Recently, the Cape Cod Times featured many wonderful books by local authors or with Cape Cod themes.  We wanted to highlight several we have at Titcomb’s Bookshop.  It is so exciting to have a book store on Cape Cod.  Local authors are one of the many reasons why we love it here!!!

The Tinsel Tail Mouse by Ken Boyd, illustrations by Kaylin Lemieux ($16.25)

One wonders every year where authors will get fresh ideas for Christmas books, and then a book with a fresh character arrives. The Tinsel Tail Mouse by Ken Boyd, an internal medicine physician of South Yarmouth, introduces readers to a little mouse who has one Christmas wish…for Santa to give him a tail so he’s just like his friends.

Will Santa give him a tail for Christmas so he can be like all the other mice, or will his Christmas wish be forgotten?   But in the end, will he want to be just like everyone else? If he has a tail, will he still be unique?  This little mouse learns a valuable lesson about the joys of being different…even if he doesn’t appreciate it at first.

Riding on Duke’s Train  by Mick Carlon  ($9.95)

Autographed Copies Available!!!

Riding on Duke’s Train tells the story of a young boy named Danny who, in 1939, travels with jazz great Duke Ellington and his band through Europe on the eve of World War II. Critics have praised Carlon’s novel as a spot-on rendering of Ellington, his band members and the years during which they set the standard for jazz.

Barnstable Intermediate School English teacher Mick Carlon loves jazz, a well-established fact among his family, friends and students. He regularly plays jazz in his classroom and has turned hundreds of students into jazz fans. He says, “If young people are simply exposed to the music and stories of these American artists, they will make a friend for life.”

An Illustrated Guide to the Common Birds of Cape Cod, Peter Trull  ($19.99)

Brewster resident Peter Trull’s name is synonymous with Cape Cod nature, so it’s no surprise he’s written this amazing new guide to the common birds of our area. By common, he means the ones that land in the yard, are seen on walks and visit feeders. Most of us know the names of a few birds, but how many of us more than that? This extremely easy-to-use guide features large color illustrations by Catherine E. Clark, size of the birds and months when they are likely to be seen in these parts. All ages, young and old, will gain much insight about the birds they see daily in their life on Cape Cod.  The book includes sections on birding tours in various habitats and Trull’s advice on how to be a better birder. With this guide, you’ll be a better birder on the very first day.

This book is flying off the shelf.  (No pun intended.)  We expect to have more soon so call or stop by to reserve your copy. ( 508-888-2331)

The Evolution of the Cape Cod House: An Architectural History, Arthur P. Richmond

(List Price:  $50; Our Price:  $40)

Autographed Copies Available!!!

Arthur Richmond of North Eastham is known for his coffee-table photography books, many of which are shot from offshore or the air. This new book couldn’t be more different featuring over 600 beautiful color photographs. Richmond became intrigued by the antique architecture of some Cape homes after visiting his family’s ancestral home in England. To no one’s surprise, what you see in Olde England you can see here, too; the styles feature many of the same building habits. Now he has compiled many of those styles into one book, which is substantial in size and content. Flush with Richmond’s photography, the book is grounded in specific homes on the Cape (and some off-Cape, too) that show how the past remains with us in beams, bookshelves, fireplaces and staircases.

Lighthouse Santa by Sara Hoagland Hunter and illustrated by Julia Minor  ($17.95)

Autographed Copies Available!!!

We adore this beautifully illustrated new children’s book based on the Christmas flights of Edward Rowe Snow, the beloved “Flying Santa,” who delivered presents to lonely lighthouse children for almost fifty years. Kate is a young girl on Great Point Light in Nantucket. When a Christmas storm strikes, will the Lighthouse Santa come this year?

We recently hosted a story time and book signing with Sara and Julia.  It was so much fun to have them here.  And we had a surprise!!!  Many family members of the little girl, Kate, who lived in the lighthouse featured in the book joined us for the celebration of this beautiful book.  What a special day!!!

We’re pretty lucky, huh?

TIME:       4-5pm

WHERE:  TITCOMB’S BOOKSHOP

Maxwell Mitchell is the visionary producer behind the percussive theatricality of
Stomp!, the rollicking Broadway revival of Damn Yankees featuring the legendary Jerry Lewis – which was nominated for multiple Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical – and the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Dinner with Friends.  He has produced the Broadway musicals Play On!, Bells are Ringing (Tony-nominated for Best Revival of a Musical) Blues In The Night Tony Nominated as Best
Musical) and Brooklyn.

Maxwell, a Tony Award-winning producer, director and 35-year veteran of the entertainment industry has a new novel, Little Did I Know. The book, set in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is a wild, sexy romp of surprise, a boundlessly entertaining story that proves the only option in pursuing a life of meaning and consequence is to follow your heart.  

In Little Did I Know Samuel August dreams of producing bigger-than-life musicals in the grand tradition of summer stock. It is the summer of 1976, an endless party for America’s two-hundredth birthday is in full swing with young men and women recklessly coming of age under star-studded skies lit by orange neon moons.  Sam has just one summer to learn how to grow into the theatrical producer he aspires to be.

Maxwell’s productions have been honored with nominations for 10 Tony Awards, 6 Olivier Awards, 15 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 9 Drama Desk Awards and 3 Obie Awards and have won in each category.  He has directed in New York, London and regionally, built 5 entertainment companies, and for over twenty years, owned and operated 3 off-Broadway theaters.    Maxwell attended Tufts University, where he later served as an adjunct professor, and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia and New York universities.

“Although I cannot see your face

 As you flip these poems awhile,

 Somewhere from some far-off place

 I hear you laughing—and I smile.”

 ”This posthumous collection of Silverstein’s poems and illustrations is not only
familiar in design, but chockfull of the whimsical humor, eccentric characters,
childhood fantasies, and iconoclastic glee that his many fans adore. Like the
boy who orders a hot dog “with everything on it” (.”..it came with a parrot, / A
bee in a bonnet, / A wristwatch, a wrench, and a rake”), there are plenty of
surprises in store for readers.”  Publisher’s Weekly

What a wonderful treat for the whole family!

Here’s a few more new books that are getting lots of buzz in the store.  Our amazing staff is always willing to give you their opinions about their latest reads…so just ask!

Since I received a work-study scholarship,  I worked as a waiter, along with 24 others, for the entirety of the conference. We served dinner every night, and rotated breakfast and lunch shifts. As odd as it sounds, this is an honor – this year, 623 poets, nonfiction and fiction writers applied for this scholarship, and only 25 received it. To read more about the work-study scholarship/waitership read this great article in the Huffington Post by novelist Ru Freeman.

I came back from the conference tired, but inspired and excited to continue working on my novel.  And thanks to technology, even if you didn’t attend, you can access all the lectures and the majority of the readings here. I’ve already listened to a lot of them for a second, even third time – I highly recommend them!

-Shuchi

The strangest coincidence happened to us during the hurricane!!  We’d been clearing out our attic recently – a horrible job! – and a box of books dropped on the floor at the end of the day. Exhausted from the hot work, we left the books where they lay.  The next day, the hurricane struck and a tree branch fell right through the roof!  We ran upstairs to inspect the damage and there, under the hole in the roof were the books.  Right near the top was Everett S. Allen’s amazing account of the 1938 hurricane, A Wind to Shake the World!!

If you haven’t read the book, you should!  Allen had just started working at the New Bedford Standard Times on September 21, 1938, the day of one of the biggest hurricanes ever to strike southeastern New England.  He interviewed over 200 people and offered first hand accounts of this terrific storm which killed about 800 people, many in Rhode Island, swept away entire communities along the shore and had tides of up to 25′ between New London and Cape Cod!

There are a number of great hurricane books!  Do you have a favorite?

-Vicky

PS  The hole is now fixed and the books are safely back in their box!

Titcomb’s Bookshop will be closed tomorrow, Sunday, August 28. We hope all our customers will be safe inside reading a book during the hurricane!

Abbie Titcomb will be a junior at Sturgis High School, and joined our staff earlier this year. She’s a counselor in training at Camp Calumet this summer, but will be back again later in August.

Rae Titcomb will be a senior at Sandwich High School and just joined the staff last week.

Eliza McDermott, who will be a Senior at St. Olaf College, spent half her summer interning with Rep. Bill Keating in Washington, DC and will join us next week.

We are so proud to have them working with us!

We love when people rave about the treats that we serve at our events. Elizabeth made these delicious cookies for the Cape Cod Noir event and for book club. Thanks to Joan Brazeau for sharing her recipe!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tbl cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup brown sugar(packed)
1 cup butter
1 egg
4tsp  instant espresso  powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup semisweet choc bits
1 chopped walnuts

Directions:

Spray baking sheets with non stick baking spray
Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together.  Cream the brown sugar, butter, espresso powder and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop spoonfuls onto the baking sheets and bake at 350 for 14 minutes.