Reviews (17)

Good Morning Midnight
Great book, I was touched by Chip's thoughtful writting of such a wonderful, but sad, life and death. It is so sad that friends and family allowed these men to suffer through depression without finding a way to getting them help. It's a message to all of us to help those who can not help themselves.

The Tragic Story of A New England Legend
This is a powerful book.Mr. Brown examines the life of Guy Waterman, a man who became the personification of the Old Man Of The Mountain.Guy was an amzing man who workedin fields ranging from speech writing in Washington, to jazz pianist, to winter caretaker of an AMC hut.
A well-penned epilogue
This very artfully told tale was truly page turner for me.Thick with literary references, Brown's story of Guy Waterman reflects the complexity of a multi-talented individual, appreciated by many, but omniouly least of all by himself.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. General    3. Mountaineering    4. Nature    5. Nature/Ecology    6. Outdoor Life    7. Regional Subjects - New England    8. Sports - General    9. Fiction / General   

Subjects:  1. (Alfred Mitchell),    2. Bingham family    3. Bingham, Alfred M    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Conduct of life    8. Connecticut    9. Connecticut - Local History    10. Historical - U.S.    11. History: American    12. Millionaires    13. Mitchell family    14. Regional Subjects - New England    15. Rich & Famous    16. Tiffany family    17. Upper class families    18. Family   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Regional Subjects - New England   

Reviews (8)

Establishing a common home
This book documents the first year of living as a family for Monninger, his partner, and his partner's son.The book begins with the first day Monninger and his partner went to look at the barn that would become their home together and follows them for one year as they establish their new life as one family in their home in the barn.Monninger describes how each person adapted to living in the 6000 square foot living area inside the barn, how they remodeled some rooms, added heating stoves, and rebuilt the kitchen.It tells how they melded their furniture together, choosing one person's or another's best pieces, and purchased some new items specifically for the new space.After a summer of settling in, the barn finally began to make the transition into feeling like a home when extended family came to visit for the holidays. Creating a Life
I just completed the relishing of Joseph Moninger's , A Barn. Agreeing with anothers veiwpoint of too much flowering descriptions I ignored a few choice lines and skipped to new paragraphs; yet with respect I know I would never have enjoyed the parts I did read if they had not been described with such love and experience. I am one of those "wanna be barn owners"; ever since I was eight years old and watched the people two streets over gut, renew and live in this massive building with huge windows and sturdy walls. I fell in love. Amongst all the eloquence this book offers; it is the underlying theme; the reason I did not read it, that leaves me speechless and in awe. It is in the storyline that Monninger weaves the secondary and yet primal thread of family and the fact, as he states, that he realized that he and Wendy were creating thier son's past. What a beautiful, thought provoking, loving and spiritually filled knowing. As they were focused on integrity during the ever present process of renewing this structure; they also were creating sustanance, substance and stablitiy for Pie. My son is twenty-three and if I ever get another opportunity to go around with him again; I pray that I rememeber that once we become parents; however that is gifted to us; that in our present we are creating our childs past. A New Yorker in a Barn
I grew up in New York City, but have lived for the past 10 years on seven acres in a semi-rural part of New Hampshire.I am also in the process of building a barn (next to the house the we actually live in).So when I saw this book, I had to buy it.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Regional Subjects - New England    6. United States - State & Local - General    7. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (2)

A "Must Read"
This book is a "Must Read," one of the very best novels I have read in the last decade.Every page held phrases and paragraphs I wanted to read and re-read, so rich were the images in this coming-of-age novel.Perfect for a book club.

Revere Beach Elegy
This book is a collection of Merullo's essays about his boyhood in his Italian-American hometown, Revere-five miles from Boston, Massachusetts. Merullo was born into a typical Italian family where fathers are the head of the entire family. He grew up in a neighborhood with lots of cousins, uncles and aunts. The value of this book is not just Merrullo's boyhood tales, most important it depicts the struggle of immigrant families in this country, trying very hard to have a better life for themselves and their children. Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Ethnic Cultures - General    7. Homes and haunts    8. Italian American families    9. Italian Americans    10. Literary    11. Massachusetts    12. Merullo, Roland    13. Novelists, American    14. Regional Subjects - New England    15. Revere    16. Biography & Autobiography / General    17. Childhood and youth    18. Merullo, Giuseppe   

Reviews (3)

With Thoreau in the Maine Woods
In 1848, 1853,and 1857, Henry David Thoreau travelled to the wilderness -- forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains in the northwest part of Maine.He wrote three lengthy essays describing each of his journeys, and they were gathered together, as Thoreau had wished, and published after his death, together with an appendix, as "The Maine Woods."It is a moving book, a classic work of American literature, and the founder of a genre of descriptive travel writing.
Pure Travelogue
This book chronicles the adventures of Thoreau as he encounters wilderness in the guise of backwoods Maine.The book covers 3 separate expeditions that Thoreau made in 1846, 1853 and 1857.On each trip, Thoreau was accompanied by one or more companions, as well as an Indian guide.
American wilderness as it was in the 1850s
Most people are familiar with Thoreau through his Walden. Few know perhaps that he didn't stay put in Concord but journeyed to the Maine Woods and elsewhere, and that these travels were formative of his philosophy and ideas. Thoreau believed the Maine wilderness north of Bangor was every bit as wild as the west and other far flung corners of the continent in the 1850s, and here he shows us an incredible panorama of beauty and wonder. You will gain insight into how Native Americans hunted Moose in the mid-19th Century and why Thoreau, a vegetarian, disdained the killing of animals for meat.One of the most sriking passages is his description of the sound of a huge tree falling in the forest in the distance at night.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Personal Memoirs    5. Regional Subjects - New England    6. American Language and Literature    7. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    8. Classic travel writing    9. Maine    10. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    11. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (3)

Quirky, delightful, sad but I wanted more
I raced through this book, caught up in the momentum of the evocation of a large 50s family...(I too come from a New England family of 6 children, one prematurely dead after a nervous breakdown), and I am only a couple of years younger than the author.) Extraordinary
Not a word is wasted in this quietly powerful memoir.I found myself underlining passages I wanted to save and savor.This is a book about the ties that bind us to family -- a refreshing look at normal small town life in the 60's -- about nuns -- mental illness -- powdered milk -- hope and despair.By the time you finish reading, you know this family and are glad you met them.I chanced upon this book quite by accident -- may other readers be so lucky.

A Family Perseveres
Madeline Blais,who amazed us with "In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle," a book which is on nearly all high school summer reading lists, does it again with "Uphill Walkers."She turns her reporter's eye inward to examine her family and its vicissitudes.The family's uphill struggle following the death of her father is at the core of this book.Blais does not gloss over the rough spots.Her brother's emotional problems, her mother's struggles to keep the family going following the death of her husband, the constraints of growing up in a small, rural 1950's town are all laid bare. But there is a warmth and charm to the telling of the tale.Blais and her three sisters and two brothers move forward propelled by their ability to see the joy in the details of quotidian life and their ability to lean on each other when the going gets tough (as it does when Raymond, the eldest child, falls prey to his inner deamons). This book also captures the spirit of the family matriarch.Proud to the point of denying anything is wrong with Raymond (when Raymond is discharged from the Navy due to aural hallucinations she tells the other children to tell outsiders Ray got a medical discharge because there was something wrong with his hearing!) yet fiesty enough to make do and raise her brood in an era when "single parents" were unheard of, Blais's mother Maureen comes across as the heroine of this work. Blais again demonstates her considerable writing skills.There are some terrific lines in this book, such as her description of her mother's ability to to take a grain of indignity and massage it into a "pearl of pique." Since a family memoir never truly ends, Blais has included a "where are they now" chapter and anepilogue which describes each sibling's take on how the author has told the story -- what she got right, what she is remembering through her personal filter that differs from their own.These chapters are like the "Bonus Tracks" so popular on movie DVDs; a little extra that helps put the whole into perspective. At a time when memoirs, especially Irish-American memoirs, seem to be flooding the market, "Uphill Walkers" is worth your time and money. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Family Relationships    5. Fatherless families    6. General    7. Granby (Town)    8. Irish American Catholics    9. Massachusetts    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Regional Subjects - New England    12. Single Adult Family    13. Single-parent families   

Reviews (2)

Anyone who is a cat lover will love this book...
and anyone who isn't "owned by a cat", as Taber puts it, will want to be. I LOVED IT!
I loved this book from the first page to the very end. It's a perfect book to read to lift your spirits or to escape into a different world. I absolutely reccomend it to everyone who loves cats. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    3. Pets    4. Regional Subjects - New England    5. Women   

Reviews (3)

A great read - but I felt very sad at the end
Like all of Daignault's books, the author blends wonderful anecdotes in with illustrious descriptions of fishing the striper surf, to the point that you feel that you are there...
I wish I wrote it
This is a book about surfcasting the way Moby Dick is a book about fishing.It's really a story about avocation, family, parenting and about how a sport can enrich our life and connect us to the people we love.And it talks about these things with none of the intellectual pretentions and posturings of other fishing memoirs. Celebrating experiences with the art and joy of fishing
Eastern Tides: A Surfcaster's Life is the personal memoir of Frank Daignault, a fishing connoisseur who has written a thorourghly engaging work with a special appeal for his fellow fishermen. Celebrating experiences with the art and joy of fishing throughout the seasons of the years, Eastern Tides makes for especially excellent reading while anticipating a fishing trip or when waiting for something to nibble on the line! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Fishing - General    3. Regional Subjects - New England    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Sports - General    7. Fishing, angling    8. Sports & Recreation / Fishing   

Reviews (2)

Uneven, but interesting account
I vascillated between really loving parts of this book, and being annoyed at others.The book discusses the history of the Merrimack Valley in northeastern Massachusetts, weaving in stories about the author's parents'lives there as immigrants from Italy and Lebanon.It also comparesdescriptions of the area written by Thoreau, and others, in the 19thcentury. This is an incredibly powerful and exquisitely written book.
Jane Brox's second book is masterful: a cross between social history and memoir, a book that is devastatingly clear about the future of the family farm and yet without a trace of rancor. Even if, like me, you're a cityperson, you should READ THIS BOOK for its pervasive, gentle wisdom; for itsstunning prose; for everything a book should offer to its reader--access toa beloved world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1956-    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Brox family    6. Brox, Jane,    7. Family    8. Family farms    9. Farm life    10. General    11. Historical - General    12. Merrimack River Valley (N.H. and Mass.)    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Regional Subjects - New England    15. Textile factories    16. Literary Criticism & Collections / General   

Reviews (2)

great read and informative as well
I really enjoyed this book. It shows the experience of a "backyard sugarin'" guy in great detail while being very entertaining at the same time.

Beautiful gem rooted in the present
A real gem on how Noel Perrin started sugaring from his own trees. He's revised the book over 20 years, so he's learned from his own mistakes and successes. He has some pithy commentary on Thoreau's costs of cabin makingversus his own, as well. And did you know that milk (just a drop) will calma roiling boil? ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Cooking    3. Country life    4. Food Science    5. General    6. Health & Healing - Diabetic & Sugar Free    7. Maple sugar    8. Maple syrup    9. Regional Subjects - New England    10. Vermont    11. Food & Drink / Cookery    12. Literary Criticism & Collections / Essays   

Reviews (2)

Maritime history meets folk tale
This is a wonderful book that chronicles one of the last coastwise schooners on the East coast and her captain, Zeb Tilton of Martha's Vineyard, a real person, whose exploits and humor take him into the realm of folk lore. Great archival pictures and extensive research make this an enjoyble read for novice to maritime scholar.

...and you thought you knew what a real man was.
This is a wonderful book about an amazing person... a giant, crosseyed sea captain who could tell where he was by the smell of the water.Women just loved him.You'll just have to read the book to see what I mean.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - General    5. Maritime History    6. Regional Subjects - New England    7. Biography & Autobiography / Historical   

Subjects:  1. 1718-1806    2. 18th century    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Country life    8. Historical - General    9. Historical - U.S.    10. History    11. Lane, Samuel,    12. New Hampshire    13. Regional Subjects - New England    14. Shoemakers    15. Social life and customs    16. Stratham    17. Stratham (N.H.)    18. Tanners    19. United States - State & Local - General    20. American history    21. Biography: historical    22. History / United States / General    23. Local history    24. USA   

Subjects:  1. 1917-    2. American - General    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Handbooks, manuals, etc    5. Islands in literature    6. Literary    7. Literary Criticism    8. Maine    9. Ogilvie, Elisabeth,    10. Regional Subjects - New England    11. Women and literature    12. Ogilvie, Elisabeth    13. Travel / General   

Reviews (6)

My favorite book
I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of the book, and I was amazed at how eloquently my aunt had portrayed her life in the hinterlands.This is definetly a book for all types of people.As a interesting fact, Humphrey Bogart is my aunt's father's (my grandfather's) first cousin.
HARDSCRABBLE MEETS PEYTON PLACE
Picture in your mind a tweedy, gracefully aging celebrity sportsman fly fishing and bird hunting the world over with equally aging male celebrities. At least that was the public image.Curt Gowdy?Maybe if you only watched TV.If you were a reader in the `fifties and `sixties, you would likely think of Corey Ford, Field and Stream's most popular columnist for almost 20 years during the middle of the last century. Ford was an icon and inspiration to millions of split-level outdoorsman for whom he created a literary world where they could retreat with him even from the comfort of their armchairs and recliners, and hunt the field and fish the stream together, or swap lies about their angling and shooting exploits, real, imagined, or hoped for around the pot bellied stove in the general store of "Hardscrabble, " a fictional rural New England village based on people and places in the small towns of Ossipee, Effingham, and Freedom, New Hampshire. Long Gone Hardscrabble
As a faithful reader of Corey Ford's Lower Forty stories in Field and Stream in the late 50's, I wanted to like this book a lot.The problem is that the Hardscrabble of the 1950's doesn't transport well to today.Those lovable characters that I knew in an Upstate New York town much like Hardscrabble, are long gone.The hardware store has been replaced with a Gap and the general store that was filled with old curmudgeons is now a Starbucks populated with twenty-something latte drinkers. Ms. Morrow does an admirable job trying to resurrect the old place, but the lingering feeling that many readers will have is that old Hardscrabble is a faded photograph that is best left to the past and not "colorized" for the 21st Century.If you want the real Hardscrabble, read Corey Ford.Ms. Morrow is a good writer; she should apply her considerable talent to the word beyond Hardscrabble. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Dogs - General    3. Fiction    4. Humor    5. Personal Memoirs    6. Popular American Fiction    7. Regional Subjects - New England    8. Topic - Animals    9. Fiction / General   

Reviews (1)

Katie's Review of "The Newton Boys"
I thouroughly enjoyed reading this book.In it it gave a fascinating first hand view into how the Newton brothers entered the life of bank and train robbers.The story was written based on a number of interviews with Willis and Joe Newton.The brothers discussed their feelings on how they were viewed, and how when there was ever any robbery, the Newton brothers were the number one suspects. I also enjoyed the humor in which the brothers were able to look back on thier escapades and run ins with the law.Some of the best parts of the book, I think, were when the Newtons described how they outsmarted the law, and escaped from prisons numerous times. The decriptions in the book provided vivid detail into life during the turn of the century.Each brother described in the book had very different interests and tastes, from Willis, a strong headed boy who was smart and determined,to Jess, the lazier of the brothers. In all, this book provided me with new insight into an era that has long since passed, and into the lives of criminals.I thought this book was an excellent read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1889-    2. 1901-    3. Biography    4. Case studies    5. Criminals & Outlaws    6. Gangs    7. History - General History    8. History: American    9. Newton, Joe,    10. Newton, Willis,    11. Outlaws    12. Regional Subjects - New England    13. Robbery    14. United States    15. United States - State & Local - General   

Reviews (3)

Would love to see more from Terry Osborne!
Terry Osborne's coming-of-self narrative is brave, honest, and poignant. I have recently left New England after seven years, and Osborne's careful and tactile descriptions truly stirred me. But even for anyone who's unattached to a Vermont landscape, there's an important lesson here. Osborne shares with us his very personal journey to the discovery of how deeply our environment can inform our sense of self - in Osborne's case, how the complex "mosaic" of land, water, and air reflects the contours of his struggle with depression. Even now, living so far from all the swamp-and-peaks nature of Osborne's journeys (I'm a Paris resident), Sightlines has inspired me to explore my surroundings with a renewed energy and curiosity - to understand how much self-discovery can unfold through such an investigation. For that - and for his pure, graceful prose - I thank him!

Lyrical & Hypnotic: a Beautiful & Stirring Tribute to Nature
Every so often a book reminds us of why we seek out the woods for solitude and comfort. "Sightlines" accomplishes that considerable feat with resounding success. An Magnificent Debut
Terry Osborne writes a fascinating, powerful and touching account of his travels through the Upper River Valley and the travails of his own battle with depression.Candid, personal and touching, we join the author as he explores the natural phenomena of the Vermont landscape, while at the same time he struggles courageously against his inner demons.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Depressed persons    4. Depression    5. Emotions    6. Mental Depression    7. Mental health    8. Osborne, Terry    9. Psychology    10. Regional Subjects - New England    11. Vermont    12. The Environment    13. USA   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. General    4. History    5. History: American    6. Maine    7. Regional Subjects - New England    8. United States - State & Local - General    9. Women    10. History / United States / State & Local   

Subjects:  1. 1793-1867    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Concord (Mass.)    7. Literary    8. Regional Subjects - New England    9. Ripley, Sarah Alden,    10. U.S. History - Constitutional Period To Civil War (1789-1860)    11. United States - 19th Century    12. Women    13. Women In The U.S.    14. Women's Studies - General    15. Biography & Autobiography / General    16. Biography: general    17. Ripley, Sarah Alden    18. USA    19. c 1700 to c 1800    20. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (3)

A real treasure
After two wonderful books (1942 & 1946) largely about herself and her relationship with the northwoods of Maine, Louise Rich was wise to shift her focus to the strong character, ethics and coping skills of her remoteneighbors.My Neck of the Woods is a real treasure.

Captivating
Louise Dickinson Rich was one of a kind and this is one of her best. This is one of those books that makes you a part of her fascinating and down to earth world.

Disappointing after "We Took to the Woods"�
Having read many of her books about her life in rural Maine, I was disappointed with this one.It is written in the same simple style which is enjoyable to read but the content was not as good. Most of this book isabout the various people who lived near the author.Discussions on theirpersonality quirks and the mundain details of their lives are not reallyall that interesting.The stories are only intersting to those who knowthese people.I enjoy reading books like this to learn what life is likefor others is situations different from mine.I learned nothing new withthis one.I am glad I did not read this book first or I never would haveread her others. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Country life    6. Historical - General    7. Maine    8. Middle Dam Region    9. Middle Dam Region (Me.)    10. Regional Subjects - New England    11. Social life and customs    12. United States - State & Local - General    13. Women    14. Rich, Louise Dickinson    15. Memoir    16. Nature