Red Sox and Bluefish and Other Things That Make New England New England: Meditations on What Makes New England New England

In these essays that first appeared in the Boston Globe magazine, Orlean notes the quirks, oddities and characters who lend a distinctive charm to New England. There's a hilarious chapter on Harvard Square. (""Do you want to relive the '60s? The '70s? The early '80s? Have you ever matriculated at, applied to, or pretended to attend Harvard University?'') There is an essay on boiled dinners. (``No New Englander dares swagger on about the limpid droop of Mom's overboiled cabbage, the soggy expanse of her waterlogged potatoes, her sodden lump of beef.'') Orlean also looks at Necco candy, a regional favorite, noting that ``when the white wafers are snapped in two in the dark, they emit a spark of light.'' From bowling (the candlepin version) and bad driving to dropping the r from the English language and shopping at Filene's basement (should one brag about the bargains or not?), many curious facets of New England are investigated in a hilarious fashion. (April)