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
Posts Tagged 'Sag Harbor history'
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
Sag Harbor As Inspiration This Holiday Season
Published December 14, 2015 Books we love , Bookselling in the 21st century , Community , Creativity , painting , Photography , Sag Harbor Leave a CommentTags: Ann Chwatsky, artistic inspiration, holiday happenings, Kathryn Szoka, photography workshops, Sag Harbor, Sag harbor artists, Sag Harbor history, Whitney Hansen, writing workshops
It’s that deep water port that makes all the difference. It’s what sets Sag Harbor apart from its flatland farm-town neighbors. It’s here where whalers, sailors, tradesmen, sturdy women, and visitors from four corners streamed through our little village bringing the exotic to our local shores. With them came the flavors and faces of distant ports. After whales vanished, busy factories drew workers to fire bricks, wind ropes, polish silver and solder watchcases. More recently, it drew painter Whitney Hansen from Santa Barbara and photographer Ann Chwatsky from New York City. They and countless other writers, painters, photographers, musicians came to find and create a community of artists of various stripes. “It’s not just the light, ” Ann Chwatsky said during a talk she and Whitney gave this fall at the bookshop, “but knowing that every day artists are at work in their studios here.” It’s that artists’ energy that gives her inspiration.
For 35 years Canio’s Books has been continuing the tradition of supporting and cultivating the East End’s creative community. With holiday shopping in mind, we offer suggestions for the aspiring creative on your list: For a recommendation about excellent books on writing, check with Maryann; for a sample of beautiful and affordable art and photography books, check with Kathryn. Both are offering workshops this winter, and a gift certificate to one of those would make an inspired holiday present. Our collection of local interest books is arguably the largest on the East End with lots of new titles plus some recently acquired out-of-print collectibles. Everyone knows to come to Canio’s for poetry, but we also have a hand-picked selection of literary novels and non-fiction by local writers perfect for winter reading retreats. Artwork and handicrafts by locals are also available.
We wish all our customers, friends and family a bright and inspired holiday season. Please join us at our holiday reception, Saturday, December 19 after a reading with acclaimed fiction-writer Simon Van Booy at 5 p.m. Peace & good reading to all.
Melville Lives!
Published August 10, 2008 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Great American novels, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Sag Harbor history
We like to imagine Herman Melville walking down Main Street, Sag Harbor. He’s just climbed off a whale ship, steadying his land legs along Long Wharf and he’s looking for a suitable watering hole. He might find his way into Murf’s Tavern for a pint. Maybe he’d try his hand at the pirate ring toss. While we can’t say for sure “Melville slept here,” we know Sag Harbor’s rowdy reputation somehow reached Melville’s writing desk in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. See chapters 12 & 13 of Moby Dick. Long famous for having hosted marathon readings of that great American novel, Canio’s Books recently hosted a mini-marathon. On the occasion of Melville’s 189th birthday (August 1, although we were about a week late), we invited local Melville enthusiast and green architect Bill Chaleff to read selections from the master’s works. We heard selections from “Billy Budd,” “Benito Cereno,” and from “Bartleby.” Despite the August heat, Bill kept his thick beard in place, a true sacrifice for the sake of literature. Sag Harbor’s performing plumber Terry Sullivan led us in a round of sea chanteys. (Terry’s new folk CD Hold On has just been released. ) Next year’s celebration, the 190th, promises to be even bigger. Whale ho!
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