Many overlook Martha’s Vineyard in the off-season, when beaches no longer accommodate bikinis, business owners stow away their cash registers, and the Flying Horses cease to fly. But Phyllis Meras, author of In Every Season, recently released by Schiffer Publishing, has a great appreciation for this time of relative hibernation, for humans at least. For her, the off-season is when the familiar becomes mysterious, and the unrelenting cadence of nature’s course penetrates the human psyche.

Best-selling author and Chilmark resident Linda Fairstein has said that one of her greatest pleasures is the moment she holds in her hand a copy of her latest book. Fans will feel the same way on July 10 when Dutton publishes Night Watch, the latest of Ms. Fairstein’s engrossing crime fiction novels.

On Thursday, July 19, at 7:30 p.m. the 2012 author lecture series begins. This year’s summer lineup includes Pulitzer Prize winners Richard Russo and Jennifer Egan, also Peter Beinart and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The series is designed to celebrate and support the authors and independent bookstores. The price of admission is free if you buy the author’s book. If you choose not to buy a book, the cost is $10.

In 1995, Sarah Ban Breathnach wrote a bestselling book called Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. The book features 366 essays about how to live life with simplicity and grace, but most of all gratitude. Oprah Winfrey called it her “favorite book,” of the year.

The book sold seven million copies and counting.

On Sunday, May 27, Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo and his daughter, Kate, will give a reading at the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven. This will be the first event to take place in the bookstore’s new space, across Main street in the old Bowl and Board building.

What a way to start a new era.

A prominent New England patriarch has died violently, exposing a nest of dark family secrets. That’s the plot of Richard North Patterson’s recently released family drama. The novel, Fall From Grace, set on Martha’s Vineyard, is the first in what is to be a series of three novels.

Mr. Patterson, a part-time Island resident, will discuss his work at a speakeasy on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. held at State Road Restaurant in West Tisbury. Hors d’oeuvres and light refreshments will be served.

Laura Wainwright, previously a teacher and children’s librarian, turned her senses toward the natural world to produce her first book, Home Bird: Four Seasons on Martha’s Vineyard (Vineyard Stories 2012). The book is composed of essays that adopt the voice of a home bird — someone who simply likes to be home and hear all the nuanced noises of what the world has to offer. A home bird appreciates the details that so often go unnoticed in even the smallest, simplest daily activities.

Visionary academic Dr. Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, needed a visionary architect to design the campus.

In a 1967 Life magazine story, the late William Stryon was quoted as saying: “Writing is a cruel and wracking pursuit. I hope none of my children follow in my path.”

Alexandra Styron has done just that, and in her book — Reading My Father — she has found a lifeline away from the scar tissue of her upbringing to a deep and compelling portrait of a complex person — father and writer.

State Road Restaurant’s Speakeasy Series returns next week with more unrivaled chances to mingle and speak with respected authors. This Tuesday, April 18, author John Hough Jr. will discuss Seen the Glory, a novel about the Battle of Gettysburg and two young brothers who volunteer to serve their country. Future participating authors include Alexandra Styron, who will speak about her book, Reading My Father, on May 16. On June 20 novelist Richard North Patterson will discuss his 20th novel, Fall from Grace, a family drama set on Martha’s Vineyard.