THE LITTLE RED (SOX) BOOK, by Bill “Spaceman” Lee with Jim Prime, Triumph Books, Chicago, 2003, 224 pages, $19.95. If we can’t make Bill “Spaceman” Lee president, can’t we at least make him commissioner of baseball? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes =… Read More
LIFE UNDER ICE, by Mary M. Cerullo, photos by Bill Curtsinger; Tilbury House, Gardiner, Maine, 2003, $16.95. Whales, seals and gigantic starfish and hundreds of penguins – how can you go wrong? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes =… Read More
STEAL AWAY, by Linda Hall, Multnomah Publishers, Sisters, Ore., 2003, 288 pages, paperback, $11.99. At last, New Brunswick novelist Linda Hall has found the right loom for successfully weaving mystery and religion into a compelling tapestry. Her latest book, “Steal Away,” returns the Fredericton writer… Read More
DIRTY WORK, by Stuart Woods, Putnam, New York, 317 pages, hardcover, $25.95. Cop-turned-lawyer Stone Barrington returns for the ninth time in the latest release by veteran mystery writer Stuart Woods. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
BROOKLIN, by Brooklin Keeping Society, Arcadia, Charleston, S.C., 2003, 128 pages, $19.99. I like old things, so I was prepared to enjoy the book of historic photographs the Brooklin Keeping Society has put together for the Images of America series. And I wasn’t disappointed. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
WHEN BOSTON WON THE WORLD SERIES, by Bob Ryan, Running Press, Philadelphia, 2003, 192 pages, $18.95. Many New Englanders will find it hard to believe, but there was a time when Boston dominated the baseball world. The team, in fact, won the very first World… Read More
THE WILD OUT YOUR WINDOW: EXPLORING NATURE NEAR AT HAND, by Sy Montgomery, Down East Books, Camden, 2002, 250 pages, $15.95. Sy Montgomery is the most natural of naturalists. Whether the realm is plant or animal, the territory the Amazon River or the Appalachian Trail,… Read More
LIVING WILD AND DOMESTIC: THE EDUCATION OF A HUNTER-GARDENER, by Robert Kimber, The Lyons Press, Guilford, Conn.; 2002, $22.95. When you sit down to breakfast, do you consider the meaning of life for the pig that became your bacon, or the happiness of the hens… Read More
ANOTHER THURSDAY: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, by H.R. Coursen, The Mathom Bookshop, Dresden, Maine, 2002, 128 pages, paperback, $9.95. The weather this April being crueler than usual, it’s refreshing to run across a poetry collection that reminds us of the excellence National Poetry Month seeks… Read More
Writers Jay Davis and Tim Hughes first started delving into Belfast’s history as part of a research project for documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, who produced a four-hour film about the midcoast city in the 1980s. But as they began interviewing city residents and reading old… Read More
A SENSE OF PLACE: COLLECTED MAINE POEMS, edited by Lillian B. Kennedy, Alice N. Persons and Nancy A. Henry; Bay River Press, Auburn, Maine, 2002; 99 pages, paperback, $7. A cutout in the gray paper cover of “A Sense of Place” frames a reproduction of… Read More
THE TOMORROW LOG, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, Meisha Merlin Publishing, Decatur, Ga., 2003, 352 pages, paperback, $16. In their latest book, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, like many characters whose exploits they chronicle, are exploring unknown territory. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
THE NIGHT SKY, by Frederick Morgan, photographs by Gaylen Morgan, introduction by Emily Grosholz, Story Line Press, Ashland, Ore, 58 pages, $60. The New York-based poet Frederick Morgan, who turned 80 last year, has been coming to Blue Hill with his family since the late… Read More
SEAWARD BORN, by Lea Wait, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2003, 156 pages, $16.95. “Sometimes a man has to risk everything to do what is right. Doing that is what makes him a man.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or have other ties. SLOW MONKEYS AND OTHER STORIES, by Jim Nichols, Carnegie Mellon University Press, Pittsburgh, 2002, 164 pages $15.95. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
THE SKATING POND, by Deborah Joy Corey, Berkeley Books, New York, 2003, 246 pages, hardcover, $21.95. Deborah Joy Corey’s starkly evocative second novel, “The Skating Pond,” begins and ends with the January landscape of Stonington, “when the weather has stolen all there is to steal… Read More
These are the differences I see between city women and women from Maine: city women eat vegetables, they can’t drive in snow and they’re used to witnessing human indecencies of the public kind rather than the more horrifying private kind. – from “Finches” Lewis Robinson… Read More
“THE SUPERNATURAL SIDE OF MAINE” by C.J. Stevens, John Wade, Publisher, Phillips, Maine, 2002, 276 pages, paperback, $12. “I see stuff all the time but I never tell anyone,” the old Swanville man explained after hearing about a triangular-shaped object with white lights hovering over… Read More
FINDING THEIR OWN VOICES: MAINE WOMEN AT THE MILLENNIUM: THEIR STORIES, text and photographs by James Andrew Mitchell, Down East Books, Camden, 2002, 144 pages, paperback, $14.95. Camden writer and photographer James Andrew Mitchell set out three years ago to compile the life stories of… Read More
GREEN GIRLS, by Michael Kimball, William Morrow, New York, N.Y., 2002, hardcover, $24.95. If you read enough contemporary American fiction, you can tell from the first 10 or 20 pages if the author is going to take you places, get you involved, even frighten you. Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or have other local ties. THAT YANKEE CAT, by Marilis Hornidge, Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, 2002, 102 pages, $14.95. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
MEMOIRS, by David Rockefeller, Random House, New York, 2002, 517 pages, $35 ($65 in leather binding). In the depths of the Depression, when David Rockefeller was a freshman at Harvard, his father sent him a letter containing some bad news: The way things were going,… Read More
THE SEA CHEST, written by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Mary Grandpre, Dial Books for Young Readers, New York, 2002, 32 pages, hardcover, $16.99. Windham author Toni Buzzeo spent the first 10 years of her life as an only child longing for a little sister to… Read More
THE DIARIES OF SARAH JANE AND EMMA ANN FOSTER: A Year in Maine During the Civil War, edited by Wayne E. Reilly, Picton Press, Rockport, 2002, 256 pages, $24.50. The year was 1864, and two of the children of Moses and Eliza Foster of Gray… Read More
SIRIUS THE DOG STAR, by Angeli Perrow, pictures by Emily Harris, Down East Books, Camden, 2002, $15.95. “Four below zero, and it was a thick vapor, and blowing a gale of wind from the northwest … we were all awakened by the barking of a… Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or have other local ties. THE SEAL ISLAND SEVEN, by Susan Bartlett, Viking Children’s Books, New York, N.Y., 2002, 70 pages, $15.99. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
AGAINST THE MACHINE: THE HIDDEN LUDDITE TRADITION IN LITERATURE, ART, AND INDIVIDUAL LIVES, by Nicols Fox, Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington D.C., 2002. $25. It seems only natural that Nicols Fox should have chosen a small village in Maine as her home more than a decade… Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or have other local ties. WENDAMEEN: THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SCHOONER FROM 1912 TO THE PRESENT, by Capt. Neal Parker, Down East… Read More
THIRTEEN MOONS, by Robert Chute, preface by Robert Alan Burns, The Cider Press, Poland, Maine, 95 pages, paperback, $25. John Francis Sprague’s 1906 biography of Sebastian Rale (1657-1724), the Jesuit priest who lived with the Abenaki in Norridgewock, bears a grim epigraph from Voltaire: “History… Read More
FIRE: POEMS by Wesley McNair, David R. Godine publisher, Boston, 2002, 96 pages, paperback, $16.95; and MAPPING THE HEART: REFLECTIONS ON PLACE AND POETRY, by Wesley McNair, Carnegie Mellon University Press, Pittsburg, 2003, 198 pages, paperback. In an age when poetry baffles most common readers,… Read More
MAINE LAKES, photographs by Christopher Barnes, text by Sarah Stiles Bright, Tilbury House, Gardiner, 2002, 108 pages, hardcover, $40. Founded in 1999, the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute, or MLCI, has developed rapidly into a major advocate for the stewardship of the more than 6,000 lakes… Read More
ALDOUS HUXLEY, A BIOGRAPHY, by Dana Sawyer, Crossroad Publishing Co. New York, 208 pages, $19.95 paperback. “That we are being propelled in the direction of ‘Brave New World’ is obvious. But no less obvious is the fact that we can, if we so desire, refuse… Read More
GROTTIES DON’T KISS, by Clinton Trowbridge, The Vineyard Press, Port Jefferson, N.Y.; paperback $19.95 211 pages. The very things that make “Grotties Don’t Kiss: A Prep School Memoir” a good read are the reasons it leaves readers wanting more. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
BLOODY JACK, By L.A. Meyer, Harcourt Children’s Books, New York, 2002, hardcover, $17. Take one measure of “Treasure Island,” another of “Robinson Crusoe,” add a bit of Oliver Twist, sprinkle with Horatio Hornblower and season with a generous dollop of Sex Ed 101 and you… Read More
FROM A BUICK 8, by Stephen King, Scribner, New York, 2002, hardcover, 356 pages, $28. When is a 1954 Buick Roadmaster not a classic automobile? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
THE DELIGHT OF DEMOCRACY: The Triumph of American Politics, by Christian P. Potholm, Cooper Square Press, New York, hardcover, 200 pages, $27.95. Christian P. Potholm, a Bowdoin College professor and the state’s top political pundit, has collected his columns for the Lewiston Sun Journal in… Read More
It didn’t take author Bill Sawtelle long to reveal the origin behind the title of his newest sports biography: “The Albion Antelope: The Ron Marks Story.” On page 10, the reader learns of Marks’ career as a baseball player at the University of Maine where… Read More
MAINELY POWER, by m. Langdon Cost, 1st Books Library, Bloomington, Ind., 190 pages, paperback, $11.95. Goff Langdon is a private detective who works out of the back room of his more profitable business, the Coffee Dog Bookstore. He drinks too much, gambles too often, pines… Read More
LOBSTERS GREAT AND SMALL: How Scientists and Fishermen Are Changing Our Understanding of a Maine Icon, by Philip Conkling and Anne Hayden, Island Institute/Down East Books, 2002, softcover, $24.95. This is not hammock reading. It’s close to the sort of detailed and technical writing demanded… Read More
FOURTEEN, by Stephen Zanichkowsky, Basic Books, New York, 2002, 261 pages, hardcover, $25. When I first heard about “Fourteen,” Stephen Zanichkowsky’s memoir of growing up alone and lonely in a family of 14 children, I simply didn’t believe it. Surely, I thought, there must be… Read More
THE GREEN MACES OF AUTUMN: VOICES IN AN OLD MAINE HOUSE, by Lewis Turco, Mathom Bookstore, Dresden Mills, Maine, paperback, 67 pages, $7.95. The tradition in American poetry of writing in the voice of individuals from earlier eras is a long and distinguished one. John… Read More
SCHOOL PICTURE DAY, written by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Thor Wickstrom, Dutton Children’s Books, New York, 2002, 36 pages, hardcover, $16.99. Twelve years ago Winthrop author Lynn Plourde penned a story about a family going for a studio portrait and sent it to numerous publishers. Read More
FACE DOWN ACROSS THE WESTERN SEA, by Kathy Lynn Emerson, 2002, St. Martin’s Minotaur, New York, 227 pages, hardcover, $22.95 Lady Susanna Appleton is up to her ankles in maps. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
“Rediscovering S.P. Rolt Triscott: Monhegan Island Artist and Photographer.” By Richard H. Malone and Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. Tilbury House, Gardiner, Me. 228 pages. By the time the English artist S.P. Rolt Triscott moved to Monhegan Island in 1902, he had lived in America for… Read More
PILOTS: THE WORLD OF PILOTAGE UNDER SAIL AND OAR, Pilot Schooners of North America and Great Britain, editor and principal author, Tom Cunliffe, WoodenBoat Publications, Brooklin, Maine, 2001, $69.95. Make certain your coffee table is in good order before you add this book to its… Read More
HERE FOR GENERATIONS: THE STORY OF A MAINE BANK AND ITS CITY, by Dean Lawrence Lunt, Islandport Press, Frenchboro, 334 pages, hardcover, $24.95. Dr. Edmond Abbot. Caleb C. Cushing. Winthrop E. Hilton. Rebecca Graves. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
THE WHORE’S CHILD AND OTHER STORIES, by Richard Russo, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002, 272 pages, hardcover, $24. Richard Russo is the workingman’s F. Scott Fitzgerald. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
AVIATION LEGENDS PAPER AIRPLANE BOOK, by Ken Blackburn & Jeff Lammers, Workman Publishing, New York, paperback, $15.95. It’s a book! It’s a plane! It’s an interactive history of flight! googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
THE GAZEBO, written by Ethel Pochocki, illustrated by Mary Beth Owens, Downeast Books, Camden, 2002, hardcover, $15.95. Growing up in Bayonne, N.J., writer Ethel Pochocki treasured a dream of moving to Maine. But it wasn’t until she was divorced with four teen-agers that she was… Read More
PETER LOON, by Van Reid, Viking, New York, 298 pages, hardcover, $24.95. Edgecomb writer Van Reid takes a departure from chronicling the Victorian escapades of his Moosepath League to look at life in Maine shortly after the Revolutionary War. “Peter Loon” tells the story of… Read More
BROTHERS OF MORNING, by Martin Steingesser, Deerbrook Editions, Cumberland, 2002, 73 pages, $12. Coming to the end of Martin Steingesser’s new poetry collection, “Brothers of Morning,” I could almost smell the scent of the ripening warmth of Indian summer, that time of promise I remember… Read More
Just in time for summer vacation, Maine authors have created real literary treats for youngsters of all ages. QUENTIN FENTON HERTER III, written by Amy MacDonald, illustrated by Giselle Potter, Melanie Kroupa Books, New York, 30 pages, $16, hardcover. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
JOEL WHITE: BOATBUILDER, DESIGNER, SAILOR, by Bill Mayher and Maynard Bray, photographs by Benjamin Mendlowitz, Noah Publications, Brooklin, Maine. $60. Everyone with any interest in or affection for wooden boats will want this book. Those who love wooden boats will treasure it. As will every… Read More
GRADUATE! EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO SUCCEED AFTER COLLEGE, by Kristen M. Gustafson, Capital Books, Inc., 263 pages, $14.95 paper. When Kristen Gustafson got her first job after college in 1998, she was so excited about getting a real paycheck, compared to the $60 a week… Read More
Maria Testa’s father didn’t tell her much about his boyhood. Their family wasn’t the kind to sit around on a porch swing talking about the good old days. As it turns out, some of her father’s good old days weren’t so good. His father regularly… Read More
THE COUNTER, by Kevin Blackwood, Wooden Pagoda Press, Eugene, Ore., 2002, 311 pages, $14. The way Kevin Blackwood paints it, gambling is an insidious business where casinos thwart skilled players – even kicking them out – for using their brains and making any significant money. Read More
Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors set in the Pine Tree State or have other local ties. THE PIRATE ROUND, by James L. Nelson, William Morrow, New York, 2002, 366 pages, $24.95. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
ALL WE HAVE IS NOW, by Robert Taylor, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2002, $23.95. Written with such artless simplicity that it flows like a long letter to a good friend, this book, nevertheless, stays with you. There are no surprises. The author, a journalist… Read More
ERNIE’S ARK: Stories, by Monica Wood, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002, 191 pages, $22.95. For author Carolyn Chute, the small Maine town is safe. That’s because it’s transparent. For better or worse, everyone knows everyone else. “They know you to the bone,” she writes in… Read More
WHEN THE RAILROAD LEAVES TOWN: AMERICAN COMMUNITIES IN THE AGE OF RAIL LINE ABANDONMENT, by Joseph P. Schwieterman, Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Mo., 2001, 350 pages, $39.95. A century ago, you could hop aboard a train at Boston’s North Station, feast on lobster and… Read More
ANGEL GABRIEL, The Elusive English Galleon: Its History and the Search for its Remains, by Warren C. Riess, 2001, 1797 House, Bristol, Maine, $15. This is a wistful little book, a surprising trait since it is about archaeology. Wistful and archaeology are two words not… Read More
Editor’s note: Maine Bound is a new column featuring reviews of books by Maine authors or with Maine settings. STONINGTON SCRAPS, by Caroline S. Rittenhouse, photos by Burton Ames, Peg Mitten Press, Stonington, 2002, 78 pages, $15. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
“Food is a help/for all poets/take their meals/where and when/they find them.” – Kendall Merriam, “Comments on Chinese Poetry” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, by Julia Spencer-Fleming, 2002, Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 308 pages, hardcover, $23.95. Clare Fergusson has had a rough few weeks. She’s the new Episcopalian priest in the small upstate New York town of Millers Kill. The ancien regime that runs… Read More
PETTICOAT WHALERS: WHALING WIVES AT SEA, 1820-1920, by Joan Druett, illustrations by Ron Druett, University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H., 2001, paperback. In New England the word “whaling” triggers images of Nantucket, New Bedford and other regional whaling ports. But most often it is… Read More
The Wilderness From Chamberlain Farm: A Story of Hope for the American Wild, by Dean B. Bennett, Island Press, Washington, D.C.; $30. This comprehensive and so diligently researched history of Maine’s Allagash River and the lands around it would always be welcome. But given the… Read More
THE FORGOTTEN CONDITION OF THINGS, by Robert Froese, Flat Bay Press, Harrington, Me., 2002, $14. What a splendid surprise! Here comes this book from a small Maine publisher written by a fellow whose name has never turned up on anyone’s bestseller list and, guess what,… Read More
April is National Poetry Month. Sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the monthlong series of events is intended to spur schools, libraries, publishers, booksellers and literary organizations around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. In keeping with that tradition, Somesville poet… Read More
April is National Poetry Month. Sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the monthlong series of events is intended to spur schools, libraries, publishers, booksellers and literary organizations around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. In keeping with that tradition, Somesville poet… Read More
April is National Poetry Month. Sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the monthlong series of events is intended to spur schools, libraries, publishers, booksellers and literary organizations around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. In keeping with that tradition, Somesville poet… Read More
THE INTERRUPTED FOREST: A HISTORY OF MAINE’S WILDLANDS, by Neil Rolde. Tilbury House, Publishers. Gardiner, 2001, $20. Time present and time past googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
“LANDINGS, LOGGING & LUMBERMEN: MEMORIES FROM ST. JOHN, ME., 1901-2001,” by Shirlee Connors-carlson, published by the author, Part I, 110 pages, $15; Part II, 24 pages, $7.50. New England is teeming with historians and folklorists, but did you ever meet a historian of folklore? Maybe… Read More
Five years ago, William Carpenter had anchored his sailboat in a calm cove off the coast of Maine. His family was onboard and they were enjoying a festive outdoor meal with another family. It was one of those glory days of summer, luxurious and quiet and windswept. Read More
“MARA’S STORIES: GLIMMERS IN THE DARKNESS,” by Gary Schmidt, 2001, Henry Holt & Co., New York, 149 pages, hardcover, $16.95. Some knowledge should run in the blood – only it doesn’t. Though my grandmother spent the 1930s coaxing relatives out of Austria, my son wasn’t… Read More
“EVERYTHING’S EVENTUAL,” by Stephen King, Scribner, New York. 459 pages. $28 Of all the fiction writers whose works are assured a nonstop flight from the publishing house to the best-seller list, Stephen King may be the only one who consistently explores a variety of writing… Read More
MAINE CURIOSITIES: QUIRKY CHARACTERS, ROADSIDE ODDITIES & OTHER OFFBEAT STUFF, by Tim Sample and Steve Bither, The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Conn., 2002, 211 pages, $12.95. This book is a half-gallon jar of hard candies; you know, the round ones, each a different color. You… Read More
SHRINKING THE CAT, by Sue Hubbell, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass., 2001, 175 pages, $25. In “Shrinking the Cat,” naturalist Sue Hubbell offers more of what her loyal readers have come to expect, and less. It’s a book that raises more questions than it answers… Read More
COFFINS, by Rodman Philbrick, Forge, New York, 2002, 319 pages, $23.95. For his latest novel, Kittery author Rodman Philbrick takes readers back to not just a dark time for the United States, but for one Maine family in particular. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
ONE POTATO, TWO POTATO, by Roy Finamore with Molly Stevens, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York, 2002, 590 pages, $35. Taken at face value, the potato is far from the most attractive of vegetables. It’s blocky, knobbly and – vampirelike – prone to rapid degeneration when… Read More
INTO WOODS, by Bill Roorbach, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Ind., 2002, 177 pages. In “Into Woods,” Bill Roorbach has collected essays written over more than a decade. They encompass a time span much broader, however: from his teen-age years in Connecticut to… Read More
CROSSING, by Philip Booth, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, 18 pages, Candlewick Press, Cambridge, Mass., $16.95. There’s been a great deal of excitement in recent months about the resumption of train service between Portland and Boston. In a serendipitous piece of synchronicity, just as rail travel… Read More
TEMPTATIONS: IGNITING THE PLEASURE AND POWER OF APHRODISIACS, by Ellen and Michael Albertson, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002, 334 pages, $14. It should be no surprise to anyone that food and sex are often so closely linked. After all, eating and intercourse are almost… Read More
SOMESVILLE – In “Out on the Deep Blue,” 19 writers take readers on a first-person odyssey through the commercial fishing industry, from sea-urchin diving in the waters off Maine to winter crabbing in the Bering Sea. Five of those authors with Maine ties – John… Read More
WRECK THE HALLS, by Sarah Graves, Bantam, New York, 276 pages, hardcover, $21.95. Living in Down East Maine can be murder, if the works of Sarah Graves are to be taken at face value. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var… Read More
HEAVENLY ERRORS: MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE REAL NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE, by Neil F. Comins, Columbia University Press, New York, 2001. If you don’t know the correct scientific explanation for Earth’s changing seasons, take comfort in this: All but two of 23 Harvard faculty and graduating… Read More
CUT SHOT, by John R. Corrigan, Sleeping Bear Press, 214 pages, hardback, $22.95. Many a budding writer dreams of being the next Dick Francis, Walter Mosely, Janwillem van de Wetering or any of the detective fiction masters who stake out a specific milieu – the… Read More
EXILE IN THE KINGDOM, by Robert Harnum, University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H., 165 pages, $22.95. Philip Carmichael is a 17-year-old star athlete and honor student at his high school. He has a computer, cable TV, video games, friends, family and an AK-47 in… Read More
THE BONE DOLL’S TWIN, by Lynn Flewelling, Bantam/Spectra, New York, 2001, 524 pages, paperback, $6.99. Former Bangor author Lynn Flewelling returns her readers to a darker, more dangerous place in her latest fantasy set in the exotic land of Skala. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
SNOW SQUALL: THE LAST AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP, by Nicholas Dean & David C. Switzer; Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, and Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, 2001, 301 pages, $30. The closest to a clipper ship most of us are likely to get these days is the label… Read More
NERVES OUT LOUD: CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE LIVES OF SEVEN TEEN GIRLS, edited by Susan Musgrave, Annick Press, Toronto, New York, Vancouver, 112 pages, $9.95. Once the angst passes and teen-agers morph into adults, some of them can look back at their lives and see… Read More
SALT OMNIBUS 2001, published by Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, Portland, 2001, 125 pages. Every year the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland publishes a collection of the best nonfiction writing and photography by its students. Admirers of the institute, which was founded in… Read More
LEGENDARY DEER CAMPS, By Robert Wegner, Krause Publications, Iola, Wisc., $34.95. William Faulkner’s first recollections of deer hunting detailed a mystical experience in which the famous author and the whitetail shared a common identity. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
LOST DINERS AND ROADSIDE RESTAURANTS OF NEW ENGLAND AND NEW YORK, by Will Anderson, Anderson & Sons’ Publishing Co., 34 Park St., Bath 04530, telephone 442-7459, 2001, 184 pages, $24.95. Oh, what foods these morsels be! Piping-hot diner food, that is. Nothing pleases the palate… Read More
MISS RENEE’S MICE, by Elizabeth Stokes Hoffman, Down East Books, Camden, 2001, 32 pages, $15.95. M-i-c-e spells trouble. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0; i < slot_sizes.length;… Read More
S IS FOR STAR, by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, illustrated by Pam Carroll, Sleeping Bear Press, Chelsea, Mich., 2001, $18.95. Are your children coveting just about every toy hyped on the Saturday morning cartoons and the holiday specials? Do their lists for Santa look like they’d… Read More
CHRISTMAS AFTER ALL, by Kathryn Lasky, Scholastic Inc., New York, 2001, 185 pages, $10.95 If ever there was a book perfectly suited to its time of publication it is Kathryn Lasky’s “Christmas After All: The Great Depression and Minnie Swift.” Although separated from us by… Read More
SNOW DAY, by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Hideko Takahashi, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001, $16. I sure hope it snows. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i = 0;… Read More
A MUG-UP WITH ELISABETH: A COMPANION FOR READERS OF ELISABETH OGILVIE, by Melissa Hayes & Marilyn Westervelt, Down East Books, Camden, 323 pages, $17.95. Melissa Hayes discovered the novels of Elisabeth Ogilvie in her local library in the early 1990s. She loved the Cushing author… Read More
IMAGES OF AMERICA: THE MACHIAS BAY REGION, by Jim and Jane Harnedy, Arcadia Publishing, 2001, 128 pages, $18.99. Jim and Jane Harnedy of Bucks Harbor have a regional best seller on their hands. Since their collection of vintage black-and-white photographs went on sale earlier this… Read More
When people think of great moments in sports history, they tend to envision the triumphs of male athletes. However, women champions have made their own proud contributions. Three fine picture books provide eloquent testimony to their fine achievements. During World War II, because the great… Read More