Are you e-book curious?

Come to an interactive e-book demonstration on Sunday, March 6 at 3pm.

We'll take you through the process of purchasing a Google e-book via the Concord Bookshop's website.  These books can be read on your computer browser, many e-reader devices, and smart phones.

 

Author Holly Thompson will visit the Concord Bookshop on Friday, March 11 at 4:00pm, reading from, taking Q&A, and signing copies of her new Young Adult novel, Orchards. She appeared previously at the Bookshop with her novel Ash, and is also the author of the children's picture book The Wakame Gatherers.

 

This unique Young Adult novel is written in verse, and accompanied by beautiful woodcut illustrations. The novel is appropriate for mature readers, about ages 11-15; there is some strong content, leading to topical and discussable subjects for families, schools, and peer groups.

 

In a starred review, The School Library Journal (March 2011) says of Orchards "The narrative is rich in authentic cultural detail and is complemented by attractive woodcut illustrations of Japanese imagery to evoke the story's setting. Thompson has crafted an exquisite, thought-provoking story of grief and healing that will resonate with teen readers and give them much to discuss."

 

"Kana is a Japanese and Jewish/American girl sent from her home in New York to spend the summer with relatives in Japan after the suicide of a classmate.  Kana becomes immersed in the tiny village of Kohama, working in the mikan orchards and trying to make sense of what happened."

 

Ms. Thompson was raised in Wareham, and now lives in Japan, where she teaches creative writing, academic writing, short stories and American culture at Yokohama City University.

Equally appealing to fans of memoir, adventurers, and armchair travelers, Colin Thubron's newest book is a both an intimate personal voyage with the author and a beautiful travelogue into the culture of today's Tibet.

This is the account of a journey to the holiest mountain on earth, the solitary peak of Kailas in Tibet, sacred to one-fifth of humankind. To both Buddhists and Hindus it is the mystic heart of the world and an ancient site of pilgrimage. It has never been climbed. Even today, under Chinese domination, the people of four religions circle the mountain in devotion to different gods. 

It is a haunting and beautiful book, a rare mix of discovery and loss. In its evocation of landscape and variety of exotic peoples, of mythic and spiritual traditions foreign to our own, it is a spectacular achievement from our greatest living travel writer, an artist of formidable literary gifts, uncanny intuition, and wondrous insight. 

Author Colin Thubron first wrote about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon, and Cyprus. In 1982 he traveled in the Soviet Union, pursued by the KGB. From these early experiences developed his great travel books on the landmass that makes up Russia and Asia: Among the Russians; Behind the Wall: A Journey through China; The Lost Heart of Asia; In Siberia; and most recently, Shadow of the Silk Road.  He lives in London.

The brief, brilliant essay "Silk Parachute," which first appeared in The New Yorker a decade ago, has become John McPhee's most anthologized piece of writing. In the nine other pieces here - highly varied in length and theme - McPhee ranges with his characteristic humor and intensity.  

Some of the pieces are wholly personal. In luminous recollections of his early years, for example, he goes on outings with his mother, deliberately overturns canoes in a learning process at a summer camp, and germinates a future book while riding on a jump seat to away games as a basketball player. 

But each piece - on whatever theme - contains somewhere a personal aspect in which McPhee suggests why he was attracted to write about the subject, and each opens like a silk parachute, lofted skyward and suddenly blossoming with color and form. 

Author John McPhee is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He is the author of twenty-eight books, and lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

"... like settling in for a cozy visit with an old friend.  In vintage Binchy style, a cast of colorfully eccentric characters living in a snug Dublin neighborhood seamlessly weave in and out of each other's lives, united by family, faith, friendship and community... the good-hearted residents of St. Jarlath's Crescent prove that it does indeed take a 'village to raise a child.'" -Margaret Flanagan, Booklist

A single father, Noel learns that he can't raise baby Frankie by himself.  Fortunately, he has a competent, caring network of friends, family and neighbors to help him.

But not everyone is pleased with the unconventional arrangement, especially a nosy social worker, Moira, who is convinced that Frankie would be better off in a foster home. Now it's up to Noel to persuade her that everyone in town has something special to offer when it comes to minding Frankie. 

Author Maeve Binchy has written numerous best-selling books, including her most recent novel, Heart and Soul. She and her husband, Gordon Snell, live in Dalkey, Ireland.

Join us Thursday, March 31 at 7pm to discuss this edge-of-your seat novel by Masha Hamilton, a journalist and novelist.

Jonas is isolated in a safe-house apartment in New York City, pondering his recent religious conversion and his experiences training in Pakistan, preparing for the violent action he has been instructed to take in 31 hours. Jonas's absence from the lives of those who love him causes a cascade of events, and as the novel moves through the streets and subways of New York we come to know intimately the lives of its characters. We also learn to feel deeply the connections and disconnections that occur between young people and their parents not only in this country but in the Middle East as well.

Carried by Hamilton's highly-lauded prose, this story about the helplessness of those who cannot contact a beloved young man who is on a devastatingly confused path is compelling on the most human level. In our world, when a family loses track of an idealistic son an entire city could be in danger. From the author of The Distance Between Us.

 

 

"Help Bridge the Gap"

The Concord Carlisle Scholarship Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization established in 1966.  Since its inception, the Fund has supported over 600 students in higher education.

Scholarships are financed by an annual appeal, by a student-staffed phonathon, and by income generated from memorial gifts, bequests, and 24 named funds. 

From the Mission Statement of the Concord Carlisle Scholarship Fund:

"It is the mission of the Concord Carlisle Scholarship Fund (CCSF) to assist deserving young men and women from the Concord-Carlisle community in achieving a post-secondary school education. As trustees of the CCSF, we award scholarships to help fill the unmet financial need of students pursuing educational opportunities at accredited colleges, universities, and technical institutions. All scholarships are need-based."

The 2011 fundraising campaign is underway, and the Phonathon is scheduled for March 20.