Tippingpoint

our pick & pans

Letters to You

Bruce Springsteen

Has any rocker ever aged better than Bruce Springsteen? I don’t mean how he looks — though there is

that — but how his rock musictip

music has remained rich and steadfast (no chasing after trends for The Boss). At age 71, Springsteen has released this collection of songs that hearken back in sound to the early E Street days but offer up lyrics that often reflect the sense of loss and ruefulness of a person’s later years. “Ghosts” and “Last Man Standing” are among the tunes that, while fueled by dynamic music, boast lyrics that speak about bandmates who have died. The E Street Band is in fine muscular form, and Springsteen’s rasp still sounds mighty good.

— Kristina Dorsey

Athletic Brewing

Non-alcoholic beers

Back in my drinking days, as a former and much-ridiculed enthusiast of certain water-flavored beers like Keystone Light, I always figured I wouldn’t be particularly difficult to

please when it comes to the siptip

notoriously weak attempts to make a good tasting non-alcoholic beer. But that’s not true. N/A beers are almost always disappointing by any standard — until now. The folks at Athletic Brewing down the road in Stratford have created two extremely flavorful and authentic tasting non-alcoholic brews: their fine Upside Dawn Golden Ale and their embracingly hoppy Run Wild IPA. My wife and I did taste tests alongside Sierra Nevada products, and the fake stuff performed admirably. There are two more N/A brews from Athletic — the All Out Stout and the Cerveza Atletica Copper. Haven’t tried the latter two yet, but the (hangover free) holidays are upon us!

— Rick Koster

Memorial Drive Natasha Trethewey

Natasha Trethewey is an acclaimed poet — a former U.S. poet laureate who won the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the daughter booktip of a murder victim. Her stepfather killed her mother after abusing her for years, and in “Memorial Drive,” Trethewey reflects on her childhood, her family, and the violence that shaped her life. “Memorial Drive” is a slim but gripping memoir, propelled by sharp-eyed observations and gorgeous writing. That lyrical prose eventually gives way to long passages of taped conversations between her mother and stepfather. (Her mother was hoping the recorded dialogue could be used in court as evidence of his harassment and abuse.) It’s chilling to see in words his skewed logic, his monomaniacal focus, and his very real threats.