books

Mitchell's Book Corner 54 Main Street, 228-1080

"Great New England Storms of the 20th Century" by the Editors of The Boston Globe

Harrowing, humorous and everything in between, the images, interviews and news reports assembled in this unique coffee table book remind us how insignificant we really are in the face of Mother Nature. Supplemented by severe weather facts and trivia, its localized and personalized approach connects you with a vivid immediacy to fellow New Englanders as far back as 1921. You will marvel at our ability to survive and overcome hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, droughts and much more, and most certainly face your next storm with new respect and understanding.

- Sara Bishop, Mitchell's Book Corner

Nantucket Bookworks 25 Broad Street, 228-4000

"Last Night at the Lobster" by Stewart O'Nan

This is a quiet little gem of a novel. Manny Leon, manager of the Red Lobster in New Britain, has been instructed by corporate management to close his restaurant five days before Christmas. Manny is devoted to the restaurant, a fact that comes across through a series of touching details, and also to the employees, whom he considers family in a way familiar to anyone who has worked in the restaurant business. One of his waitresses, Jacqui, was once his girlfriend, and both of them, though they've moved on to other relationships, as they interact with one another seem still silently puzzled and troubled by a breakup it's too late to reverse. The novel is the story of the restaurant's closing night with the moments of minor disaster and satisfaction that come with serving food to the public. The night occasions Manny's pondering why he's spent so long being so intimately connected to his establishment. It's obviously been another one of his fraught relationships. And when the night ends and he's forced to look to the future, the decision he makes isn't altogether surprising. O'Nan's success is in making Manny's struggle seem not inconsequential though but moving and almost tragic.

- Dick Burns, Nantucket Bookworks

Nantucket Atheneum 1 India Street, 228-1110

"On Meadowview Street" by Henry Cole

Caroline, a young girl moving into a new neighborhood, wants to protect a small flower in her yard from the lawnmower. Her project grows to create a beautiful home for many different plants, insects and birds in her own backyard. Soon, the neighbors want to change their backyards, too, and Meadowview Street finally has a meadow! A wonderful message for environmentalists young and old about the power of a single wish, accompanied by simple, colorful illustrations.

- Maggie Head, Nantucket Atheneum