Cape Cod Book & Authors

Bestselling author Lisa Genova to speak at Sandwich Library in February

Author to discuss new book, Left Neglected

Lisa Genova, author of the New York Times bestselling novel, Still Alice, will talk about her new book, Left Neglected, at the Sandwich Public Library on Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.  The event is sponsored by Titcomb's Bookshop and the Sandwich Public Library.

Left Neglected is a poignant story of a 37-year-old, overachieving multitasking wife and mother with a Harvard MBA and a demanding job.  Her life comes to a halt when a car accident leaves her with a traumatic brain injury in which she loses all  awareness of anything to her left, including the left side of her own body. The one person who can help when insurance runs out is Sarah’s mother, Helen, yet their relationship has been rocky ever since Helen was a virtually absentee mother for Sarah after Sarah’s brother died in childhood. As Sarah’s struggles parallel those of her 7-year-old son, Charlie, just diagnosed with ADHD, there is healing of body, mind, and mother-daughter relationship and acceptance that “normal is overrated.”

Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She lives with her husband and two children in Cape Cod. She is also the author of of the New York Times bestselling novel, Still Alice.

For further information or to reserve a signed copy of  the book if you cannot attend, contact Titcomb’s Bookshop at 508-888-2331 or  www.titcombsbookshop.com or the Sandwich Public Library at 508-888-0625 ext. 301 or www.sandwichpubliclibrary.com.

The Sandwich Public Library is at 142 Main Street in Sandwich.

Courtesy of Titcomb's Bookshop.

New Civil War reading group announced at the Dennis Public Library

New group meets on January 12th

The Dennis Public Library has announced the start of a new Civil War reading group. The group, which is open to everyone, will meet on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at 6:3o p.m. at the Dennis Public Library.

According to the Library, in 2011 America will recognize the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. For four years the reading group, led by history enthusiast Lew Taylor, will follow the timeline of the Civil War, beginning with the issues behind secession all the way through to the surrender at Appomattox.

Visit the Library's website for more information. The Dennis Public Library is at 5 Hall Street in Dennisport, 508-760-6219.

Source: DPL.

Cape Cod author receives $7,500 grant from the Massachusetts

Jamie Cat Callan, author of French Women Don't Sleep Alone wins grant for fiction/creative nonfiction

The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) has recognized 39 Massachusetts artists for creating work of exceptional quality in the disciplines of choreography, fiction/creative nonfiction, and poetry. The MCC's Artist Fellowship Program has awarded $7,500 unrestricted grants to 21 artists, and distinguishes 18 others as finalists with $500 grants.

Jamie Cat Callan of Mashpee won a grant for $7,500 in fiction/nonfiction for her story Welcome to the Winter Club.

The author, Jamie Cat Callan. Read an interview with Callan here.  In August of 2010, Jamie Cat Callan embarked on a WHOI adventure. Read more and find links to her A Girl's Guide to Climate Change here.

She will be part of a breakfast reception and celebration at the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Thursday, November 18, 2010 where state political leaders will have an opportunity to get to know the artists whom MCC has singled out for excellence.  Other artists to win awards include writers Pagan Kennedy and Alexander Chee and the poet Kevin Young.  Past winners include the poet Mark Doty, and fiction writers Tim O'Brien, Tom Perrotta and memoirist Mary Karr.

Jamie Cat Callan is the author of French Women Don't Sleep Alone and the forthcoming Bonjour, Happiness! (Citadel April 2011).  She is also the creator of The Writers Toolbox and has taught creative writing at the Falmouth Community School and the Truro Center for the Arts.

MCC's Artist Fellowships recognize the unique contribution made by artists to the cultural vitality of the Commonwealth. The fellowships provide direct assistance to Massachusetts artists to recognize excellence and creative ability, and to support further development of their talents. MCC chronicles the impact of these awards in the Fellows Notes section of its ArtSake blog. Over the years, many artists of national and international prominence have won state fellowships.

"Massachusetts has a long, storied history of creative innovation, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of our individual artists," said MCC Executive Director Anita Walker. "We are proud to honor these remarkable artists for advancing our state's cultural heritage."

Courtesy of the MCC.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.
MCC is a state agency committed to building a central place for arts and culture in the everyday lives of communities across the Commonwealth. It pursues this mission through a combination of grants, services and advocacy for cultural organizations, schools, communities and artists. MCC receives an annual appropriation from the state Legislature and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources.

Summer Reading List for the beach, plane, or nightstand

Three from my bookself to yours

By Kali Downer

As a life-long avid reader, I have always regarded the summer as my "best" reading season. There is something about summer that seems to invite uninterrupted stretches of time with nothing to do but get lost in a book. However, once I've made my way through the season's New York Times Best Seller List and brushed the dust off the "books I've been meaning to read" from my own bookshelf, I start begging everyone I know for recommendations. If you're anything like me and you're looking for the perfect books to suit all your summer moods, here are few of my all-time favorites...

For the beach...

My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler

HILARIOUS. When I look for a good beach read I try to keep things light and fun. Each of these short-stories is funnier than the next and you can easily read between flipping over to even out your tan, running after the ice cream truck, and taking a dip in the water to cool off. 

There's no sense in giving away the punch-line to any of Handler's tales, as she is truly an expert story-teller when it comes to the crude, so you'll just have to take my word that this is a must read for the beach.

For the airplane...

Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn

To start, I will say that under normal circumstances I would never, EVER read a book that could even moderately be considered "fantasy". Yet somehow I was coerced by a friend to read it for a book club, and it only took one chapter to get me completely and utterly hooked. There is no better way to describe this book than to simply say that it is bizarre. The concept is beyond twisted - a husband and wife intentionally create genetic mutations in their chilren by taking bizarre combinations of experimental drugs so that each of them can play a role in the family's traveling carnival. The family of "geeks", as carnival performers were formerly referred to, includes an "aqua boy" with flippers instead of arms and legs, siamese twin pianists, a seemingly "normal" boy with super-human strength, and the story's narrator, a humpbacked albino dwarf.

What is most striking about this book is how easy it is to put aside any apprehensions you may have about the story being too unbelievable or inaccessible. Beneath the narrative of this family of carnival freaks lies a very real and heartbreaking story about family dymanics, what it means to be an "outcast" both inside and outside the confines of your own family, and the human condition.

I read most of this book on an early morning flight from New York City to San Diego, barely putting it down to take a sip from my drink and silently curse the flight attendent for not leaving the whole can. It is the perfect airplane read because the cast of characters will fully engross, distract, and entertain even the most fearful flyers.

For the nightstand...

Some Things That Stay by Sarah Willis

This book begins in the Spring of 1954 as the 15-year old protagonist, Tamara Anderson, arrives at her family's new farmhouse in rural upstate New York. It is by no means her first move as Tamara's father has been packing up the family trailer with all of their belongings every Spring to serve as a fresh backdrop for his career as a landscape artist. When Tamara's mother comes down with Tuberculosis and is sent away to a sanitorium she is left to her own devices to navigate her new surroundings and burgeoning sexuality under the tuteledge of the teenage boy across the street.

I LOVE coming of age stories, and this is one of my favorites. Told from the perspective of a 15-year old girl, the writing is genuine, unassuming, and reminiscent of my own insecurities and curiosities at that age. Often when I think of summer - especially during the adolescent years - I am reminded of the immense amount of personal growth that takes place between one school year ending and another beginning. This book captures that time period and all its emotions with perfection and grace. 

EDITOR's NOTE: The links take the reader to the Amazon site where by clicking on the book cover shown on the left will enable readers to scan a few pages of each.

An exceptional photobook: "NANTUCKET" by Cary Hazlegrove

Captures the peaceful, off season side of "Yesterday's Island"

   The "Rainbow Fleet" is one of 130 impressive photographs in Cary Hazlegrove new book.

Book review by Walter Brooks

Milestone Road.

Ocean Avenue, Siasconset.

Wedding

The moors.

Milk Street door with Lightship baskets (from her blog)

It is truly difficult to create yet another photobook about Nantucket given the dozens already published, but "Nantucket" by Cary Hazlegrove manages to accomplish this feat with ease and considerable grace.

And it's especially difficult when you've already published two other photobooks on the same subject in the past decade.
__________________________

  Turner Publishing Company
  ISBN: 9781596525665
  Price: $39.95
__________________________

This storied island has always been considered one of New England's most beautiful offshore wonders. This new luxurious, 10x10 coffee-table book, NANTUCKET showcases that beauty through an original, yet reminiscent collection from Cary Hazlegrove.

Cary Hazlegrove is a Siasconset photographer and author who is known for her ability to capture the delicate relationship between coast and climate. She has lived on the island for over three decades, and captures a quite different image in her latest book as only a year-round islander could. See her Facebook here and her book's Facebook here.

MS Hazlegrove forces the viewer to look a commonplace things differently by sometimes focusing on the foreground and letting the photograph's principle subjects, a wedding party or a lighthouse, get blurred in the distance.

"NANTUCKET" is unique because it eloquently captures the ever-changing mood of the island when the visitors have all left and the island settles down for its annual off season rest.

Stunningly printed and glossy paged by Turner Publishing Company, Hazlegrove's 130 poignant color photographs not only explore the whimsical months of summer, but also unveil the mystical, autumn months, the hushed long and gray winters, and the much-welcomed splash of spring.

What is it like in winter?

In an article in the island weekly newspaper, The Nantucket Independent, in 2007, the reporter wrote;

What is Nantucket like in the winter? In the fall? In every season that isn't summer? These are some of the questions nationally recognized, island photographer Cary Hazlegrove answers with her camera in "An Island Life" - a short film of her photos set to music. Hazlegrove organized the beautiful and slightly stoic photos according to aerial shots, photos of special events, images of seasons and then of people.

She began these "glorified yearbooks" in the late 70s, and continued making them for 30 years before going on hiatus to raise her daughter, who's now 10. "Nantucket's changed since I started these, but I can still find my spot of green," Hazlegrove said. "Even when there is so much rampant building, the core people who live here and call Nantucket home year-round make Nantucket an incredibly special place for those who choose to live and work here."

Hazlegrove's earlier Nantucket titles are "NANTUCKET: Seasons on the Island" and "NANTUCKET: The Quiet Season."

Below: Sankaty Head Lighthouse, Siasconset.

Slavery and the Civil War through a Vineyarder's eyes

Seen The Glory: A Novel of Gettysburg

By Michael Phelps

Seen The Glory is a wonderful book and you should read it right away. The four and a half stars of five showing up at amazon.com this afternoon is more than a half a star light as you'll discover.

 Seen the Glory, John Hough, Jr., Simon & Schuster $25

Beach book? It is for sure--or back porch or wherever you go to relax and experience the quiet, solitary joy of reading historical military fiction with the strongest of human and humane elements. It's historical fiction that reflects the importance of having the history right but, the greater importance, perhaps, of getting the sense of time and place in synchronization with characters whose voices you can hear clearly in John Hough's prose.

Seen The Glory is a novel but also a work of scholarship, not just in the historical verisimilitude of the narrative but also, and importantly in the vernacular of the conversations among the characters in Martha's Vineyard and, especially, among the men in Union blue on the march and at war.

It is a story of Martha's Vineyard brothers, sons of an abolitionist father who's a doctor, who join the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and go to war, fight in Northern Virginia and march back north through Maryland to fight still again in Gettysburg. The young soldiers, their father and Rose, the Cape Verdean housekeeper whom each of the three men love in different ways, come to life not through description but through what they say and how they act and move and react to one another. It may have been a war between the states or a war over state sovereignty versus federalism to some but, to the Chandlers, it was a war to end slavery and bring justice to those who had been for nearly the first century of the Republic deprived of the "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" being enjoyed the forebears of the majority.

John Hough's story brings color and texture to the bone-draining fatigue of marching, the bugs, the knee-weakening fear and terror before the battle and the worse terror of what transpires when men kill each other in combat, hand-to-hand and eye-to-eye.

What others are saying about
"Seen the glory":
5/4 Publishers Weekly/ review: "[A] dramatic and tragic tale of Civil War-era brutality and suffering...Hough writes about the Civil War with a novelist's insight and a historian's eye...Amid the blood and fury of battle, a tender and poignant story of idealism, love and brotherly devotion shines through."
6/1 Booklist/ review: "Hough excels at re-creating the chaos, the confusion, and the brutality of war, and his searing, authentically rendered battle scenes should satisfy Civil War enthusiasts. A heartrending family saga wrapped up in an epic clash of armies and ideals."
6/15 Library Journal/ review: "Following in the footsteps of Michael Shaara's classic novel about Gettysburg, The Killer Angels, Hough's epic novel draws in the philosophical conundrums of a country at war and in which the lines among ideology, trust, and love can stand the barrage of battle."
7/10 Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX)/ review: "'Seen the Glory' offers a vivid and brutal glimpse into one of America's most famous battles...a gripping read."
7/1 York Dispatch/ review, feature, and event mention: "Hough's prose is unsparing in its detail and lovely in its rhythms... "Seen the Glory" makes the Battle of Gettysburg accessible and fascinating for non-history buffs, for those who want their action-packed summer reading more thought-provoking than the typical fare. It has its tender moments, too, poignant scenes that make a reader's breath catch. And always, always, it is moving toward that critical battle."
7/3 Barnstable Patriot/ review and event mention: "Hough's powerful war narrative kept me spellbound throughout the course of this fine and rewarding novel...Hough has an admirable ability to impart the small details that lend this narrative its heartbreaking immediacy."

The story is rich, the characters fulsome, the conveyed sense of time and place powerful and persuasive.

Full disclosure

By way, as they say, of full disclosure - Hiring a family member isn't always wrong but it's always tricky.

Writing a review of a book whose author is a good friend and whose father hired me to be newspaper reporter at The Falmouth Enterprise 38 years ago this coming Labor Day is way tougher.

And I resolved to default to not writing this review and telling my friend I could not and would not unless I found the book to be one that I could both cerebrally and passionately recommend.

John Hough made it easy for me.

Put down what you're doing and go get Seen The Glory. And read it.

Michael Phelp is the Publisher of the Washington Examiner. He began his career as a reporter and later Managing Editor of the Falmouth Enterprise and has held several top posts at some of America's best newspapers and newspaper groups. Among the stops on his flight was teaching journalism at Emerson College in Boston while being solicited by many of the nation's largest dailies to mentor their moves into the 21st century.

Mike even remade the industry trade journal Editor & Publisher about ten years ago before heading to the mid west as a vice president of Lee Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: LEE), and publisher of the Quad-City Times. In addition to his responsibilities as publisher in Davenport, Phelps oversaw newspapers in eastern Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Today Mike is publisher of The Examiner in Washington, D.C. and The Baltimore Examiner.

Finally, the ultimate Photo-Journalism book about Cape Cod

Kathryn Kleekamp met the challenge of writing a Cape Cod book to equal those went before
"Cape Cod and the Islands: Where Beauty and History Meet" is superb.

By Walter Brooks

As a young girl, Cape Cod painter and author Kathryn Kleekamp, grew up in an tall apartment building on a busy upper, east side New York City street.

Kathryn is self-taught and began her career seven years ago. This scene overlooking Round Cove in East Harwich is typical of her work and called "Where I want to be."

But one August when she was twelve her mother took her for a week's holiday to a cottage on the Atlantic shore in New Jersey where she sat on the porch in awe looking out at the vast majesty of the ocean.

You might say that week changed her life, because her painting and writing today reflect the wonder she must have felt on that long-gone day, but the metamorphosis didn't occur for almost half a century.

Kathryn had an education in biolgy, raised a family, a career as a clinical microbiologist at the Lahey Clinic until at 58 she began to paint.

While Mrs. Kleekamp's oils easily capture her emotional attachment to the sea, she has also written a text which eloquently pays homage to her love for Cape Cod and it's fragile environment.

Her new book is large (11'x9") does much more than show us her art which would deserve a book all by itself, but she has done something more remarkable. In fact, it's almost unique in the manner it combines art to history and Cape lore.

Prints are available at the following Cape Cod locations:
National Park Service Visitor Center, Eastham, Painted Daisies, East Sandwich, The Crooked Fence, Chatham, H. H. Snow's and Sons, Orleans.
The books are on sale at Brewster Book Store, Route 6-A, Brewster, My Sister's Gallery, Jarves Street, Sandwich, Titcomb's Book Shop, Route 6A East Sandwich, Where the Sidewalk Ends Book Shop. Main Street, Chatham, Market Street Book Shop, Steeple Street, Mashpee Commons, Mashpee, and from the author PO Box 1300, Sandwich, MA 02563, (508)833-1271.Please mail check for $29.99 and $3/book for shipping and handling.

Pleasing the eye, mind and palate

She has written short stories to surround her art and the art of others with a graceful terseness which equals any others in the field. This is not a coffee table book, although it could serve as one proudly. It is art and photography and antiques drawings with a page of text to explain the significance of each, and even a section of Cape Cod recipes.

The reader should visit her gallery or one of the shops and galleries which handle her art and this book in the sidebar on the right.

Any lover of our narrow land should rush to the bookstore listed to add this thing of beauty to his or her library.

This hardcover, 11 by 9-inches, volume has 176 pages with 159 images and illustrations, including 50 original oil paintings by the artist and many rare historic photos.

Despite its large size and original art, it sells for only $29.95 and is published by Schiffer Books, a firm famous for introducing new art and history volumes and well as Green titles, architecture, antiques and military history.

To whet your appetite Kathryn Kleekamp has kindly given us permission to share four chapters with you including three of her original painting created specifically for this booh:

The Cape Landscape,
Chapter One (p.14.)

Evening Marsh 2006, oil on canvas panel.

Marsh
"To feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines . . . to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be," Rachel Carson, Under the Sea Wind

Beach and ocean may first come to mind when considering the Cape Cod landscape, but the salt marshes surrounding the ocean's countless tributaries are the areas of true mystery and wonder. Those who find time to visit the marsh will discover a Zen-like calmness as languorous grasses dotted with sea lavender gently sway in the breeze, ducks paddle lazily on an open patch of water, a lone osprey circles overhead. Beyond the visual beauty, it's the unique ability of marsh plants and animals to tolerate vast extremes in natural conditions that is truly impressive. No other habitat in nature is more dramatic or stressful. Flowing ocean tides bring fluctuations in salinity and variable water inundation. Summer temperatures on the marsh can vary over 50 degrees in a few hours when the cool water retreats and the sun bakes the earth.

A salt marsh is formed by the arrival of a seed of grass called Spartina alterniflora. The grass grows and spreads by means of a subterranean rhizome system. As roots are formed, they become dense and encourage the deposition of sediment and decayed material. This begins to create a terrestrial land mass and as other salt tolerant grasses invade, the area grows and meadows form. Between these meadows are creeks that have an extremely abundant and diverse population of plants and sea creatures. Mussels grow readily and can be quite densely packed. The byssal threads or silky filaments secreted by these mollusks bind the sediment and further enhances the growth of Spartina. Another common salt marsh resident, the fiddler crab, also aids in Spartina growth by burrowing and aerating the sediment.

Marsh estuaries are the spawning grounds and nursery areas for 75% of commercial and recreational fish species such as striped bass, bluefish and flounder. Untold thousands of other tiny fish like mummichogs or sticklebacks who spend their lives in the marsh can be seen on closer observation. Hermit crabs scurry along the intertidal mudflats. Snails hold fast to their lodging at the base of the salty cord grass stems; sparrows and red-winged blackbirds nest in tidal marshes. Herons and snowy egrets visit the marsh attracted by the elaborate menu of seafood.

Safeguarding Those at Sea ~ Lighthouses
Chapter Seven (p.97.)

Caption: Sandy Neck Light, 2007, oil on canvas.

In the early 1800s, Barnstable Harbor was an active trade and fishing port. The first light station, built on the west side of the harbor in 1827, consisted of a wooden lantern on the roof of a keeper's house. Its fixed light welcomed Barnstable fishermen from nine miles out on Cape Cod Bay. It shone for three decades until replaced by the brick tower (painted white) that stands today. Although lighthouse keepers were for the most part men, many brave women undertook the role; usually after a husband or father died. In the winter of 1862, keeper Thomas Baxter was struggling to navigate his dory through the ice clogged waters of Barnstable harbor when he badly injured his leg. After it became gangrenous and led to death, his wife Lucy took over his responsibilities. She was an able caretaker from 1862 to 1867 while raising her three children in the keeper's house.

The Outermost House
(Chapter One: The Cape Landscape)

   The Outermost House, oil on canvas.

"Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and
experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man."
Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

There have always been individuals who isolated themselves from the modern world and sought inspiration and restoration by living in a beach cottage.

Cape Cod has produced many fine authors who have shared such an experience. Among these, two stand out.

In 1926, writer and naturalist Henry Beston built a simple two-room dwelling on a cliff overlooking the outer beach in Eastham.

He intended to spend a couple of weeks there but later wrote, "The fortnight ending, I lingered on, and as the year lengthened into autumn, the beauty and mystery of this earth and outer sea so possessed and held me that I could not go."

Beston considered himself a "writer/naturalist" and is thought to be one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement. His book,

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, was an inspirational force in the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

In his foreword to the eleventh printing of the book he wrote, "Bird migrations, the rising of the winter stars out of the breakers and the east, night and storm, the solitude of a January day, the glistening of dune grass in midsummer, all this is to be found between the covers even as today it is still to be seen."

Driven by the relation of nature to the human spirit he tells us, "Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man."

Years later, after beach erosion forced its move, the Fo'c‘sle (Beston's name for his cottage) was relocated inland. Nan Waldron Turner was another who was drawn to the natural world and spent the equal of a year there counting her visits over sixteen years beginning in 1961.

She chronicled her experiences in Journey to the Outermost House. Nan's daughter, Les Waldron, shared her own recollections of staying in the house (personal communication with Kathryn)

Outermost wasn't just a cottage. It had a different purpose...a very different reason for being. It was a courageous little safe-harbor far along a spit of sand with no electricity or amenities save hand pump and gas lights.

One chose to stay there (without cell phones) knowing there was not imminent rescue or neighbor to call. The house, and its guests endured, baked by the sun, plagued by insects, beaten by rain, ice, tides and pelting sand.

It was the symbol of modest human presence slipped into the raw world of natural wonder...humbling to say the least.

Thankfully, both books endure. The Outermost House was washed out to sea in the great blizzard of 1978.

Cape Wind
(Chapter Eight: Realizing Dreams)

   Simulation of the Nantucket wind Farm as seen from Cotuit, MA. Courtesy Jim Gordon

In the early 19th century windmills were spread over the entire Cape landscape. They ground corn and were used extensively to pump sea water for hundreds of salt works vital to the Cape economy.

Jim Gordon, an experienced power plant developer, and 21st century visionary would like to see the return of wind power.

By harnessing the forceful winds of Nantucket Sound on the southern border of Cape Cod, he realizes the potential of generating clean, renewable electricity.

His company, Cape Wind Associates, announced a plan to build America's first offshore wind farm in 2001. The project can provide 75% of the electrical needs of the Cape and Islands.

One hundred and thirty slender turbines generating on average170 megawatts and a peak output of 420 megawatts of renewable power would be spread a half mile apart over 24 square miles.

Gordon relates, "While this project is only a first step, it's a significant one toward lowering United States' dependence on foreign oil.

Also important, it would reduce harmful air pollution that otherwise would come from oil and coal burning power plants."

The wind farm will avoid carbon dioxide emissions by almost a million tons per year by replacing fossil fuels.

Unlike the 1800s when there were no permitting requirements to put up a windmill, Cape Wind has undergone seven years of investigation by at least fifteen local, state and federal permitting agencies.

Dozens of environmental groups including the Conservation Law Foundation, Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists support the project.

Although polls indicate most people are in favor of wind power and clean energy, a powerful group of citizens on Cape Cod and the Islands are concerned about visual appearance and property values.

They have formed a group to oppose the project. Thousands of others have organized to support the project's merits. It's a very divisive issue locally and as the drama plays out only time will reveal the outcome of Jim Gordon's dream.

Tour the Cape with an Eleventh Generation Cape Codder

Tour the Cape with an Eleventh Generation Cape Codder

Are you looking for a clear, concise (almost complete) tour of Cape Cod? Something  without neon signs to tourist traps and clam shacks?  This might just be the tour  book for you.

Andy Buckley's new "Tours of Cape Cod" is as refreshingly laid back as the peninsula  he writes about.

Buckley, a self-labeled Renaissance Man (his resume must be at least eight pages  long) and lifetime Cape resident, has compiled six must-see tours of the Cape. Some  by bike, some by car, some on foot--something to please and/or accommodate everyone. 

In Buckley's opening he admits these Tours of Cape Cod are not complete because he  has left out entire towns.  His omission was strategic--if he added a town, the tour  would graduate from walking to driving and so forth.  No worries, the true explorer  will surely discover these ignored towns on his/her own.

The author's style is straightforward, even New England Yankee in tone.  It's a no  nonsense guide to historic places.  Each tour starts with very important information:  whether you will need your car, bike or comfy shoes and the locations of public  bathrooms. 

Each location includes a web address (if applicable) and contact information, because  as Buckley points out, and we Cape Codders know all to well, hours aren't exactly  regular around here.  Heck, I've seen signs on stores that say, "We are open Tuesday  and Wednesday around 11ish."  So be warned travelers!  Although the majority of you  will be here in the summer when thing are about as regular as they are going to get.

"You've driven by many sea captains' homes, now it's time to actually go in  one."

Buckley's objective is clear, he wants you to see the important stuff--the historic  stuff and truthfully, a beautiful hike or a gorgeous sunset isn't going to hurt you  either.  And let's face it, it all kind of started here (Anglo-wise) with those pesky  Pilgrims. 

He'll guide you to the good stuff with plenty of interesting facts peppered with  humor and personal anecdotes.  As he guides you to the Captain Bangs Hallet House he  quips, "you've driven by many sea captains' homes, now it's time to actually go in  one."

This is a good solid guide, with detailed tours of Chatham, the Upper Cape, Route 6A,  Provincetown and more.  Great for new visitors and a good refresher for those of us  who have been here for years.

Tours of Cape Cod is available at local bookstores and through Schiffer Publishing.  ISBN: 978-0-7643-3023-0, $19.99.

Andy Buckley is a novelist, politican, op-ed columnist, photographer, game designer,  clamdigger and investigator, not to mention an eleventh generation Cape Codder.   Check out his blog here on CapeCodToday.com and visit his site for maps and video of areas featured in the book.

"A Summer with Socrates" is a great beach book

A Summer Chase in New Suspense Novel by Cape Writer
A summer resident blesses us with his new thriller

By Walter Brooks

Whoever said this suspense novel would make a great movie was right. How about Clint Eastwood or Anthony Hopkins as Socrates or even Robin Williams as a long shot? Hillary Swank could play the girl.

Parker Lloyd is a journalist who happily is a summer resident of Brewster and writes like Michael Connelly on steroids. Parker Lloyd’s “A Summer with Socrates” wasn’t what I expected. I thought I would be transported to the Agora Marketplace on the flank of the Parthenon in 350 B.C. as a young lad picking the brain of the philosopher.

Reno 911 and then some

No, it’s not set in Athens, Greece, but in a mythical place called Athens, Nevada, outside Reno in the 21st century.

This is not a novel loaded with gratuitous sex although there is one beautiful love scene described under the moonlight at the Parthenon. This is a rare piece of literary substance with a compelling story that kept me turning the pages.

The plot revolves around an older man, nicknamed Socrates by his students, and a runaway young woman. Socrates is homeless and lives in the hills outside Reno. He built a Greek style theater to teach the Socratic method of thinking to the homeless of Reno. He has escaped a crime for twenty years. His real identity is never revealed until near the end.

Touching, heart wrenching "escaped wife" chase

The last two chapters had me agog with emotion. Women will empathize and love it. Men will be enlightened by it.A young woman has run away from her family for reasons that can’t be revealed here. Socrates saves her from being taken by the police, but the FBI is closing in on him too, so he and the girl go bicycling in the California Sierras and in Nevada, panning for gold over the summer. He shares his wealth of wisdom with her.

Her story is gradually unraveled throughout the novel. She knows only the bare facts about his life.  The opening chapters about her escape from a failed marriage to a powerful DC man is frightening and timely. I think the author got me under the skin of a "captive wife" beater than ever before.

Women will empathize and love it. Men will be enlightened by it.

Finally, Socrates is captured and a trial takes place in Reno not unlike the one in Ancient Greece in 399 B.C.

Here I am, a full-blooded, tough-minded newspaperman with tears in my eyes at the end. There’s something wrong. I’m not supposed to cry. The last two chapters had me agog with emotion. The story is great, but sad in parts.

Summer or winter, “A Summer with Socrates” is a good read. If this is Parker Lloyd’s first novel, I want more, and I want to see this one as a movie. And I like the cover—full of bright summer colors too, like Socrates' story.

You can get it on Amazon or at the Brewster Bookstore.

Read it, ladies and gentlemen.

Cape author ahead of the campaign curve

Brewster's Libby Hughes' new Barack Obama biography
Author has lived in subject's venues - Kenya and Indonesia

Here it comes--the 13th biography in Libby Hughes’ collection of international heroes and heroines for young adults. This one is about the political rock star, Barack Obama, coming into the homestretch of his long campaign for the Democratic coronation as the nominee for U.S. president.

Already, Obama is sparring against Republican John McCain before his delegates have knighted him at the convention and Libby Hughes is ahead of the political curve again.

Anyway, this book, Barack Obama: Voice of Unity, Hope, and Change, is a quick read. You won’t have to wade through a tome to get to the Obama basics: where he comes from; his childhood; his adolescence; his brilliance at Harvard; his struggles as a community organizer in the poorest area of Chicago; his knack for winning over opponents in the Illinois senate and the U.S. Senate. You will discover what makes him tick and what his spiritual and political philosophies are. It’s an incredible story with backdrops from Hawaii, Indonesia, Kenya, Illinois, and D.C.

"Libby Hughes captures his extraordinary appeal to citizens of all ages, especially the young.” - Ted KennedyHughes gives you historic teasers about each of the three continents in colorful descriptions. Having lived in Indonesia and Kenya, Hughes has firsthand knowledge of Obama’s foreign experience and roots. She managed to capture quotes for the front and back covers of the book from Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts; Harvard Law professor, Laurence H. Tribe; and former book editor of The Christian Science Monitor, Roderick Nordell.

Here are the quotes:

“Barack Obama has a unique ability to inspire us, lift our spirits, and bring people of all backgrounds together to do great things for our country. In Barack, I see not just the audacity of hope, but the possibility of hope for the better America we can be. Libby Hughes captures his extraordinary appeal to citizens of all ages, especially the young.”

                                                                                - Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts

“Barack Obama never failed to amaze me when he was my student. His brilliance and his devotion to public service remain sources of inspiration to me. I cannot imagine anyone better suited to be President of the United States.”

- Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School 

“This book takes you into the complex ethnic and political life of Barack Obama and should leave the young—or any other—reader full of his ‘audacity of hope.’ ”

                                - Roderick Nordell, former book editor, The Christian Science Monitor

The book cover says it all. Watch for it on Amazon in June.

P.S. Don’t forget Richard Nixon negotiated directly with Mao Tse Tung—a communist.  Former Secretary of State, George Shultz, recently told Charlie Rose in an interview that the way to negotiate with Iran is to have a highly skilled American lawyer QUIETLY talk with one of their Iranian lawyers and hammer out the issues before ever reaching the face to face fanfare. AND away from the media.