Book Talk: John Hough Jr. Discusses Seen The Glory

Author John Hough Jr. talks about his acclaimed new book, Seen the Glory, about two brothers from Martha’s Vineyard during the Civil War, at the Chilmark Public Library on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m.

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Moby Rich Author Faces Final Judgment; Mr. Melville Unhappy

Scene: The Pearly Gates, hopefully a good 50 years from now. St. Peter is standing by the gates. Nicole Galland enters, agog at what is before her.

NG: There must be some mistake. I’m an agnostic Buddhist pagan. Plus I’m Jewish. I think I took the wrong exit.

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Wine, Cheese and Verse at The Yard

Poet Sassy Ross will be featured at a wine and cheese reading today, Tuesday, August 18, at 5:30 p.m. at The Yard on Middle Road in Chilmark. Admission is $25 for general seating; $15 for seniors and those under age 30.

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Beatles Book Published

Beatles Book Published

Tom Dresser’s new book, It Was 40 Years Ago Today, has been published to coincide with the anniversary of the Beatles releasing their final, famous recording, Abbey Road, 40 years ago — on Sept. 12, 1969. The Oak Bluffs author’s newest work contains a compendium of Beatle albums, background information on their songs, dozens of comments by Beatles fans and coming-of-age memories of the sixties.

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First Pup Lands Author in Spotlight
Holly Nadler

So you’re Kate Feiffer, and you think you’re set to have two new children’s books released, with all the attendant tours and book signings . . . when along comes another project with a yesterday-deadline attached to it, some super-sized hoopla stemming from its topicality, and the next thing you know USA Today’s Life section features it on the front page, Stephen Colbert is flashing a copy of your book on the air, and your Amazon.com sales perform a turn-around jump shot.

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Judy Blume Fans Are Legion at Book Signing

A devoted, multigenerational crowd gathered at the Judy Blume book signing at Bunch of Grapes Bookstore last Saturday afternoon, the first jointly held book signing between the store and Riley’s Reads.

Ms. Blume was signing any and all of her 28 releases, including the newest, Friend or Fiend? With the Pain and the Great One.

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Spielberg Hooks Rights to Derby Book
Mark Alan Lovewell

The Vineyard may yet be the scene of another big fish film under the eye of Steven Spielberg: the Jaws director’s studio, DreamWorks, has just bought the film rights for a soon to be released book about the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

The book, The Big One: An Island, an Obsession and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish, by David Kinney, published by Atlantic Monthly, will be released on April 8.

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Film Noir Father Leaves Book To Library, Ending Up to You
Holly Nadler

When authors die, some of their work lives after them. In or out of print, it’s bound and sitting on shelves. But another chunk of inventory survives the author, often to the chagrin of his or her heirs: unpublished or unfinished manuscripts. What to do with this material?

Writer, director and theatre maestro Jon Lipsky, of West Tisbury, was confronted with just such a dilemma when his father, author Eleazar Lipsky (1911-1993), left behind a stack of research books and a synopsis for a riveting historical saga.

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Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Sees Boomers Redefining Retirement
Holly Nadler

As a prize-winning sociologist and Harvard professor of education, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot possesses the curriculum vitae of one of the most successful women alive — in that achievement-oriented way that we worship in the ambitious classes of America. And yet she radiates the serenity and contemplative qualities of a genuine holy woman.

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Mr. Dresser Offers Tommy’s Tour of the Sixties
Julian Wise

IN MY LIFE. By Thomas Dresser. Red Lead Press. Spring 2009. $17, softcover.

Young love in the sixties. These five words summarize In My Life, the brief, quirky and charming novel by local author Thomas Dresser. Set against the backdrop of the turmoil of the bygone decade, In My Life tells the story of Rusty and Jodie, two teenagers in central Massachusetts whose blossoming love is colored by the sexual revolution, rock and roll, and the draft board.

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