Books & Ideas
Two Oak Bluffs students were honored at the state house in Boston as part of a national reading and writing program for young people.
Lily Davey and Bella Chimes, eighth-grade students at the Oak Bluffs School, both submitted work to Letters About Literature, a program that asks young people in grades four through 12 to write to an author (living or dead) about how his or her book has had a profound impact on them. Lily wrote a letter to Tahereh Mafi, the author of Shatter Me, and Bella wrote a letter to Donna Cooner, the author of Skinny.
When you consider that Tom Dresser started his own newspaper in the fifth grade, it’s less of a stretch to imagine that he has written nearly a book a year since 2008. His latest, Women of Martha’s Vineyard, chronicles some of the most well-known and some lesser known women who share a connection to the Island. Some were born here and others didn’t wash ashore until they were middle-aged, but all called the Vineyard home.
Author Judith Hannan shares the story of her young daughter’s battle with cancer and how the journey strengthened her resilience as part of the Speakeasy Series on Wednesday, May 22, at State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury. Ms. Hannan’s talk begins at 5:30 p.m. She will discuss her book Motherhood Exaggerated, which chronicles the emotional toll her daughter’s illness took on her family.
They come from all over the country, staying for one or two weeks or up to a full month. They explore Edgartown from their home base at the former Point Way Inn. Some of them work in their rooms, others find a nesting spot in one of the many elegant downstairs parlors. For dinner they might bring home scallops from the Net Result, ingredients for a pasta Siciliana, and share the meal pot-luck style in the formal dining room, which is two stories high and lit up like a stage set.
Thomas Dresser discusses his latest book Women of Martha’s Vineyard at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library on Main street in Vineyard Haven on Wednesday, May 8. Mr. Dresser’s book digs into the lives of 15 women from Vineyard history, including West Tisbury’s hen-loving poet Nancy Luce and Harlem Renaissance writer Dorothy West. The common denominator was their love of the Island.
When news spread quickly on the Internet that legendary Boston crime boss James (Whitey) Bulger had been captured in Santa Monica on June 22, 2011 after 16 years on the lam, it was fitting that Dick Lehr found out the old-fashioned way. He read about it in the Boston Globe, delivered to the doorstep of his Belmont home the next morning.