Social Justice Curriculum
Lynn Ditchfield knows firsthand how the arts can change lives and communities. Her book “Borders to Bridges: Arts-Based Curriculum for Social Justice” is a passion project from her more than five decades as an...
Living history
Linda Coombs’ striking book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” raises imperative questions about how cultural information is decided and shared. This intriguing book examines the colonization of New England from the perspective of Native...
Curl up with a good book
Walk into Edgartown Books, and you know it’s a very special place. You can find the classics, contemporary works, and beach reads. There’s a section on Vineyard authors, and a cozy lounge area with...
‘Mirror Me’ by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg
Lisa Williamson Rosenberg writes in an author’s note at the end of her new novel “Mirror Me” (Little A), “As authors, we mine our lives for ingredients for the stories we tell.” True enough....
We laugh and cry at once
On Dec. 5, a book release party and reading from Nancy Slonim Aronie’s new book, “Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay” (Seven Secrets), took place at the Grange Hall. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t...
Around the Bookstore: Christmas Guide
We all have Christmas tribes, people with whom we spend the holiday, maybe family of origin, maybe family of choice. Even before becoming the book monger of Edgartown, I loved giving books to my...
Mark Chester’s ‘Roadshow Anthropology’
For some, a cross-country trip means a chance to get a sense of life beyond the highways and byways. However, in his most recent book, “Roadshow Anthropology,” photographer Mark Chester has taken a very...
Gregory Mone’s latest book
Gregory Mone introduced young readers to Maurice Reidy, a.k.a Fish, in 2010. “Fish” was Mone’s first book for children. He has since gone on to become a New York Times best-selling author, and has...
Nancy Slonim Aronie’s new book
You can hear Nancy Aronie cheer you on to be the best writer possible in her compelling new book, “Seven Secrets to the Perfect Personal Essay.” Both in person and on the page, Aronie...
‘Jackie: A Novel’ by Dawn Tripp
“They will tell her they found no heartbeat, no breathing, no pulse … Three and a half seconds — that’s all it was — a slivered instant between the first shot, which missed the...
‘Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard’
Authors Thomas Dresser and Richard Lewis Taylor offer us a comprehensive perspective in their just-published book, “Black Homeownership on Martha’s Vineyard: A History.”
Although they offer a plethora of information about specifics here on the...
Oysters and us
The title of Dan Martino’s new book, “The Oyster Book: A Chronicle of the World’s Most Fascinating Shellfish — Past, Present, and Future,” may seem like hyperbole until you start reading.
Martino, co-owner of Cottage...
‘Up-Island Harbor’ by Jean Stone
For fans of Jean Stone’s Vineyard novels, there’s good news. While her engrossing Vineyard series drew to a close with “A Vineyard Season,” she has launched a new one with “Up-Island Harbor.”
Stone has changed...
Erasing the Gerry-Mander
In 1812, the Boston Gazette published a cartoon of a mythical creature, drawn by Elkanah Tisdale, mocking a new voting district in the shape of a salamander — yes, that’s right, a salamander —...
Planting seeds of ambiguity
Allison Alsup’s richly detailed, atmospheric novel, “Foreign Seed,” transports us to a fascinating, unfamiliar time and place. Based on history and infused with mystery, her engrossing narrative, set in a turbulent warlord-ridden China, occurs...
Around the Bookstore: Clock is ticking for summer
And just like that, it’s almost over …
Suddenly, amazingly, summer is winding to an end. And what a summer it has been!
While Kate Feiffer was signing copies of her new book, “Morning Pages,” on...
Lessons from the pandemic
Kathy Ham just released her book, “How We Coped,” which is an illustrated take on Island life during COVID. The proceeds from the book go directly to support the Island Autism Center. In “How...
Her Black country
On Thursday, August 8, Alice Randall shared excerpts from her new book “My Black Country,” at Featherstone Center for the Arts, and engaged the audience in conversation. People in the house were also privy...
Driven by inequality
As the daughter of a doctor who received his medical training in the Jim Crow days of the early 1950s, I found the parallels between his and Dr. Stanford’s experiences astounding and, sadly, not...
Endings and beginnings
Memoir is rooted in memory, and Honor Moore’s new book, “A Termination,” dwells in its allusive and kaleidoscopic nature.
The termination she speaks of is an abortion, which she had in 1969 at age 23...