The wise Lord Grantham suggests that we all have “chapters we would rather keep unpublished.” So true. But what we’re happy to see published is “The World of Downton Abbey,” a fascinating companion to the hit PBS series about an aristocratic family and their army of servants.

Finding the dead is the impetus behind Stef Penney’s “The Invisible Ones,” a superb novel with two richly drawn narrators.

We could live at Cape Elizabeth’s Inn by the Sea . . . in a two-story suite with amazing ocean views, taking our meals at the world-class Sea Glass Restaurant, walking daily on Crescent Beach right in front of the inn, birdwatching in the surrounding gardens, enjoying daily treatments in the luxurious spa . . .

By DINESH RAMDE Associated Press “LUNATICS” By Dave Barry and Alan Zweibel G.P. Putnam’s Sons In his popular books and newspaper columns, Dave Barry displays such a zany wit that on the rare occasions he’s being serious he actually has to specify, “I am not making this up.” Paragraph after paragraph, his columns are laugh-out-loud […]

The author of “Captain Underpants” is joining the digital age and bringing back his million-selling series after a six-year hiatus.

Publishers Weekly best sellers for the week of Jan. 19, 2012

Many books have been written on the subjects of lobster fishing and life on a Maine island, usually painting a romantic, picturesque image of rugged individualism and serene independence. Well, this isn’t one of them.

The sense that we were in Italy overtook us shortly after we were seated at Amici’s Cucina, on Waterville’s Main Street. Well, perhaps with the exception that everyone was speaking English.