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Dinner Out with Christy Ann Conlin

Author: August 14, 2016

Dinner Out with Christy Ann Conlin By Scott Campbell When my editor told me that the upcoming issue of the Grapevine was going to celebrate the literati among us by featuring great summer reads I was pretty excited. I knew exactly what I was going to do. One of the best summer reads available is Christy Ann Conlin’s, The Memento. This follow-up to her bestselling novel, Heave, was described by Caroline Adderson as “a grab bag of Gothic delights.” So I had an idea. What if I contacted Christy Ann and asked her to join me for dinner at a…
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What’s Growing at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens: Field guides

Author: August 14, 2016

What’s Growing at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens: Field guides By Melanie Priesnitz If you are one of those people who like to know the names of plants as you walk by them in the woods, you are probably well acquainted with field guides. My new favourite guide is Boulder Publications’ Wildflowers of Nova Scotia by Todd Boland. The thing that really sets this book apart from other guides is the full colour photographs. It’s a resource for herbaceous plants of Nova Scotia both native and introduced. The guide is laid out by flower colour and contains simple explanations of…
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The Dome Chronicles: Charlie Harris’ Mill

Author: August 14, 2016

The Dome Chronicles: Charlie Harris’ Mill By Garry Leeson In 1972, a boxcar from Toronto containing a menagerie of farm animals and an eager young couple pulled into the station platform in Kingston, Nova Scotia. They were bound for a deserted hundred-acre farm on the South Mountain, determined to preserve the foundations of farmsteads past while constructing a geodesic dome. They were pioneers of the future, armed with respect for tradition and an irrepressible sense of humour. They didn’t call themselves farmers. They were back-to-the-landers. Farming was industry and their calling was sustainability. Over the next forty years, through flood…
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Dome Chronicles

Summer Reading: Try an audiobook!

Author: August 11, 2016

Summer Reading: Try an audiobook! By Angela Reynolds Summer is such a good time to read. It is also a great time to get outside work done — painting the house, weeding the garden, finishing up those building projects, mowing the lawn. When I think of chores, I automatically think of audiobooks. Every time I see my garage doors, I remember the book I was listening to when I painted them (Cinder by Marissa Meyer). My back porch was painted while I listened to Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Audiobooks are great for long drives as well. Taking a summer trip?…
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Mike Uncorked: Summer Time Reads and Needs!

Author: August 11, 2016

Mike Uncorked: Summer Time Reads and Needs! By Mike Butler READS: Summertime is one of my favourite times of the year to catch up on my reading. Now, granted, I read all the time but when the days are sunny and you’re on vacation, lounging by the pool, sipping iced tea, or swinging in the hammock, there’s nothing better to pass the time than writing (in a journal or letters to a friend), or reading a terrific book. Here are some reading selections to seek out for the summer months. New in paperback and worth checking out are Stephanie Coontz’s…
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The Crowdsourcer: Margaret Atwood’s Killam Corner at the Kentville Library

Author: August 11, 2016

The Crowdsourcer Watch our community change the world one dollar at a time. Title: Margaret Atwood’s Killam Corner at the Kentville Library Website: www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/margaret-atwoods-killam-corner/#.V6YSsukegX5.twitter Description: Our current library has been operating out of a re-purposed car dealership since 1987. After 29 years of serving the public under less than ideal circumstances, the library is moving to a new home in a decommissioned United Church. The Friends of the Kentville Library group has been formed and is in the process of raising funds for the new location. These funds will be allotted to the Young Adult area of the library. It will…
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A New Kentville Library

Author: August 11, 2016

A New Kentville Library by Lynn Pulsifer The doors of the old library in Kentville have closed to the public after 29 years, and it is with long-awaited excitement that a new library will be opening across town in a decommissioned United Church. After operating out of a repurposed car dealership building since 1987, the small library which occupied just over 2,000 sq ft., has been one of the smallest, but one of the busiest in the Valley. Our new library home will be in the former United Church of St. Paul and St. Stephen. The corner stone of this…
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Bicycles, Book Signings, And Billy The Kid: July At The Bookshop

Author: July 17, 2016

By Benjamin Bush Anderson The Wild West lost its gun-slinging poster-boy, Billy the Kid, on July 14, 1881. His death, along with the dastardly exploits that marked his life, is viscerally re-imagined in Michael Ondaatje’s *The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems*. Come by the bookshop to holster your own copy! Looking for a cycling book to toss in your handlebar basket? We highly recommend *The Bicycle Diaries* by David Byrne (yes, that David Byrne). In his 2010 book, the Talking Heads front man chronicles his adventures as he pedals through, and engages with, some of the world’s…
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Gold Poetry And Golden Wine At The Box Of Delights Bookshop

Author: June 30, 2016

Ben Bush Anderson “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us”, said one of our favourite authors, Franz Kafka. The Czech writer has long entranced readers with his searing wit, sensitivity, and impeccable storytelling. We believe that it is never too early to start on Kafka, so in celebration of his 133rd birthday this July 3 we recommend Matthue Roth’s brilliant retelling of The Metamorphosis for children, *My First Kafka: Runaways, Rodents, and Giant Bugs*. Summer in Nova Scotia presents us with one vital question: which local book pairs best with which local wine? With a…
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