(01/20/12) New York State now includes more than 10,000 Amish people in 25 settlements, many of them in the North Country. In her book New York Amish, Karen Johnson-Weiner explains some of the history and customs of the Plain people. Betsy Kepes has this review. more

(12/29/11) Vermont might have become the eastern side of New York State if it hadn't been for the bold action of patriot and land speculator Ethan Allen. Betsy Kepes reviews William Sterne Randall's new biography of Vermont's first hero. more

(12/16/11) Though Canadian writers Merilyn Simonds and Wayne Grady live near the border in Kingston, Ontario neither of them had traveled in the United States. A long road trip seemed an excellent way to explore the landscape and attitudes of their southern neighbor. Betsy Kepes has this review of their new book, Breakfast at the Exit Cafe. more

(10/14/11) Vermont writer Garret Keizer lives in a quiet part of the world, but his new book, The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want, explores the history of noise. He writes that noise equals power, and problems, in the industrialized world. Betsy Kepes has this review.

(09/07/11) Chris Bohjalian sets his twelfth novel in a fictional Vermont town shocked by a murder-suicide. Betsy Kepes has this review of Secrets of Eden.

(08/26/11) Creston Lea builds custom electric guitars in Burlington. He is also a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop. Betsy Kepes reviews Wild Punch, Lea's book of linked short stories.

(06/22/11) The Scotiabank Giller Prize is Canada's premiere award for fiction written in English. This year's winning novel is set in a small Ontario town along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Betsy Kepes has this review of The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud. more

(05/31/11) Eric Siblin worked as a journalist in Kingston, Ontario then wrote pop music reviews for a Montreal newspaper. One evening, he happened upon a recital for solo cello. He details his amazement and new obsession in his new book, The Cello Suites -- J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece. Betsy Kepes has this review.

(05/11/11) In 1990, an elderly dairy farmer in central New York was accused of killing his brother. Best-selling author Jon Clinch uses the real story as the basis for his novel, Kings of the Earth. Our book reviewer, Betsy Kepes, talked to Clinch about his new book.