Books & Authors
Chase Reynolds Cabin Style Facebook and events

Chase Reynolds, Author of ‘Cabin Style,’ About Luxury Resort Homes, Visits Darien

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Barrett Bookstore on Saturday hosts author Chase Reynolds Ewald, who will talk about and sign copies of her new book, Cabin Style, “an up-close look at some of the most exclusive architect-designed cabins, ranch houses, and lodges located in popular resort areas.” She won’t be at the bookstore, however, but at Neat Darien coffee shop at 20 Grove St. (Grove Street Plaza). Here’s a Barrett Bookstore newsletter announcement about Ewald’s visit:

If you’re in downtown Darien tomorrow [Saturday, Oct. 26], please stop by between 12 noon and 2 p.m. to grab a cup of coffee from our friends at Neat, a cookie or two, and and meet Chase Reynolds Ewald who will be in-store signing Cabin Style, Rustic Modern, and American Rustic.

Books & Authors

Cartoonist Rachel Lindsay to Talk About Her ‘Rx: A Graphic Memoir’ Wednesday at Library

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How do you choose between sanity and happiness? On Wednesday afternoon, Cartoonist Rachel Lindsay will visit Darien Library to talk about her book, Rx: A Graphic Memoir. Lindsay has been called a powerful new voice in “graphic medicine,” a literary genre that uses comics to tell personal stories of illness and health. In her early 20s, Lindsay was living and working in New York City when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She took a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment.

Books & Authors

Easier Cooking: Bestselling Author Ellie Krieger Talks at Library Thursday About Her New Book

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Acclaimed best-selling author, nutritionist, and James Beard Award winner, Ellie Krieger, will visit Darien Library on Thursday, Oct. 17 to talk about her new cookbook, WHOLE IN ONE: Complete, Healthy Meals in a Single Pot, Sheet Pan, or Skillet. — This article combines announcements from Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore. Her book shares 125 incredible recipes that are all made in a single pot, sheet pan, baking dish, or skillet — no additional gadgets or tools required! Krieger will talk in the Community Room of the library from 7 to 8 p.m. Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Barrett Bookstore.

Books & Authors
Scott Pelley speaks on A Truth Worth Telling

Newsman Scott Pelley to Talk About His New Book, ‘Truth Worth Telling’ on Thursday

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60 Minutes correspondent and Darien resident Scott Pelley will give a breakfast talk and sign copies of his new book, Truth Worth Telling at Norwalk Community College, starting at 7:30 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 17. — an announcement from Norwalk Community College Foundation and Barrett Bookstore

In the book, Pelley reflects on dramatic, moving, and inspiring encounters in the field, with a perspective on values, ethics, and the importance of telling the truth. The event is a benefit for Norwalk Community College Foundation. You can buy tickets online, here.

Books & Authors

Novelist Julia Phillips, Author of ‘Disappearing Earth,’ Visits Darien Library on Tuesday, Oct 15

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Julia Phillips, author of the novel Disappearing Earth, visits Darien Library Community Room for a talk and book signing from 7 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 15. The event is free, and you can buy her book there. Evoking the Kamchatka Peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, a fascinating region on the other side of the world, this suspenseful story announces the debut of a profoundly gifted writer. Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by a crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother.

Books & Authors
How to Raise A Reader book and author

Brighten Your Children’s Future: Author to Speak Oct 21 on New Book: ‘How to Raise a Reader’

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Darien Library hosts a public interview with Pamela Paul, editor of the New York Times Book Review and co-author of the new book How To Raise a Reader. There will be an author signing after the event. —an announcement from Darien Library and the YWCA Darien/Norwalk

The event takes place from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 21 in the Community Room at Darien Library. Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Barrett Bookstore.

Books & Authors
Shannon Watts publicity photo

Founder of Moms Demand Action to Visit Darien Sept 19, Get Your Ticket Soon

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Barrett Bookstore and the League of Women Voters Darien are pleased to welcome Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action and author of Fight Like A Mother, to town on Thursday, Sept. 19 for a benefit luncheon. You can buy your ticket today at the league’s website. or by mail (must be in by Sept. 12; see the poster below for the address).

Books & Authors
Fiona Davis author speaks in Darien 01-22-17

Fiona Davis, Author of ‘Chelsea Girls,’ Visits Darien Library on Thursday, Aug 8

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Darien Library invites you to join them for an evening with best-selling author Fiona Davis on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m.
Her latest novel, The Chelsea Girls, brings together the glamour and danger of 1950s New York, and the wild scene at the iconic Chelsea Hotel to tell a story about the twenty-year friendship that will irrevocably change two women’s lives. — an announcement from Darien Library

Hazel Ripley has spent her life on the sidelines. First, to her super-star actor brother Ben and later as a serial understudy on Broadway. That is until she meets, and eventually befriends, powerhouse actress Maxine Mead while on tour for the USO during World War II.

Books & Authors

Author Katharine Smyth to Speak, Sign Copies of Her New Novel Wednesday at Barrett Bookstore

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Katharine Smyth, the author of All the Lives We Ever Lived, will speak Wednesday, July 24 at Barrett Bookstore (now at 6 Corbin Dr.) and sign copies of her book. — an announcement from Barrett Bookstore

Please join Barrett Bookstore for an evening of wine, cheese, and conversation. Part memoir, part literary criticism, and part biography, All the Lives We Ever Lived is a wholly original debut: a love letter from a daughter to her father, and from a reader to her most cherished author. Katherine’s story moves between the New England of her childhood and Woolf’s Cornish shores and Bloomsbury squares, exploring universal questions about family, loss, and homecoming. The book was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s modernist masterpiece To the Lighthouse.

Art Exhibits
Westport Fine Arts Festival

Westport Fine Arts Festival, July 20 to 21, Includes Art, Food, Kids Activities and That Gargantuan Book Sale

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The Westport Fine Arts Festival takes place on the weekend of July 20 and 21 with works on display from more than 175 juried artists, arts fun for kids, food and  the Wesport Library’s giant annual summer book sale — heavy enough to slow down the rotation of the Earth. — an announcement from the Westport Downtown Merchants Association

The 46th Westport Fine Arts Festival is returning this year one week later than usual. It takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, throughout the downtown area. Lots to See and Do
Artists will exhibit in a wide range of categories, with an expanded showing of sculpture and mixed media this year, along with returning favorites in the painting and photography categories. Brooks Plaza is once again home to the ever-popular Kids Create area, where little artists can enjoy child-friendly activities presented by the Artist Collective of Westport and Jerry’s Artarama.

Books & Authors
Marysue Rucci

Simon & Schuster Editor-in-Chief Marysue Rucci to Speak Sunday

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Marysue Rucci recalled the day her second-grade teacher told the class to write a story based on the idea that they were just six inches tall. Sitting in beloved teacher Babs Myers’s classroom at Center School—located across Maple Street from New Canaan Library, razed following the 1982-83 school year to become a parking lot—Rucci took the assignment to heart. “I just remember writing and writing, and she let us go as long as we wanted,” she said. Her story “Six Inches Tall” ended up 16 pages long. Her career in fiction didn’t stop there.

Books & Authors
Younger Next Year audiobook cover square image for homepage

Chris Crowley, Co-Author of the ‘Younger Next Year’ Series of Health Books, Talks Tuesday at Library

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Chris Crowley, author of the Younger Next Year series, will Darien Library’s featured speaker on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m.

Over one million people have changed their lives with Chris Crowley’s New York Times best-selling Younger Next Year books (written with Internist and Columbia Medical School Professor, Henry S. Lodge, M.D.)

— This article adapts a Darien Library announcement and Chris Crowley’s bio page from his website. Crowley says on his website:

Putting off 70% of today’s aging (70%!) is a simple matter: Move a lot more!…quit eating crap! … connect with others!  
The combination of  our bone-idleness and the slop we eat and is wrecking our lives and ruining the economy. We spend 20% of our national income on health care. We could save half of that dough  because 50% of our bad health is simply the result of the ridiculous way we eat and live.

Beyond Darien

Do Something Crazy and Fun This Weekend: Drive to 17 Indie Bookstores Around This Beautiful State

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The first thing you should know is that (1) this is more fun than a written description can relay. If you do this, you will remember for the rest of your life just how beautiful Connecticut is, especially when you leave the highway. Prepare to be charmed. The second, third and fourth things you should know are that if you participate in the Passport event for Independent Bookstore “Day” this weekend, April 27 and 28, (2) you’d better not mind being in a car for most of the day Saturday and Sunday, because you’ll be traveling to 17 bookstores around the state; (3) you’ll find it more fun if you love books, because 20%-off coupons at these bookstores are the direct reward; and

(4) plan your trip beforehand and expect to arrive at your first bookstore of each day when it opens, because you’re going to be tempted to linger in a charming store and then in its beautiful neighborhood — and find yourself racing to complete the trip late on Sunday afternoon, before your last bookstore closes. (Lucky you: Your Darienite.com editor took this trek last year, and we’ve got tips for you.)

You don’t actually have time to shop at these bookstores — just visit them, get a gander at the place and leave for your next stop.

Books & Authors

Barrett Bookstore’s Reopening Celebration at 6 Corbin Dr on Saturday, April 27

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Barrett Bookstore, after more than 20 years in Noroton Heights, has relocated. “With a truly heroic effort by our team, we opened our doors at 6 Corbin Drive in Darien in a week!” the store said in its newsletter. “To celebrate, we are planning our official grand opening.” Pop in anytime on Saturday, April 27 to enter their raffle, featuring prizes from their new downtown Darien neighboring businesses.

Books & Authors
Mary Cregan

Author Mary Cregan to Speak at Center for Hope Lunch and Jan Dilenschneider to Receive Award

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The Center for Hope welcomes author Mary Cregan as the speaker for its 2019 Annual Luncheon on Wednesday, May 8.  The event will be held at 11 a.m. at Wee Burn Beach Club in Rowayton. Longtime Family Centers board member, former board chair and Darien resident Jan Dilenschneider will also be honored with the “Ray of HOPE Award.” In her new book, The Scar: A Personal History of Depression and Recovery, Cregan shares her inspirational story of overcoming mental illness and the tenacity she found within herself to rebuild her life from the ground up. — an announcement from Family Centers

Shortly after the death of her newborn daughter, Cregan sank into a depression so deep she required hospitalization.  A failed suicide attempt while admitted to a locked unit was the low point of her long and arduous path to recovery. The scar from that suicide attempt serves not only as a reminder of her darkest days, but also how far she has come.