Lit Archives - Cambridge | Somerville Independent

Book excerpt: Sam Baltrusis investigates if his own family is cursed in a bloodline linked to Lizzie Borden

by Marc Levy September 22, 2026

If there’s anyone to debunk a lame Netflix series about Lizzie Borden, it's Sam Baltrusis, a Somerville author, explorer of the paranormal and distant relative to Borden.

LIT

Reviewed: ‘I See You’ve Called in Dead,’ the wry resurrection of an obit writer who’s over it

by Gwen Ruta September 22, 2026

His friends are mostly glad to find out he’s not dead, but his boss has mixed feelings. “Called in Dead” treats the subject of death with respect.

LIT

Reviewed: ‘Triage’ brings an Army nurse home from combat, but her fight isn’t over

by Gwen Ruta September 15, 2026

A combat nurse on the front lines in North Africa and Italy returns home scared and scarred, forgetting anguish through drink and other ill-advised coping mechanisms.

LIT

Reviewed: A powerful ‘Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis’

by Josh Cook September 8, 2026

Modeled after the KKK, the Veiled Prophet shows up in the roots of the Cold War, opposition to civil rights, support for the Vietnam War and maybe violence in Ferguson, Missouri.

LIT

Reviewed: ‘This Book Made Me Think of You’ is a sad romance that’s in love with books

by Kaliisha Cole September 1, 2026

Matilda “Tilly” Nightingale has lost her love for reading. Her husband, Joe, dies from cancer only a few months after they are married. Tilly is faced with navigating life without him sooner than she...

LIT

What Cambridge and Somerville readers are buying: Russo returns with ‘Under the Falls’

by Marc Levy August 25, 2026

Two novelists with extensive catalogs return to the lists: Pulitzer-winning Maine author Richard Russo for “Under the Falls” and Ann Patchett for “Whistler.”

LIT

Reviewed: Freed by grief to be a private detective and on an Alice B. Toklas hunt in ‘Bone Horn’

by Josh Cook August 25, 2026

“Bone Horn” maintains its precarious balance between absurdity and grief, work and childcare, bodies and books.

LIT

What Cambridge and Somerville readers are buying: A Howard Zinn bio and Homer’s ‘Odyssey’

by Marc Levy August 18, 2026

Every week, the Harvard Book Store shares its list of bestsellers with us and we compare it with what’s on the New York Times’ list. We go our own way.

LIT

Reviewed: ‘Night Night Fawn’ has a repellent narrator and a twist that will shake you

by Josh Cook August 18, 2026

You probably won’t like Barbara, the narrator of Jordy Rosenberg’s incandescent new novel, but you'll have to consider what justice means for such people.

LIT

Reviewed: The essays of ‘To See Beyond’ offer a guide past and around our fear, anger and despair

by Elizabeth Gonzalez James August 11, 2026

Making art in difficult times will not necessarily save the world, but it may save you and the ones around you.