Books & Ideas
MELTING DOWN. By Harvey Stone (The Way Things Are Publications), $28.95.
Anyone, young or old, who has a summer friend, enjoys the company of the family dog, cherishes their time along the shore and appreciates the differences in life that the world provides will find Sarah French’s new book, Summer Friends (Vineyard Stories, $16.95), very appealing. Ms. French, of Rowayton, Conn., and Chilmark, is not only the author but illustrator as well. Her literary and artistic abilities truly appeal to both children and adults, making this a book that any adult would be happy to read to any child, a very important factor when considering the topic.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, the West Tisbury Library is hosting a two-hour, two-part presentation on caring for a loved one after death. From 5 to 6 p.m. there will be a screening of A Family Undertaking, a documentary of home funerals in America. Following the screening there will be a discussion of the psychological, legal, financial and practical issues surrounding home death care, including every person’s right to dignified, meaningful and affordable end of life care.
What I’m Reading on the
Ferry Martha’s Vineyard
The Vineyard Haven Library is not going gently into that fall season.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. the library hosts a lecture by Saloma Furlong entitled Why I Left the Amish. Ms. Furlong was born and raised in an Amish community in Ohio, but decided she had to leave to pursue a different type of life which included a formal education. She graduated from Smith College in 2007 and recently left her position at Amherst College to pursue her writing career full-time.
Ms. Saloma will discuss what it was like to live and leave the Amish lifestyle.
The Civil War lecture series at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum continues next Thursday, Sept. 8, when James B. Richardson 3rd gives a lecture entitled Confederated Raiders by Land and Sea.
The talk will focus on the Confederate Navy and how it was able to infiltrate the New England coast, sinking sixty-seven vessels in these waters and making a daring raid as far north as St. Albans, Vermont. They were aided in this venture by a commissioner in Canada.