When Eric Asimov visits the Island for the book festival it will be his first time on the Vineyard in 30 years. His last trip was marked by trying his first farm-fresh egg. He was in college at the time, sleeping on a friend’s floor, and for breakfast one morning they went to the neighbor’s next door to fetch the eggs for breakfast.
For a parent, a child’s teenage years can be a frustrating time, when adulthood and independence start to rear their twin heads. Most parents, though, have the benefit of knowing the ins and outs of their child, having raised them since birth. But what if you were to skip the younger years entirely and suddenly find yourself a first-time parent to a 15 year old?
In past years the Martha’sVineyard Book Festival was a one-day event taking place at the Chilmark Community Center. This year the organizers have added a second day at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown.
Summer reads are one thing, but the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival is quite another. In its fifth year, the festival occurs the first weekend in August every other year and highlights the Island’s rich literary history while bringing some of the best known authors to the Vineyard. The weekend features some of the country’s leading authors and includes readings, panel discussions, author interviews and book signings.
It’s official: Kindle and e-books may flourish, but real books with pages you can turn are here to stay. Just as television thrived without disposing of movies, books and book lovers will never go away. Last Sunday’s Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival proved it.
W e keep reading. When the writing is bad, it’s a fleeting disappointment but when it’s good, there’s nothing better. When it’s good, it matters in the moment and in our memory; nothing matters more.
Few words are new, but lately they come at us in torrents. Words, words, words career toward us, screaming, tweeting, each true enough but incomplete. Words alone are isolating; writing, telling stories, that’s what takes the isolation away.