Thankfully, we don’t suffer from migraines. While we never dismissed people who do, we never realized how horrific the experience can be until we read Dr. Carolyn Bernstein’s The Migraine Brain.

Bernstein, who is an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard and is a staff neurologist for the Cambridge Health Alliance, describes how the brains of migraine sufferers differ from others. Her book also gives ways in which those who do can learn to prevent and control their pain.

We talked to Bernstein about the latest research into migraines, how the economy is affecting her practice and patients, and how far is too far to travel for her services.

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Boston University assistant professor Donna Freitas’ The Possibilities of Sainthood is a young adult novel about Antonia Lucia Labella, a 15-year-old girl who wants to become the first living saint. While the dead saints cover a lot of her adolescent tribulations, she petitions the Vatican to name her the much-needed saint of First Kiss and Kissing.

We talked to Freitas about whether her research into college hookup culture for her book Sex and the Soul influenced the novel, why Rhode Island makes a great place to set a story, and Gossip Girl’s effect on young adult literature.

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Whenever we visit destinations like Faneuil Hall, we see tourists perusing dozens of coffee table books filled with pictures of our city. Since we’ve seen landmarks like the State House and the Swan Boats in person, we seldom pay the books much attention.

But we were intrigued by A Duck’s Eye View of Boston by Demetri and Mina Papoulidis. The Boston-based photographers capture the familiar sights of Boston and Cambridge from the perspective of the beloved birds.

We talked to Papoulidis about how she and her husband came up with the idea, their idea of how a duck sees, and why the idea wouldn’t fly in New York.

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Welcome to the first-ever meeting of Boston Book Club, in which we read works by local authors and discuss the tome with the writer. It’s just like your book club, except we actually talk about the novel instead of using it as a pretense to get together and gossip.

In this installment, we read The Passion of Tasha Darsky by Yael Goldstein Love. The Cambridge resident’s debut novel tells the story of Natasha Darsky, a violinist and aspiring composer who comes into her own at Harvard. We talked to Love about writing about music, her impressions of Harvard, and why the book was almost about mathematicians.

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