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Thomas Mark and Lee Ann Szelog, former keepers at Marshall Point Light, Maine. (Thomas Mark Szelog) |
Shelf life
Light housekeeping
For 14 years, nature photographer Thomas Mark Szelog and his wife, Lee Ann Szelog, lived next to the Marshall Point lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine. They watched porpoises and harbor seals, witnessed baptisms and weddings at the water's edge, took care of the lighthouse, and produced a book.
"Our Point of View: Fourteen Years at a Maine Lighthouse" (Down East), with entries culled from the couple's journal, is richly illustrated with Thomas Mark's photographs (as below). "Our Point of View" won a 2008 Maine Literary Award, sponsored by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.
Powers that were
A past governor of Vermont and a former US senator from Rhode Island are weighing in on national politics in their new books.
Madeleine M. Kunin, the first female governor of Vermont, draws on her campaign experience in "Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead" (Chelsea Green). Is the United States ready to elect a woman president? Kunin's analysis hints that the answer may be "not yet." As more female candidates get elected, voters grow more comfortable with the prospect of female leaders, writes Kunin, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Yet change is slow, she notes; women make up only 16 percent of Congress.
Lincoln Chafee, who represented Rhode Island in the US Senate for eight years, delivers a stinging critique in "Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President" (St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne). Once a liberal Republican and now unaffiliated, Chafee has endorsed Barack Obama for president. "Against the Tide" does not address Chafee's political ambitions, but his biography on the book jacket notes that he has been mentioned as a candidate for governor of Rhode Island in 2010.
Well lettered
Every year Massachusetts students in grades 4 through 12 are invited to write a letter to the author of their favorite book. The testimonials tell their own stories: A novel about the Depression helped a boy understand why his grandparents are so frugal. A Puerto Rican girl told Sandra Cisneros that she draws courage from the strong women in her books. "The School Story," by Andrew Clements, inspired a 10-year-old girl to write a novel.
Winners of this year's Letters About Literature Awards will read their letters during a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Great Hall at the State House. The Massachusetts Center for the Book posts the letters at massbook.org.
Leafed out
The public is invited to look through some of the year's most beautiful books on April 9. The winners of the 51st annual juried New England Book Show will be on display from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, 138 St. James Ave., Boston. Bookbuilders of Boston sponsors the awards for outstanding work by graphic designers, printers, and publishers.
Coming out
Pick of the week
Matt Kandarian of Books on the Square, in Providence, recommends "The View From the Seventh Layer," by Kevin Brockmeier (Pantheon): "The new short story collection from the author of 'The Brief History of the Dead' beautifully demonstrates his unique gift for making the commonplace extraordinary and the extraordinary wonderfully ordinary."
Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
