If you're looking for something to get you out of the house on some of these dark winter evenings, here's a cozy option: join us at The Galaxy Bookshop on Tuesdays from 5 - 6:15 p.m. for our new Stories & Stitches Book Club. Created with the handcrafter in mind, we invite people to bring along a knitting or needlework project (or any other easily portable project) to work on while listening to a short story being read by a volunteer.We've had one meeting so far and chose to read a selection from Birds of a Lesser Paradise, by Megan Mayhew Bergman. Cups of tea were brewed and knitting projects grew while the story unfolded. (One non-knitter attended, too--crafts are not required!)
We're committed to continuing this book club through January, and through the rest of winter as long as there is an interest! Join us anytime - we'll have a mug of tea and a seat waiting for you!
DATES: January 15, 22, 29
TIME: 5 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
PLACE: The Galaxy Bookshop
Katherine and John Paterson have recently collaborated on a spirited retelling of the 1910 fantasy, The Flint Heart. Katherine Paterson is the two time winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award and author of numerous novels, including the classic Bridge to Terabithia. She and John live in Barre, Vermont.
Linda Urban’s most recent novel, Hound Dog True, was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2011. She is also the author of A Crooked Kind of Perfect and the picture book Mouse Was Mad. She lives with her family in Montpelier, Vermont.
David Martin began writing after having children of his own and making up stories for them. He is the author of fourteen picture books, including Let’s Have a Tree Party and All for Pie, Pie for All. He lives in Lyndonville, Vermont.
Jenny Land teaches English and creative writing at St. Johnsbury Academy and works on farms during the summer. Her debut novel, The Spare Room, is set in Vermont during the Abolitionist movement, prior to the Civil War. She lives in Peacham, Vermont with her husband and twin daughters.
Jo Knowles, winner of the 2005 PEN Literary Award, has written three novels for teens. Background for her most recent novel, See You at Harry’s, came from the time her parents ran a restaurant and ice cream factory called Kellers’ Restaurant. She lives in Vermont with her husband and son.
We'd like to share a bit of our excitement for one event taking place next year--the release of our dear friend Howard Frank Mosher's new book, 
Vermont cookbook authors Andrea Chesman (Recipes from the Root Cellar) and Tracey Madeiros (Dishing Up Vermont) will be at The Galaxy Bookshop during our Sirius Reader Party on 
250 menu-saving recipes that feature everything from kale to rutabagas.
First of all, many thanks to everyone (somewhere around 100 of you!) who turned out for Bill McKibben's talk last Thursday night. Also, a very special thanks to Bill for taking the time to visit us here in Hardwick. His message in person as well as in his book 
Thursday, April 29, 7 p.m. 
Tuesday, May 18, 7 p.m. 
Tuesday, June 3, 7 p.m. 
Special thanks to this week's guest blogger, Howard Frank Mosher!
sense that I’m surrounded by all my best old (and new) friends: Robert Frost, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Richard Russo, the Northeast Kingdom’s Leland Kinsey and David Budbill.
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For our first Read-a-Thon, in 2008, we had prepared by talking with other booksellers who had hosted Read-a-Thons in the past. We had no particular expectations going in. We were bowled over to have 38 participants, mainly ages 12-17, raising around $830 for Hardwick Head Start.
Yet again, our expectations were blown away--we had 53 participants (including chaperones, many of whom found time to do some reading of their own) and, as of five days later, have raised $1040.98 for Hardwick Head Start and Early Head Start! According to several phone calls, emails, and drop-in visits, we are expecting to reach over $1,100 when all is said and done.
And what did the Read-a-Thonners do to honor the pledges they raised? Reading, of course, played a big part. Just from the participants who chose to keep logs of the books they read, we had a count of 14,063 pages read. In visual terms, that's the equivalent of a stack of 18 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows--in hardcover! Our winner for most pages read logged over 4,000 pages in her 24 hours here!
Jeudevine Library--created a special "library annex" here at the store for anyone who ran out of reading material, and at midnight led a Raid on the Library that let people stretch their legs and stock up on additional books.
founding member of the Weather Underground) came by the Galaxy on Wednesday the 15th to read from his new memoir, Underground, and take questions from the audience. And what an audience--over 50 people, from students to seniors, turned out to hear Rudd speak. It seemed that everyone packed into the Galaxy's front room had their own fascinating story to share which led from discussion to discussion on any and every topic. Debates over the means of effecting change were especially lively. Rudd himself was involved in violent activities with the Weather Underground, but has since embraced a non-violent philosophy, and is an advocate for peaceful activism and organization. The program stretched into the night but inside no one seemed to notice.
Jody Gladding gave a lovely reading last night, which included poems from her current and past books as well as excerpts of novels she's translated. She explained that the inspiration for one particular series of poems in her book 
Our Open Mic Night on Tuesday was a fantastic kick-off for our 2009 Reading Series. I venture to say that we were treated to the widest range of styles and subjects we've ever seen at one of these events. A novelist shared the first chapter of his not-yet-published mystery, we heard a ballad of the Gold Rush, a song about springtime, and a poem written in Abenaki and English. There were verses on the lure of cigarettes and junk food, the village blacksmith, love enduring and love disintegrating, flowers, bombings, and one conversation at the Greensboro Garage.