Herbert Foster began teaching industrial arts for the New York city public school system fresh out of New York University, thanks to the G.I. Bill. It was Nov. 3, 1950 and his salary was set at $13.25 per day. He was 23 years old. On his first day teaching mechanical drawing and blueprint-making at Haaren High School in Hell’s Kitchen, Mr. Foster lost control of the classroom.

Years ago, when Lisa Sherman took a part-time summer job at the Edgartown Library shelving books, she did not anticipate how this short break from her harried New York city lifestyle would play a large part in her future. This past fall, more than a decade later, Ms. Sherman became the head librarian at the Aquinnah Public Library. But we are getting ahead of the story.

After William Styron died, his wife Rose was cleaning up their Connecticut house in preparation for it to be sold when she discovered an enormous pile of letters in her husband’s old writing room. The letters had been sent to him from family, friends, colleagues, old girlfriends, literary luminaries, nearly everyone he had come in contact with during his long career.

With the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the northeaster that followed still readily visible, it seemed like I should include some books that spoke of severe weather to my annual list of the best nautical books.

A must-read hurricane piece is The Eye of Edna by E. B. White. This essay is included in his book The Points of My Compass. I just looked up the book on Amazon out of general interest and noted that a 2000 edition is selling at $155, but hopefully can be found cheaper elsewhere.

The Not Summer issue of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine explores some diverse artistic expressions — behind the scenes at the Island high school art department, in a museum exhibit of old-fashioned decoy carving and on a hunting season fashion shoot. Paul Brissette, longtime art department chairman at the high school and recent winner of the Creative Living Award, reflects on 30 years of cultivating student enthusiasm for art.