Books

366 results
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The book cover: title above in black & white text, over a slow-shutter image of a Barnes gallery with a blurry walking figure

The Barnes Then and Now: Dialogues on Education, Installation, and Social Justice, edited by Martha Lucy

Putting the collection in context

A new book edited by the Barnes Foundation’s deputy director for research, interpretation, and education gathers perspectives on the famous (and famously polarizing) collection of Albert Barnes in its 21st-century home. Pamela J. Forsythe reviews.

Pamela J. Forsythe

Reviews 6 minute read
Book cover: title above a sepia photo of a worn sculpture of a hand holding another pair of clasped hands.

Frume Halpern’s Blessed Hands, translated by Yermiyahu Ahron Taub

An American writer, in English for the first time

Blessed Hands: Stories, a collection of 20th-century writer Frume Halpern translated into English for the first time, is a treat for Yiddish literary scholars, but leaves a general reader still hungry. Helen Walsh reviews.
Helen Walsh

Helen Walsh

Reviews 4 minute read
Book cover: gold and orange split on a rough halfway diagonal, over an ancient fresco of a winged man holding a gold helmet

Homer’s The Iliad, translated by Emily Wilson

The Odyssey’s bloodier cousin

Philadelphia-based translator and UmPenn professor Emily Wilson follows her acclaimed English translation of The Odyssey with a similarly lucid and lean new Iliad. Kiran Pandey reviews.
Kiran Pandey

Kiran Pandey

Reviews 5 minute read
Book cover: title & author in plain black & brown text below an impressionistic painting of a cliff by the ocean.

Rinse, by Elaine Terranova

Making peace with enigma

Philly writer Elaine Terranova’s eighth book, Rinse, shows the author’s poetic sensibilities with lyrical language that captures emotional tones and thrumming silences. Anndee Hochman reviews.
Anndee Hochman

Anndee Hochman

Reviews 5 minute read
Book cover. Yellow title text with floral illustrations intertwined w/ text against solid blue background, review quote atop

This Terrible True Thing, by Jenny Laden

A visual look at the AIDS epidemic

Jenny Laden’s new young adult novel captures the AIDS epidemic, shock and isolation, and more through a 17-year-old’s voice and drawings in 1990s Philadelphia. Wendy Univer previews.
Wendy Univer

Wendy Univer

Previews 3 minute read
Book cover w/ The Pretty One prominent overlaying Brown, a Black woman, wearing a gray sweater, glasses, outdoors, smiling

The BSR Weekly Arts and Culture Roundup: Book Week 2023

A curated selection of books in celebration of Disability Pride Month

Alaina Johns and Kyle V. Hiller curate a variety of books from a variety of writers living with disabilities for this year’s BSR book week.
Alaina Johns Kyle V. Hiller

Alaina Johnsand Kyle V. Hiller

Previews 6 minute read
A group of four Black cosplayers in costume poses emphatically, joyfully, in a bright indoor space

Five reasons to attend the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention

For the geek at heart

An Nichols previews the 2023 East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention and how it works towards cultural awareness, youth literacy, and building safe spaces for geekdom.
An Nichols

An Nichols

Previews 3 minute read
Six diverse and colorful books laid in a row, partially overlapping.

Discover books by BSR writers

Is your favorite BSR writer an author, too? Find out here!

For the first time since BSR’s founding 18 years ago (wow, we know), we’re spotlighting books written by our contributors, who are some of the region’s top critics, essayists, and arts journalists. Dive in!
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Editorials 12 minute read
Book cover: title at top right in yellow and white text; superimposed on a close-up of Nadia’s serious face, late in life.

Nadia Boulanger: War Years in America and Her Last Decades, by James Whipple Miller

An artist and a woman, in her own words

Philadelphia-based author James Whipple Miller offers a valuable portrait of the legendary composer and pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, told largely through letters to her longtime friend Ruth Robbins. Cameron Kelsall reviews.
Cameron Kelsall

Cameron Kelsall

Reviews 3 minute read
Book cover. Title in black above, over a colorful impressionistic illustration of a leaning piano adrift in sand dunes.

Let Your Heart Be Broken: Life and Music from a Classical Composer, by Tina Davidson

An esteemed Philadelphia composer tells her story

Composer Tina Davidson, who lived in Philadelphia for about 25 years, offers a memoir that isn’t the story of a solitary artist obsessed with a craft, but rather the worldly, spirited life that informs the art. Peter Burwasser reviews.

Peter Burwasser

Reviews 3 minute read