If you’ve groaned whenever someone mentioned Melville’s Moby-Dick, if you’ve tried to read it but couldn’t, or if you’ve run screaming away from it, we want you! One of the reasons we continue the marathon reading tradition, begin around 1983 at the bookshop, is to introduce this leviathan beauty to new readers. Sure we love the book. Sure we cheer when it mentions Sag Harbor (twice). But we really love the way it calls to new readers even in 2019. We want to give folks an easy way in to the language, the poetry, the vast sprawl of the book. Come listen for a bit. Hearing the great work read aloud makes quick converts. You can’t help get swept out to sea with Ishmael, Quequeg, Starbuck and Capt. Ahab. This year’s event will be our best-ever. It’s Melville’s Bicentennial! We’re honored actors Harris Yulin and Alec Baldwin will read. We want to be sure you’ve Got Moby, too. June 7 through 9. See our 2019 MOBY-DICK MARATHON EVENTS SCHEDULE
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Got Moby?
Published April 24, 2019 Books we love , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , Fiction , Reading events , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Alec Baldwin, Capt. Ahab, Harris Yulin, Herman Melville, Moby Dick marathon, Quequeg, Sag Harbor history
Just One Book
Published December 20, 2018 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Environment , Poetry , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Action for Conservation, Jackie Morris, Robert Macfarlane, The Lost Words
If we could recommend just one book for all on your gift giving list this holiday season, it’d be, with a doubt The Lost Words written by British nature writer Robert Macfarlane and illuminated with gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Jackie Morris. This oversized art book collects nature words, simple ones like “fern”, “ivy”, “magpie” and “starling” and spins poetry around them, splashes pages with greens and gold and rich earth tones in stunning displays. Collects these words and paints them on outsized pages, reweaving them into the language. Why? Because they were left out of the recent junior edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. In their place, words from the world of technology crept in. But careful readers noticed and objected and turned their concern into action, creating a charity dedicated to inspiring young people to become advocates for the natural world. A portion of book sales is donated to Action for Conservation. Just one book. But with so many important words to say. Copies available at Canio’s. How many should we reserve for you?
If It Weren’t For Joe Pintauro…
Published June 7, 2018 Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , In Memoriam , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Canio Pavone, Cold Hands, Joe Pintauro, Sag Harbor writers, Snow Orchid
Tracing a line from cause to effect can be an inexact pursuit. Serendipity is hard to map. But we know for sure there’s a meandering path from creative inspiration to published book, to reader, to bookshop owner beginning with one novelist Joe Pintauro whose books Snow Orchid and Cold Hands led one reader, Canio Pavone to visit Sag Harbor one ambling afternoon. Canio wanted to see the town Joe had written about. What Canio saw that day as he drove through village streets and down to the harbor, was a “For Rent” sign in an empty storefront window at 290 Main. The rest of the story spins out from there, and is still being written.
So it was with particular sadness that we, along with nearly the entire East End arts and literary community, marked the passing of Joe Pintauro, novelist, playwright, poet, priest, photographer and more. Our condolences to Joe’s husband and partner of 40 years Greg Therriault, to his family and to his many friends far and wide.
Keeping Sag Harbor Salty
Published July 16, 2017 Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Current Events , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: Conca D'Oro pizza, Sag Harbor Cinema, Sag Harbor literary history, Sag Harbor villlage
Sag Harbor without its cinema, is one thing. A very big thing. We hope the cinema will be rebuilt soon. But now the pizza place? Word is out that Conca D’Oro, recently sold to a well-known restaurateur who promises to keep the name and the general feel of this 1950s-style trattoria. We hope so.
All this change makes us only more committed to keeping Sag Harbor a little bit salty. To provide this village with quirky and interesting books worth reading. To bring engaging voices to the community. To be a place for people, passion, poetry, prose & yes, T-shirts. Literary ones. Our handsome midnight-blue Moby-Dick marathon 2017 issue, for example.
If you haven’t been by for a while, you’ll find not much has changed about the basic plan of the shop. The floor boards still creak and the shelves are still jammed. If you’re a frequent visitor, you know there’s always something new to discover in those stacks.
Sometimes things can get just a little too slick around here. But rest assured, we at Canio’s will do our part to keep Sag Harbor’s literary legacy going strong. Now, please pass the salt.
Check out our SILENT AUCTION ART!
FRIDAY, June 9:
11:00-12:15 p.m. begins at Canio’s Books, Main Street
12:30- 3:45 p.m. Old Whaler’s Church, Union Street
4:00 – 10:00 p.m. Canio’s Books
SATURDAY, June 10:
10:00 – 1:50 p.m. Sag Harbor Whaling Museum, Main Street
2:00 – 5:50 p.m. John Jermain Memorial Library
6:00 – 10:00 p.m. Canio’s Books
SUNDAY, June 11:
11:00 – 1:15 p.m. Eastville Community & Historical Society, Hampton Street
1:30 – 4:00 p.m. reading concludes at Canio’s Books, and After-party follows.
Sponsor a Chapter!
Sponsor a Chapter and help support Canio’s Cultural Cafe. Sponsors will be publicized at the event, in our program, and on our website. Choose your level of support:
Ahab: $100 receives a commemorative button
Ishmael: $200 receives a commemorative button & t-shirt
Queequeg: $300 receives a commemorative button, t-shirt, & Modern Library edition of Moby-Dick with Rockwell Kent illustrations
Starbuck: $500 receives all of the above, plus commemorative poster
Melville: $1000 receives all of the above, plus two seats in a two-hour cruise with Captain Anton Hagen aboard the Marlinspike.
To donate, pick a chapter, your level of support, and send an email to caniosculturalcafe at gmail.com with MDM Donor as subject. Please include two alternate chapters in case your first choice has been selected. Popular chapters go fast. Send your check to: Canio’s Cultural Cafe, 290 Main Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.
We thank you for you support!
Not the Last Picture Show
Published December 17, 2016 Community , Current Events , Sag Harbor , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Sag Harbor Cinema, Sag Harbor community, Sag Harbor Fire
Just two weeks ago we went to see Moonlight at the Sag Harbor Cinema. We bought our tickets from the lovely lady in the little booth, got a bag of popcorn and grabbed a few of those small thin napkins neatly arrayed on the counter. We found our favorite seats, row five, center and settled into the chattering darkness. What a heartbreakingly beautiful film Moonlight is, and how further heartbreaking that Moonlight is the last film we saw at that historic movie house.
The facade’s been torn down after Friday’s fire, piles of black rubble carted away. A gaping dark hole in the street where dreams and fantasies once flickered on the screen. The Sag Harbor Cinema, lone independent movie house on the East End brave enough to show “art” films and “foreign” films, and films that challenged as even as they inspired us. The musty smell of the old seats, the banging pipes as heat slowly seeped into that cavernous room are now nostalgic memories.
We hope they will rebuild. We’re sure other buildings damaged or destroyed will rise again Phoenix-like from the ashes. We’re thankful no one was injured. We are all so grateful to our heroic firefighters. How quickly our compassionate community pulled together to lend a hand. A friend described a fire as something that refines, or clarifies, I put in. Just what will be refined or clarified from this December 16 fire remains to be seen. But fundraising efforts are underway and Sag Harbor will rise again! The village has endured several devastating fires from the time when villagers lit their lamps with whale oil to as recently as just a few years back. Please show your support for Main Street Sag Harbor, this holiday season and beyond.
*Photo taken the day after the fire. (c) Kathryn Szoka
Read, Connect, Act
Published November 15, 2016 Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , Creativity , Current Events , Environment , Politics , Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: community discussion courses, Environmental activism, Northwest Earth Institute, Orion Magazine
What now? Friends are asking in the wake of the presidential election shocker last week. What we can offer to those questioning how we got here, is more of what we so believe in: the power of books to inform and inspire. The power of community to support and strengthen the insights gained. And action, a plan for creative sustaining ways forward, to apply what we’ve gained through reading, reflection, conversation.
To that end, Canio’s Cultural Cafe will again offer a series of community discussion courses focusing on environmental issues. This winter we’ll present inspiring, engaging material to read, discuss & act upon focused on environmental activism, living simply, sustainable energy, and more. Join us for an upcoming course. Now more than ever the planet requires your participation. Find out more by contacting the shop.
We’re grateful to organizations like Northwest Earth Institute for creating and promoting these courses, and to Orion Magazine for providing inspiring articles to engage the imagination, the heart and mind in our understanding of our responsibilities toward Earth.
The Only Poll You Need to Know About
Published November 3, 2016 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , cooking and food , Current Events , Memoir , Politics Leave a CommentTags: Breakfast in America, Chicago Cubs World Series Championship, Craig Carlson, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Pancakes in Paris, presidential elections, Romney, Trump
Undone by the relentless vacillations in this year’s presidential election polls, to say nothing of that nail-biting late-night extra-inning rain-delayed World Series Championship win by the come-from-behind Chicago Cubs (whew!), I just had to consult our Parisian pollster and restaurateur Craig Carlson.
Do you know his amazing memoir, Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France? This highly recommended read takes us on a wild ride from Craig’s “crazy” idea of opening an American-style dinner in Paris, to realizing that dream complete with pleasures, pitfalls and panic-attacks along the way. Sort of like those Cubs, rallying after near elimination! Craig is victorious with three popular Breakfast in America locations in the culinary capital of the world! Craig read at Canio’s in September, and yes, we even served pancakes with Vermont maple syrup.
So how is the Breakfast in America “presidential election” going in Paris? Back in 2012 his restaurant offered customers “an election” choice between two blue-plate specials: the Romney Omlette and the Obama Burger. They kept count, and announced the overwhelming winner: the Obama Burger by a landslide!
This year he’s featuring a choice between the Hillary “Hot & Nasty” Hamburger served with hot sauce, a nod to Secretary Clinton’s penchant for Tabasco, and the Trump “Totally-Rigged” Wrap with a “wall” of tortilla chips. The count right now: 34 hamburgers to 4 wraps. Voila! That settles it for me! Bon appetite and happy reading!
Just ask a bookseller!
Published August 16, 2016 Bookselling in the 21st century , Bookstore Lore , Community , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: booksellers, impossible questions, Omnivore's Dilemma
We’re deep into tourist season, for which we’re grateful. Visitors from all points pass through our doors. We love hearing their impressions of this place, and are generally happy to answer the usual and not so usual questions we’re asked.
Need directions? Restaurant recommendations? A place to rent? A job, a husband, maybe? Well, just ask your local bookseller. While Yelp, Air bnb and GPS have satisfied most, some still prefer the personal touch. So in the course of a day, we get asked everything from where’s the Tomato Lady to what to read at the beach. It’s nice to be thought of as knowledgeable, but sometimes it’s just impossible to satisfy every inquiry.
“What do you do in here all day?” someone once asked.
Another wanted to know if a certain local author would make a suitable mate. No comment!
One admired a devotional candle we display near spirituality books. The candle’s not for sale, I explained, but could be found in the supermarket. “But which aisle would they be in?”
One sunny weekend, a woman burst in. “Hellooo?” she called. “Where’s the best place to buy steak?” That’s a new one, we thought …and we don’t even eat red meat. I wondered how to parlay this into a book sale. Recommend Omnivore’s Dilemma? Instead I suggested the butcher at Schiavoni’s Market. I gave directions to the shop. “But I don’t regularly buy steak,” I confessed. She seemed disappointed. “Then where’s the best place to buy fish?”
Has a bookseller helped you with a non-book-related question? Let us know.
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