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...
Have bears, will travel
When I was a kid I wrote stories, accompanied by illustrations, and bound them together with staples and Elmer’s Glue. I desperately wanted to get a book published but I didn’t know how to...
‘The New Brownies Book: A Love Letter to Black Families’
There are some books that you want, and there are some that you just have to have. Scholar Dr. Karida L. Brown and awardwinning artist Charly Palmer’s stunning publication, “The New Brownie’s Book: A...
When life gets in the way
Kate Feiffer’s delicious new novel, “Morning Pages,” drops us straight into the intimate life and mind of her artfully wry-humored protagonist.
Elise is facing a problem — well, a few of them, truthfully. The novel...
Fun with friends
For those of us who are a certain age, the thought of paper dolls brings back fond childhood memories. I was no Barbie and Ken lover, but paper dolls, which can easily be cut...
Patricia J. Williams ponders ‘The Miracle of the Black Leg’
Patricia J. Williams, legal scholar, former Nation magazine columnist, and frequent Island visitor, offers a genre-exploding journey. “The Miracle of the Black Leg: Notes on Race, Human Bodies, and the Spirit of the Law”...
‘Anything Is Good’
“I could not have written this book without the storytelling gift and unsettling insights of Ralph Silverman,” reads the preface to Fred Waitzkin's new novel, “Anything Is Good” (Open Road Media).
Ralph Silverman was the...
The mystery writer reminisces
Wait, Spring
By Dionis Coffin Riggs (an excerpt)
Spring, do not come too early,
Wait until the heartwood
Is twisted and made gnarled
By the gale.
Gather a bunch of ordinary-looking people wearing ordinary-looking clothes — nothing that draws attention...