When Charles McGrath wrote about the annual Island Cup game between the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket football teams for the New Yorker in 1984, he likened it to a fierce sibling rivalry. What mainland team could hope to drum up a rivalry as poignant with either of the Island squads? For all that the Vineyarders can’t stand about the Whalers, they also know that the only football team in the entire country that could possibly understand what it means to be an Islander is that of their brother-in-isolation, Nantucket.
Both Henry and Kate Feiffer make one thing absolutely clear: in real life Henry was never sad, like his character in the new book Henry the Dog with No Tail.
In the book, Henry starts out wanting a tail more than anything. In real life, Henry never missed it. So what if he had nothing to chase? He had nothing that could be stepped on either. And there were rugs and couches and sweaters to chew.
At least so he says, in a voice which sounds remarkably like that of his owner, Kate.
Many people are familiar with the whaling history of Nantucket and New Bedford. Fewer, however, know the rich and fascinating history of the Martha’s Vineyard fleet and its mariners. Never as big as its more famous whaling rivals, it nevertheless played a role in America’s nautical history as a port. But more importantly, the Vineyard produced great whaling captains and mates. Some of them, such as George Fred Tilton, were among the most famous sea ícaptains ever.
People interested in writing books for children will meet Monday, Nov. 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the home of Carol Carrick in West Tisbury. This monthly meeting is for serious writers only. Members will read manuscripts and discuss them. They will also share news and advice from the children’s book world. For details and directions call Carol Carrick at 508- 696-6277, or Marilyn Hollinshead at 508-693-5803.
Celebrate Jewish Book Month with the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center at 130 Centre street in Vineyard Haven, with a special reading on Sunday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. by author and seasonal resident Professor Edward Kaplan. He will speak about his new book, Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America 1940-1972.
Refreshments will follow, as well as the center’s book fair, with books for all ages.
Gazette contributing photographer and Chilmark resident Peter Simon has published a new book, The Reggae Scrapbook. It’s an 11 X 12 coffee table book with more than 300 photos, an authoritative text by co-author Roger Steffans, and much splashy reggaemobilia such as stickers, ticket stubs, posters and album covers, some of which are detachable.
In the midst of Hanukkah, children’s author Sarah Marwil Lamstein polishes up timeless motifs about the mysterious ways of God in Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale, her dexterous retelling of a folktale from the Middle East.
She will share the book on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore on Main street in Vineyard Haven.
Hungarian-Canadian author and sailor Ferenc Mate, author of The Hills of Tuscany, the critically acclaimed A Reasonable Life, and two books of photography including the highly acclaimed World’s Best Sailboats and A New England Autumn, will discuss his new book, A Vineyard in Tuscany: Shooting for the Moon, and offer a taste of his wines, on Friday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore on Main street in Vineyard Haven.
Writer Holly Nadler of Oak Bluffs is busily scribbling away at a sequel to her book Haunted Island: True Ghost Stories of Martha’s Vineyard, released by Down East Books in 1994, and now going into its ninth printing. The new book will be titled Vineyard Supernatural: True Ghost Stories from America’s Most Haunted Island, expected to go on sale in the fall of 2008.
Shel Silverstein was not an easy man, but he was a passionate and spectacular man and artist.
Now, eight years after his death, Mr. Silverstein’s intense, very private life and creative genius is chronicled in the biography A Boy Named Shel by Lisa Rogak, recently released by St. Martin’s Press. The book is drawing intense and pasionate reactions, Ms. Rogak says.
