July 11, 2023. 10a.m. Place to be announced.
Book: Lungfish by Meghan Gillis
This is the July selection of MaineReads, sponsored by the Maine State Library and the Maine Cultural Council. It takes place on an unnamed Maine island.
On July 12th at 7p.m. there will be a Zoom interview with the author.

August. Time and place to be announced
Book: The Other Eden by Paul Harding.
A fictionalized telling of the history of Malaga Island and the expulsion of its residents in 1912.

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A wonderful article about Kevin Sudeith and his work in Phippsburg.

Source: A Petroglyph Artist Leaves His Mark on a Phippsburg Nature Preserve | Down East Magazine

The forest of Phippsburg is the canvas for these carvings – Kevin Sudeith

MacMahan Reads Book Discussion takes place this coming Friday, August 12th, 10:00a.m.  at the Cottage of Annsi Stefano.  We will discuss the book Beneficence by Meredith Hall.

 “I stand in awe of Meredith Hall and the poetry, honesty, and tenderness of her storytelling.  Beneficence may break your heart, but it will also put your heart back together again.  I know I will read it again.” –Joyce Maynard–

The Literary Committee

Discovered by Celeste at Bird’s Nest, given immediate care by Elizabeth, transported by Janot and Pablo, now recuperating at Center for Wildlife in York.
https://www.facebook.com/100064569648869/posts/pfbid02drfk6Fj3y9o6qmy9RuHZ57yDpWLzR1FLpicUVyd8fnjUxzK7S64WVp58Mcmp57pbl/?app=fbl

The book we are reading for the August MacMahan Reads is Beneficence by Meredith Hall.  It is the selection for READ MAINE, a program sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council in cooperation with the Maine State Library.  Readers and Reviewers have called Beneficence “hauntingly beautiful”, “a page-turner and an artistic triumph” and” a masterpiece of compassion”.  

The discussion will take place August 12, 10 a.m. at the cottage of Annsi Stephano.

The author, Meredith Hall, will be speaking at the Patten Library in Bath, 33 Summer Street,  on July 27th at 5:30 p.m.  You can attend in person or on Zoom.  Zoom participants must register at the following site:

Author Hall will also be speaking at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick on August 23rd at 1p.m.  Registration is required for this in-person only event.  

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A glimpse of Nick’s poetry reading – thanks to John Swart for the photos.

July 21, 2022   10a.m.   at the  cottage of Susan and Warren Lammert.
We will be discussing:
Downeast:  Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America by Gigi Georges “Through the gripping sagas of five young women, Georges not only unsparingly documents rural poverty, joblessness, and opioid addiction, but details how so many people in the rural community have nonetheless kept right on coping, hoping and caring for each other  through grit, goodness, and faith.  Here is the whole truth about America’s rural towns and cities.” —John Delulio—  

August 12, 2022  10a.m.   at the cottage of Annsi Stefano
We will be discussing the August selection of Maine Reads:
Beneficence by Meredith Hall
“Beneficence is amazing in its vision.  Luminous.  With wisdom and compassion, Hall writes about the capacity for atonement.  Beneficence, then.  Goodness.  Generosity to see deeply, to live through fear and pain on your journey toward the awareness of splendor.” —Ursula Hegi—

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taken by Kevin Sudeith from Seaborne

The following titles have been chosen for the coming summer, 2022.  Specific times and places are yet to be announced.  The July meeting will take place during the third week of July, the August meeting during the third week of August.  
For July:
Downeast:  Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America by Gigi Georges. (non-fiction)
Georges follows five girls as they come of age in one of the most challenging and geographically isolated regions of the Eastern seaboard — Washington County, Maine.  These stories reveal surprising truths about rural America and offer hope for its future.   
For August:
Beneficence by Meredith Hall.   (fiction).  The Maine Reads (READ ME) selection.  Maine Reads is co-sponsored by the Maine State Library and the Maine Humanities Council.
The story of a farming family, the Senters, whose quiet lives are upended by tragedy, and who must find a way forward, together, or apart.  Joyce Maynard has said this book may break your heart, but will put your heart back together.  
Hall will be speaking at the Curtis Hall Library in Brunswick on Tuesday August 23rd and will be giving a statewide author talk (via Zoom) on August 25th.  
Both books are available in paperback, hard cover, as well as in digital format.  Happy Reading!

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“We read books to find out who we are.  What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel…is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become.”                                                              –Ursula LeGuin–

This picture is of the bird on MacMahan.  Enjoy!

Source: Steller’s Sea Eagle: a local bird enthusiast’s perspective – Daily Bulldog

Hey Readers,
This is a reminder that we will be discussing Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault on July 15th at 10:00 a.m. at the Lammert cottage.  This book was chosen by the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine State Library for READ ME.  2021. We hopefully will find a spot where we can zoom with the author at 6p.m. that evening.  

“This profoundly important book reports on the way so many parts of America are killing the people who love them.  Tender, angry, full of respect and bewilderment, it is a complex love letter to a hometown.  It’s also a powerful glimpse of how corporate power, small-town pride, and death are entwined in America:  a vivid insight to the unbuilding of an American dream.”
                   –John Freeman, author of Dictionary of the Undoing–

Thanks.
The Literary Committee