Books

The Beatles backstage with Roy Orbison, in sunglasses, and Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963 in Britain. Illustrates BEATLES (category e), by Forrest Wickman (c) 2013, Slate. Moved Thursday, May 23, 2013. (MUST CREDIT: From The Beatles in Liverpool, by Spencer Leigh, courtesy of Mark Naboshek Collection.)

Orbison Biography: Man Behind the Ray-Bans

Sunday, June 16, 2013

When biographer John Kruth writes that Roy Orbison’s “life seemed to mirror that of Job’s from the Old Testament,” he is not stretching too far to make a point. The singer’s first wife died in a motorcycle accident with Orbison just a few hundred yards down the road ahead of her; two of his sons died as boys in a house fire while the singer was overseas. Poor management contributed to a series of bad albums and to Orbison being nearly forgotten. Yet, like Job, as Kruth tells the tale in Rhapsody in Black: The Life and Music of Roy Orbison , Orbison had a …

William Fields, Alabama, 1936. Excerpted from a newly discovered collaboration by James Agee and Walker Evans. Illustrates BOOKS-AGEE (category e), by James Agee and Walker Evans (c) 2013, Slate. Moved Wednesday, June 12, 2013. (MUST CREDIT: Walker Evans/Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

‘You Ain’t Never Seen Trouble Till You Lose a Youngun’

Sunday, June 16, 2013

How late in her pregnancy a woman works around the house and in the fields and how soon she gets back to work again depends on her health and how much grit she has. Since that is the code she believes in and lives up to the answer is, she works as late …

Overdue 70-Some Years, Book Returned to Stevens

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Claremont — At the entrance of the Stevens High School library this time of year, there is a reminder posted on a board that all library books have to be returned before school ends for the summer. For students who forget — or perhaps misplaced — a book, or two they should always remember it is never too late to return one to …

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Mike Cotroneo, a barn restorer, sets up scaffolding around the lowered steeple of the Norwich Congregational Church in Norwich yesterday. Work to restore its rotted framing will take about two months. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Steeple Repair in Norwich

Randolph catcher Ross Caswell hugs teammate Alex Gilbert after the Galloping Ghosts won the Vermont Division III championship last night at Centennial Field in Burlington. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Motivation Works for Ghosts: Unusual History Lesson Lifts Randolph to Baseball State Crown

Randolph vs. BFA-Fairfax in the VPA D-III baseball championship in Burlington, Vt., on June 17, 2013. Randolph won, 3-2. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Photo Gallery: Randolph vs. BFA-Fairfax Baseball Championship

Other Local News

Volunteers Drive Five-Colleges Book Sale

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Lebanon — A few slices of poundcake on a break room table, small stacks of books awaiting price tags, some half-filled cardboard boxes. By Tuesday, the warehouse serving as home base for the Five-Colleges Book Sale contained only …

A Perfect Game to Save the Day — or the Soul

Sunday, April 21, 2013

New York — Hanging above the dresser in my bedroom, encased in Plexiglas, is a baseball. A birthday gift from my wife, the ball bears the 1982 World Series logo and was signed, at some point between then and now, by Robin Yount, the Milwaukee Brewers’ star shortstop …

When the Boys of Summer Returned From the War

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Imagine what big-league baseball would be like if hundreds of the game’s best players up and disappeared at the same time. Imagine if they were away not just for part of one lost season, like in the infamous strike season of 1994, but for an excruciating span of …

Robert Weintraubs The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseballs Golden Age tells of ad hoc baseball games in Europe. A majority of the games were played in the Hitler Youth Stadium in Nuremberg. Illustrates BASEBALL-HISTORY (category s), by Robert Weintraub (c) 2013, Slate. Moved Thursday, April 4, 2013. (MUST CREDIT: Courtesy of Gary Bedingfield.)

Excerpt From ‘Victory Season’

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The following has been adapted from Robert Weintraub’s book The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball’s Golden Age. Some 500 Major League Baseball players traded in their team uniforms for service …

Sharon Olds poses on the porch of her home , Monday, April 15, 2013 in Pittsfield, N.H. Olds won the Pulitzer in poetry for Stag's Leap, a collection of poems. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

N.H. Poet Wins Pulitzer for a Book About Loss

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Sharon Olds, who lives and writes much of the time in a house overlooking a Pittsfield, N.H., pond, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in poetry Monday. The winning book is Stag’s Leap, a collection of poems about the …

City Library to Close for Renovations

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Lebanon — The Lebanon Public Library will be closed April 19-30 for renovations. It is expected to reopen on May 1. During that time, the Kilton Public Library, at 80 Main St. in West Lebanon, will offer expanded hours. The Kilton Library will be open Monday-Thursday from 10 …

Partridge Boswell of Woodstock has received recognition for his poetry. (Valley News - Sarah Priestap)

Woodstock's Partridge Boswell Gets Good Buzz as a New Poet

Friday, April 12, 2013

Like any poet, Partridge Boswell is a collector: of words, images and overheard conversations that the universe throws to him. Camped out at a table in the back of a Woodstock coffee house, Boswell bends over a notebook …

With a philosophical eye, Jane Austen sees through fuss and finery and self-justification. Illustrates AUSTEN (category e), by Adelle Waldman (c) 2013, Slate. Moved Friday, April 5, 2013. (MUST CREDIT: Slate photo by Luke Pearson.)

Be Persuaded About the Lessons of Jane Austen

Friday, April 12, 2013

Why do so many of Jane Austen’s smartest readers consider her weakest novel to be her best? Persuasion, the story of kind, helpful Anne Elliot — who made a mistake years ago and is still suffering for it …

A History Of Avid Readers and Libraries

Friday, April 12, 2013

The American Library Association selected “Communities Matter @Your Library” for the theme of this year’s National Library Week, observed in April each year. While that is stated in a modern style, the relationship between local communities and libraries …

New Books Look at Baseball’s History, Heros

Sunday, April 7, 2013

George Plimpton knew the score. A generation or so ago, the late Paris Review editor developed what he called the “Small Ball Theory” of sports writing, which posits “a correlation between the standard of writing about a particular sport and the ball it utilizes — that the smaller …

Books

Orbison Biography: Man Behind the Ray-Bans

Man Hospitalized in Enfield Fire That Destroys Garage

Hartford Seeks Healing After Suicides

Hanover Buddies Planning a Unique Wiffle Ball Field

Chasing the Dream, Welch Detours Back to Morey

Editorial: Otherwise Engaged; In Vermont, It’s a Labor of Like