THANK YOU!

Hats off or a tip of the ole grape to Nancy Gardella.   In Friday’s Vineyard Haven news in the Vineyard Gazette, she wrote: “While our library is terrific at getting us the books we want, I knew I wanted to own it (The Game of My Life by Jason McElwain) to pass around to many of my friends dealing with autism.   A word of thanks to the staff at our wonderful Bunch of Grapes who are always helpful and got the book for me within three days.   I would much rather visit my local bookstore and deal with all the friendly people than to go to Amazon.com.”

Smart lady, that Nancy!   Nice, too!   I cannot understand why people living on an island don’t realize that if they spend their hard-earned money on the island, it enriches the community, which we all cherish so much.    If money is spent off-island, it stays off-island.   Who than pays for the teachers, the bank tellers, the lawn mowers, the snow plowers?    Who donates to the schools and the causes?

Thanks again, Nancy, for your kind words.

Karen

MARCH 12 SATURDAY 2-4 P.M.

Bunch of Grapes

ACE-MV & BUNCH OF GRAPES BOOKSTORE HOST AN AFTERNOON WITH AUTHORS
Local Authors Reading from New/Current Work
 

Join us Saturday, March 12th, for an Author’s Reading co-sponsored by ACE-MV featuring some of our best local authors reading from new/current stories.  Emceed by RON D’AGOSTINO, it’s sure to be a wonderful afternoon spent listening to great writers!

NANCY ARONIE, Writing From the Heart
Founder of the Chilmark Writing Workshop as well as author of many essays on writing that have frequently aired on National Public Radio, her book titled Writing From the Heart is full of warm, lively, often humorous anecdotes, advice, and lessons, on using creative writing as a path to healing the self.

MIKE DITCHFIELD, Carpet Doctors a short story.
Author of three yet-to-be-published books, and producer of several adult and children’s plays.  “Boxes” and “A Very Minor Profit” were both produced at the Vineyard Playhouse, and “A Very Minor Profit” was also produced at Featherstone.

NANCY GAFFNEY, Prey for Closure & Another Way
Nancy Gaffney lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her boyfriend, laptop and an imagination that keeps her pecking at her keyboard, until the small hours of the morning. Her tales are populated with heroines who are fierce, fiesty and more than capable of solving – and creating – their own problems.

ZELDA GAMSON, Google My Brain, In My Grandfather’s Shoe Store, and others.
A sociologist with a doctorate from Harvard, Zelda, or Zee as she is known to her friends, has started writing short memoir stories in a more personal voice than she used in her previous scholarly writings, which include Academic Values and Mass Education and Liberating Education, among others.  She’ll join us to read from a selection of these memoir pieces as we in turn help her celebrate her birthday!

JOHN HOUGH, JR., Seen the Glory: A Novel of Gettysburg and The Last Summer
Hough’s superbly readable historical novel, the revealing coming-of-age story of two young brothers fighting in the Civil War, evokes the hardships and camaraderie of ordinary soldiers and civilians set against the bloody drama of the Battle of Gettysburg.  John is working on a new book and we may be lucky enough to hear some excerpts from that book!?

SUSAN KLEIN,  MV: Now & Zen, and Through a Ruby Window
Susan Klein is the consummate storyteller.  She has been honored by the National Storytelling Network for the excellence of her craft, and she is one of the most-sought professional storytellers on the national scene today. She has been seen on ABC’s “Nightline” and heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Good Evening.” Whether reading from Ruby Window or MV: Now & Zen, or even something new that she’s working on, you’re sure to be mesmerized.

CYNTHIA RIGGS,  Touch-Me-Not and The Bee Balm Murders
Cynthia Riggs, a thirteenth-generation Islander, lives on Martha’s Vineyard in her family homestead, which she runs as a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers.”The Bee Balm Murders “is the tenth entry in her mystery series, which boasts a unique heroine, an eccentric cast, and beautiful descriptions of Martha’s Vineyard.

SUSAN STRANE, Where Is the River?
Susan is a free-lance editor  and author of A Whole-Souled Woman, a biography of Connecticut abolitionist Prudence Crandall. She will be reading from a non-fiction work in progress tentatively entitled Where is the River? which is about a Turkish minority, the Circassians, and also about the involvement and intervention of Americans in Turkey. Susan lived in a Circassian village in 1966-67 as a Peace Corps rural development worker and has a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and an MFA in non-fiction writing from Columbia University.

SILENT MERCY

Our friend and fellow Island lover, Linda Fairstein,  has come out with another Alexandra Cooper thriller, SILENT MERCY.   The decapitated, badly burned body of a woman is found inside the gates of Harlem’s Mount Neboh Baptist Church.   The only evidence of the identity of the woman is an imprint of a Star of David necklace burned into her neck.   Is the gruesome death religious?    The location is Baptist and the victim probably Jewish.    What is the connection?    As another murder happens in an another venerable house of worship, Alex and her partner work to find the connections to what appears to be a serial killing spree.

Fairstein keeps the reader alert with anticipation, searching her well told history of New York for clues as to who the killer/killers might be.

Riveting and intelligent!

For sale on Tuesday, March 8th.

Karen

SCREENWRITER’S CIRCLE

The starting date for the Screenwriter’s Circle has been changed to February 22nd.

WINTER OF OUR DISCONNECT

Have you ever sat on the boat, waited for a meeting to begin or just walked into your own home, where everyone around you is plugged into their computer, iPhone,iPod or television, completely oblivious to the human beings around them?   Susab Maushart felt like she was facing this everyday, when she walked into her family room, occupied by her three teenage children, who were all plugged into something or several somethings.   They were often using the internet, texting and listening to their iPods simultaneously.

She proposed, with bribes, that they disconnect for 6 months.    She bribed them with money, that she hoped to receive from the book, THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONNECT.  She rid the house of all televisions, computers, cell phones, (including her iPhone, which she usually slept with under her pillow.) iPods, videos and electronic games.   For two weeks she even kept the electricity shut-off.    They could all use the gadgets at the library or friends house, just not at home.

This is a hilarious book (or LOL as she says).   The 18, 16 and 14 year old did not embrace the idea with open arms.   Even she grumped that it make her life more difficult.    But persevere they did.   Interesting ideas came out.  When did parents become responsible for boredom?   Do we communicate more with all our electronic communicators or less?   Do things like cell phones make our life easier or more complicated?  (Parents use to tell children when they would pick them up and where.  Now with instant communication, there are more calls and far more negotiations to handle.)

This books is timely and humorous.   She has wonderful children.   How well did they survive?   The oldest started to cook.  The middle child picked up his saxophone again.   The youngest got more  sleep.   The family was happy to get their toys back after six months, but they had learned to reconnect with each other over music, meals and board games.   They also have a family room again, not just a docking space for their gadgets.

A fun read!

Karen

New!

SCREENWRITER’S CIRCLE AND WORKSHOP

“The Character of a Screenplay”

A screenplay can be defined by its integrity, its inherent character, and
by the characters that live within its words.

Start date: Tuesday, Feb. 15th

Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

8 WEEK WORKSHOP, $175.00

Character is defined as the aggregate of features and traits that
form the individual nature of some person or thing. In the context
of a screenplay, these would include structure, time, setting, genre,
language, tone, plot, story, conflict, crisis, climax, resolution, and of
course the characters themselves.

What makes a good character? How is a character defined within the
context of a story? What is a character arc? How do you write the
inner life of a character? What is the defining moment of a character?
How does developing a character help develop the story line and plot?

It is the combination of all of these outer and inner characteristics that
determine the impression a character and a screenplay will make on
us. Learn about these key elements in this Screenwriter’s circle.

*This is not a beginner’s workshop. It is intended for writers that are
currently working on a screenplay or on a story that they want to write
as a screenplay.

Contact Jill Alman-Bernstein at jmabedit@gmail.com or 508-645-2337
for more information or to register!

Books on the Shelf

Here are just a few of the many books that we have on the shelves at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore that I have enjoyed.     A big bonus is that they are all in paperback.

MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson is a delightful story of a very proper, English gentleman.   He is a retired military man, widowed and beginning to feel his age in his thatched cottage in the English countryside.   His brother’s unexpected death leads him to a friendship with Mrs Ali, a Pakistani lady, who runs the tea shop in the village.    They become unlikely friends with their shared love of literature.   The locals consider Pettigrew to be the proper Brit and Mrs Ali, the forever foreigner.   Pettigrew finds happiness as he accepts that the world changes and he can do likewise.

ITALIAN SHOES by Henning Mankell.   Mankell, who is the author of the Kurt Wallender mysteries,  gives us this story of loss and redemption.    Fredrik Welkin is a former surgeon, who feels responsible for amputating the wrong arm of one of his patients.   He has exiled himself to a frozen island, where he jumps into a hole in the ice daily to remind himself that he is still alive.   In the house a giant anthill grows, much as his feelings of guilt and remorse do.    An unexpected visitor comes across the ice and his life begins to change as he finds relief and redemption among the living once again.

BENEATH THE LION’S GAZE by Maaza Mengiste   This debut novel about Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the 1970′s is both alarming and gratifying.  Yonas prays for the end of violence.   His younger brother, Dawit, joins the underground resistance.   Their father has been ordered to report to jail.   It is the moving story about the bonds of love and friendship and how far humans will go for freedom and the price they have to pay to achieve it.

murmur

There is a very soft murmur out there.  I wish that it was louder, even a scream or a shout, but if one listens carefully, one can hear it.   People are beginning to talk about the benefits of independent bookstores, that deal mostly with paper books.    A gentleman, who was in the store recently, began to talk to other customers about the need to support independent bookstore.   He comes from a well-educated New England town, that has lost its bookstores, not just one , but two.   He was actively encouraging our customers to buy.    He said that when a community loses its bookstores it loses part of the nourishment that keeps it alive.    He said that he and his fellow townies were to blame.     By shopping in “mega-on-line stores” and out-of-town box stores, they killed something that they had and lost before they knew it.

We are beginning to hear other comments.    “I like my ___reading machine for travel, but I have gone back to books for enjoyment because I can share them.”   “I prefer to buy my books in an independent bookstore because I know the money I spend continues to circulate in my community.”    ” Independent booksellers  are just more  knowledgable and  fun!”

So there you have.   People are beginning to get it.   Maybe slow, but sure will win the race.

Karen

My Day Off…

What I did on my day off this week…

Tempted?

Edited to add: I’ve had a few people ask what book it is… Rick Riordan’s new book… he wrote the Percy Jackson series, and this is the first of the Kane Chronicles… THE RED PYRAMID.  And, yes, I loved it…

Summer reads from Vineyard Stories

One of the great joys of independent bookselling is getting to know your local authors, and if you’re lucky, getting to know a local publisher.  We are very lucky on the Island. We’ve got Vineyard Stories.

Vineyard Stories was started by John Walter and Jan Pogue in 2005.  Both come from long backgrounds in editing and publishing.  From day one, they’ve upheld their goal of creating quality books with Island focus. We miss John dearly (he passed away in 2008) and are grateful that we still have Jan to carry on their mission.

They won’t print books where the only value is the Vineyard connection, but find books that transcend the Island, then produce them to the highest standards of quality.  They are books that could happily reside on any shelf in the country, to be showcased and treasured… they just happen to all have a Vineyard connection.

The easiest example: MORNING GLORY FARM.  One-third the story of the farm and the importance of local farming, one-third recipes (organized by season) and one-third gorgeous Alison Shaw photographs: of the food, the farm and the family.  It was our highest selling book of 2009… yes, because people who know and love Morning Glory Farm were buying it, but more than that… The essays on local farming, the seasonal recipes and the photographs would delight any chef who has never even heard of the farm before.  It was given a Gourmand World Cookbook Award for best local cuisine cookbook in the United States. The Secretary of Agriculture wrote Vineyard Stories a letter in appreciation of an important book for sustainability.

That is the kind of publishing we are talking about. Independent, small, local, loyal, Island, and of a quality that easily competes with any large publisher. OK. I’ll stop gushing about them…

…and start gushing about the books they have coming this summer.  We saw Jan last month and she introduced us to this summer’s line up. Wow.  Just wow.

SCHOONER by Tom Dunlop with photos by Alison Shaw.

This coffee table book leads you through the construction of Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, a 60-foot wooden schooner built by Gannon & Benjamin on Martha’s Vineyard. Nearly every piece of Rebecca is built or cast by hand. She is the embodiment of living a life without the word “disposable”. The text and photos in the book are a celebration of the skill and artwork involved in building something significant, useful, lovely and lasting. … and holy Mary, but it’s a gorgeous book. The photos are just as lovely as any I’ve seen from Alison.  It will be the perfect Father’s Day gift, and a prized possession of any boat lover, both on and off the Island.

CIRCLE OF FAITH: The Story of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp-Meeting by Sally Dagnall

One of the most common questions we get on the Island is about the Gingerbread Cottages. Where did they come from and why? Here is the history of the Oak Bluffs Camp-meeting community… how it came to exist and how it has survived until today.

PIMPNEYMOUSE FARM: The Last Farm on Chappaquiddick by Edo Potter

A memoir from a member of the family who has owned and operated the largest farm on Chappaquiddick since 1928. A unique and personal view of the island of Chappaquiddick and how it has evolved over the last 70 years.

NIGHTTIDE ON A VINEYARD FARM by Patty Schaal with illustrations by Margot Datz

This is a true sneak preview, because we don’t even have a price or the precise date of publication yet (I’ll let you know as soon as I do, but it should be by late June).  There wasn’t a finished copy to look at, but we were lucky enough to see some of the originalpaintings that will be in the book.  They are amazing. If you know Margot’s work, these are just gorgeous.  And if you don’t know Margot’s work; actually, you probably do… she did the mural you see at the Steamship in Vineyard Haven.

Click on any of the book covers in this post, and it will take you to the Bunch of  Grapes to order them. And here’s a little sampling from the past…