Saying Goodbye is an aptly named new book by Drs. Barbara Okun, an Aquinah summer resident for the past 39 years, and Joseph Nowinski of San Francisco, which Dr. Okun describes as “a co-authorship made in heaven.” The authors provide a fascinating and most helpful guide for people facing terminal illness, and for their families whose lives are disrupted by grief and new responsibilities. The book is peppered with stories of people whose experiences illustrate the points being made.

By NINA TARNAWSKY

Social networking Web sites such as Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have become a part of the equation when it comes to the job hunt. That last statement may serve as yet another source of distress for those looking for work but feeling less than internet savvy. Thankfully, the new book Web 2.0 Job Finder by Brenda Greene and Coleen Byrne gives even the most technologically phobic jobseeker a solid foundation in how best to utilize the internet.

Next month an overwhelming majority of members of the United Nations is expected to vote in favor of recognizing Palestine, including areas now occupied by Israel, as a sovereign state.

In Chilmark this week, a much smaller group of people searched for signs of hope in this latest development in the long Middle East standoff. They did not find many, for Israel, Palestine or the United States.

It’s surprising there aren’t more spooky thrillers that include mysteries, and more mysteries with spooks. When equal mixtures are applied — in other words, scary stuff happening for which a reason must be found — fans of both genres put the books on the top 10 list and a classic is born: The Exorcist, Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, The Shining, even Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, her attempt to write a hot-selling Gothic novel, a genre that runs in and out of fashion but was very much in vogue at the time. Ms.

“It’s not enough to be a songbird, this world will work you to the bone,” sings musician Dan Waters on Sergeant Sparrow magazine’s new compilation CD. The latest edition of the magazine, just out with the disc included, has taken up the plight of artists working in today’s business-minded creative milieu.

Sergeant Sparrow magazine and its eponymous record label were designed to create space for artists, musicians and writers to show their work regardless whether they have been shown, signed or published professionally.

Rep. Barney Frank, the 16-term Congressman from Massachusetts, had been scheduled to appear earlier this summer at the Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven but was called back to Washington to deal with the debt ceiling talks. Thankfully, Congressman Frank has rescheduled his talk and will be coming to the Vineyard on Monday, August 29, barring a hurricane, that is.