CHOOSING THE PRESIDENT 1992: A Citizen’s Guide to the Electoral Process, by The League of Women Voters, 138 pages, $9.95. Elections can leave voters overwhelmed with information they can’t use. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
THE EMPEROR’S LAST STAND: A Journey to St. Helena, by Julia Blackburn, Pantheon, 277 pages, $22. Julia Blackburn skillfully narrates the last days of Napoleon on the small island of St. Helena, which is hundreds of miles from its nearest neighbor, the Ascension Islands. It… Read More
MBA: MANAGEMENT BY AUERBACH, by Red Auerbach with Ken Dooley, Macmillan, 254 pages, $19.95. Call it one final lesson by the master. A reservoir of common sense, if you will. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var… Read More
In only its second year, the New England Festival of New Works, presented this weekend at Penobscot Theatre, proved to be one of the more exciting theatrical events this season. In comparison to last year’s two-week ballyhoo, which included a costume ball, a fully staged… Read More
A small but enthusiastic crowd was entertained Wednesday night by one of country music’s most enduring acts, as the Oak Ridge Boys performed for 1,341 fans at the Bangor Auditorium. In the group’s first visit to the state since 1987, the veteran quartet, backed by… Read More
Teen-age troubles, insect outings, and stunning illustrations mark these new books of interest to Maine children. A special note: Look for the illustrating debut of Brewer School Superintendent Perry Jordan. THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE MISTY DAY, by Jackie French Koller (Atheneum, 154 pages, $13.94,… Read More
KEANEY: If you don’t love to play, pivot and go home! by William Woodward, Dutch Island Press, Wickford, R.I., 315 pages, $17.95. Remember when your grandfather told you stories about his playing days as a high school or college athlete? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
There will always be a market for books about our 35th president and his tragic death. With the hype surrounding the movie “JFK,” publishers have been printing a veritable Kennedy-o-rama. In recent months, nearly a dozen books, many of them dealing with the assassination, have… Read More
DAUGHTERS OF THE NEW WORLD, by Susan Richards Shreve, Doubleday, 471 pages, $20. Often in a family saga two forces reign — the proverbial sins of one generation being visited upon the next, and a profusion of historical detail that drowns out the vitality of… Read More
WHAT’S LEFT TO EAT? by Sue Gebo, McGraw-Hill, 278 pages, $12.95, paperback. At the conclusion of one of her lectures on sodium and high blood pressure — during which nutritionist Sue Gebo had revealed the dismayingly high sodium content of many common foods — an… Read More
SUMMERS WITH JULIET, by Bill Roorbach, Houghton Mifflin, 292 pages, $19.95. I’ve just had a delightful reading experience that I’d like to share with you. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
“Wonderland would have to be a world of wonders,” wrote choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr in the program notes for Charleston Ballet Theatre’s “Alice in Wonderland” performed this weekend at the Maine Center for the Arts. On paper, Bahr characterized these “wonders” as little more than childhood dreams of… Read More
Remember this one? A man tells a woman he just lost a million dollars. 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; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) {… Read More
It begins with the ba-dum-dum-dum of the bass. Then the tricky trills of the piano and the mandolin-like vibrations of the banjo. Add a wild clarinet, outrageous trombone, droll cornet, brisk drums, and white socks, and what you got is the reddest, hottest New Orleans jazz this side… Read More
MOOSE COUNTRY: Saga of the Woodland Moose, by Michael W.P. Runtz, NorthWord Press, 110 pages, $39. “The sight of this monstrous beast performing an ageless ritual, seemingly oblivious to our presence, held me totally spellbound. This exhilarating experience was to be repeated countless times in… Read More
HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KIDS, by Hugh O’Neill, Prentice Hall, 207 pages, $17.95. He calls himself the prophet of parenting. He shares the highs and lows of child rearing with each of his readers, and he emerges as comedian, philosopher, and just plain dad. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
LOVING AND LEAVING THE GOOD LIFE, by Helen Nearing, Chelsea Green Publishing Co., 197 pages, $19.95. Maine author Helen Nearing — widow of political radical Scott Nearing, vigorous exponent of the back-to-the-soil movement — shines the bright lamp of her memoir over the 53 years… Read More
THE PELICAN BRIEF, by John Grisham, Doubleday, 371 pages, $22.50. There was a time when John Grisham was an up-and-coming lawyer. With the release of “The Pelican Brief,” his second best seller out of his three novels, it can be said with some conviction that… Read More
JFK: Conspiracy of Silence, by Charles A. Crenshaw, M.D., with Jens Hansen and J. Gary Shaw, Signet, 205 pages, $4.99. For years, there has been speculation about what occurred on Nov. 22, 1963, in Trauma Room 1 of Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
CRAZY BOSSES: Spotting them, serving them, surviving them, by Stanley Bing, Morrow, 271 pages, $20. If you are a subscriber to Esquire magazine you know Stanley Bing (not his real name, I now learn) as the author of the witty and thought-provoking “Executive Summary” column… Read More
CONSUMER GUIDE OFFICIAL BASEBALL CARD PRICE GUIDE 1992, Signet Sports, 576 pages, $5.99. It’s called the official baseball card price guide, but nowhere in the book does it explain who certified it “official” or what makes this particular baseball card guide more official than others. Read More
“The Art of the Children’s Book: Artist Illustrators in Maine” is an exhibit now showing at the Bangor Public Library. Presented in conjunction with the Union of Maine Visual Artists, it is a grand sampling of the quality, diversity, and vitality of 12 of Maine’s artist-illustrators, according to… Read More
WAS BASEBALL REALLY INVENTED IN MAINE? by Will Anderson, published by the author, 180 pages, $17.95. Spring has arrived in Maine — finally. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i =… Read More
In the beginning, synthesized tinklings of a xylophone began in the dark. Flashing white lights outlined silhouetted human figures behind a white scrim. With each flash, the poses — some portentious, some outrageous — changed. Then, the four figures cut through the scrim and emerged with a cloud… Read More
Yesterday’s Bangor Symphony Orchestra concert at the Maine Center for the Arts proved that Werner Torkanowsky is one conductor who is not afraid to go too far. In this last concert in the classical series, Torkanowsky offered a program that was so enormous and splendidly… Read More
Life is simple in Anatevka, Russia. The tailor busies himself making clothes. Yente, the matchmaker, arranges marriages so the town can be fruitful and multiply. Wives and daughters run the homes. Husbands and sons debate scripture. The bagel man sells bagels. The Rabbi blesses each person and animal… Read More
The supposed conversion of Native American savages into Christian angels is a topic of much discussion these days, particularly as we approach the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival on North American shores. Films, books, lectures, art exhibitions, and curricula have challenged traditional notions of the explorer’s heroism and… Read More
In medieval churches and monasteries, young boys lifted their voices in sacred song. It was a pure sound, sweet yet masterly, with a lilting quality that could stun infidels with faith. On Saturday night, the Vienna Choir Boys brought that same powerful combination of innocence and sophistication to… Read More
Philosphy was given a powerful voice Sunday afternoon at the Maine Center for the Arts. All but one of the four works performed by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra represented “musical broodings” on the conflict which lies at the root of the human condition. The first… Read More
YARMOUTH — A lobsterman has tried his hand at writing and has authored a fictional book called, “The Blue Crab, A Fable.” Raymond Waite says his book is an inspirational tale about a blue crab traveling the ocean bottom from Casco Bay to the Arctic… Read More
Connoisseurs of fine Maine literature and photography have come to appreciate the high standards of Down East Books. This month’s regional minireviews feature two titles from the Camden publishing house. FOREVER WILD: Maine’s Magnificent Baxter State Park, by Robert Villani, Down East, 112 pages, $35. Read More
BAD. Or, The Dumbing of America, by Paul Fussell, Summit Books, 201 pages, $19. In his biblical who’s who, “Peculiar Treasures,” Frederic Buechner defines a jeremiad as “a doleful and thunderous denunciation. … There was nothing in need of denunciation that Jeremiah didn’t denounce …… Read More
HOUSE RULES, by Robert Cwiklik, Villard Books, 257 pages, $26.50 Since the fourth grade, Peter Hoagland had his sights set on the bleached marble of the U.S. Capitol. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner =… Read More
CROSSING LINES: Histories of Jews and Gentiles in Three Communities, by Judith S. Goldstein. Morrow, 320 pages, $23. Between 1891 and 1910 more than 1 million Jews took flight from the persecution and grinding poverty of Russia to seek freedom and opportunity in America. To… Read More
BLOOD MEMORY, by Martha Graham, Doubleday, 279 pages, $25. Fortunately, I had a careful and caring father who saw to it that I, even as a child, had glimpses of the surviving greats from his era — Dame May Whitty, Katharine Cornell, Grace George, Laura… Read More
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: WOMAN AND ARTIST, by Edward M. Holmes, Northern Lights, 157 pages, $12.95. Edward Holmes deserves more acclaim than he has received. His short stories have graced the pages of numerous literary publications; his “Faulkner’s Twice-told Tales” is a necessity for any serious… Read More
The most impressive quality of Ballet Chicago, which performed Saturday night at the Maine Center for the Arts, was the sharpness of the movement. With confidence, sparkle, and meticulousity, the 21 youthful, lithe dancers showed that Ballet Chicago, formed less than five years ago, has developed a strong… Read More
When the musicians of the Big Band Salute to Benny Goodman played “Let’s Dance” Wednesday night at the Maine Center for the Arts, a nearly full house was whisked back in time. It was the 1930s, and the room was filled with fast insistent rhythms and cool waves… Read More
GINGER: My Story, by Ginger Rogers, Harper Collins, 450 pages, $22. Certainly better crafted than Katharine Hepburn’s recent autobiography, “Me,” and far less vindictive than Bette Davis’ “This ‘n That,” Ginger Rogers’ entry — “Ginger: My Story” — into the autobiographical sweepstakes is refreshingly honest… Read More
HOME FRONT ON PENOBSCOT BAY — Rockland During the War Years, by Paul G. Merriam, Thomas J. Molloy and Theodore W. Sylvester Jr., Rockland Cooperative History Project, 330 pages, illustrated, hardcover, $25. Few historical events evoke the emotion and sentiment that emerge from the mention… Read More
SIMPLE LIVING: One Couple’s Search For a Better Life, by Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanska, Viking, 272 pages, $21. If you think that this sounds hardly like a title that normally would be enthusiastically reviewed by a semiretired Old Dawg, you are absolutely right. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
OCTOBER SURPRISE: America’s Hostages in Iran and the Election of Ronald Reagan, by Gary Sick, Random House, 277 pages, $23. One of the Democrats’ favorite sayings during the 1988 presidential campaign was “Where was George?” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
EVENINGS WITH CARY GRANT, by Nancy Nelson, Morrow, 411 pages, $23. Archibald Leach — handsome, debonair and delightfully funny — was one of the finest actors ever to grace the silver screen. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes =… Read More
HOW TO STOP PAYING HIGH PROPERTY TAXES IN MAINE: A Step-by-Step Guide to Reducing Your Tax Bills, by Attorney Alan Nye, Portland Publishing Co., 143 pages, $19.95. Ezra Pound’s evocative phrase — “phantom with weighted motion” — calls up the vision of the heavy-footed specter… Read More
THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, by Tom Clancy, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 798 pages, $24.95. In “The Sum of All Fears,” his most convoluted epic to date, Tom Clancy takes his unperturbable hero, Jack Ryan, on a globe-trotting expedition that ultimately spares the United States and… Read More
A cross-cultural book that promotes peace highlights this month’s reviews of books that will interest Maine readers. WISHING ON DARUMA, by Julie Zimmerman and Kimiaki Tokumasu (Biddle Publishing Co., P.O. Box 1305, Brunswick 04011, 111 pages, $9.95), is a collection of correspondence spanning 35 years… Read More
A stable boy evaporates when sunlight shines on his face. A young woman eats a squiggling worm. A promiscuous housemaid’s flirtations are quieted through decapitation. The hair of a middle-aged woman turns from gray to gold. Could it be she has been bathing in virgin blood again?… Read More
Just before Oscar Wilde’s death, he remarked that although he was pleased with the “bright and happy” tone of his most popular play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he wished it might have had a “higher seriousness of intent.” Wilde’s dissatisfaction would hardly be quelled, however, if he… Read More
During the middle of winter when cabin fever has set in and day dreams are filled with memories of sunny warmth and the summer green of a tumbling countryside, the power of an evening filled with pastoral works such as Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, or… Read More
EDITOR’S NOTE: This review is being rerun because it was published out of sequence Friday. Thursday night’s squally rainstorm was a fitting scene for the National Theatre of the Deaf performance of “Treasure Island” at the Maine Center for the Arts. A stalwart audience battled… Read More
Last night’s squally rainstorm was a fitting scene for the National Theatre of the Deaf performance of “Treasure Island” at the Maine Center for the Arts. A stalwart audience battled the relentless downpour to watch a fascinating collaboration of sign language and spoken language relaying a treasured tale… Read More
A republished biography of Dorothea Lynde Dix, the Maine-born reformer who took up the cause of the mentally ill, along with children’s books by Shapleigh author and photo-illustrator Bruce McMillan highlight this month’s rundown of current regional titles. HEART’S WORK, by Charles Schlaifer and Lucy… Read More
THE WEIGHT OF WINTER, by Cathie Pelletier, Viking, 415 pages, $22.95. “There ain’t no big things in little towns like Mattagash, Maine. That’s why the little things is so important. When they’re all strung together, them little things make up the whole of some people’s… Read More
THE MAINE READER, edited by Charles and Samuella Shain, Houghton Mifflin, 149 pages, $29.95. Anthologies have many purposes. Offering selections from a wide variety of writers within a particular genre or theme, they can whet the reader’s appetite for exploring the work of individual authors… Read More
MAXIMUM BOB, by Elmore Leonard, Delacorte Press, 295 pages, $20. Mastering the skill of believable dialogue in fiction often can be the writer’s most difficult task. Many have tried and failed — even a few of the great ones. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
MURTHER & WALKING SPIRITS, by Robertson Davies, Viking, 357 pages, $21.95. “I was never so amazed in my life as when the Sniffer drew his concealed weapon from its case and struck me to the ground, stone dead.” There may be other opening lines more… Read More
IF YOU WERE THERE IN 1492, by Barbara Brenner, Bradbury Press, Macmillan, 106 pages, $13.95. This is one of those delightful anomalies, a book written for young teens that holds adults equally spellbound. With consummate skill and imagination, the author recreates the reality of Spain… Read More
THE SAMSON OPTION, by Seymour M. Hersh, Random House, 354 pages, $23. To award-winning author Seymour Hersh, the question isn’t “Does Israel have the bomb?” it’s “How many nuclear bombs does Israel have?” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes… Read More
A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE, by Lawrence Block, Morrow, 309 pages, $19. When writing about his unique private investigator, Matthew Scudder, Lawrence Block simply gets better and better. Billed as a Matt Scudder mystery, “A Dance at the Slaughterhouse” is, as are all Matt Scudder… Read More
With sex crimes, wrongful accusations and slippery legislators at the forefront of our national dilemmas, Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing,” now playing at the Penobscot Theatre, is a well-timed and fun reminder that there’s nothing very new under the sun. It seems that 400 years have lent… Read More
GOODBYE DESERT STORM; HELLO BANGOR, MAINE: Experience Welcoming the Troops Through the Eyes of the Greeters, by Lynne Junkins Cole, published by the author, 211 pages, $19.95. I remember the night of March 8 of this year like it happened yesterday. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
IMPROVEMENT OF THE MIND, 20th century edition, Helfant Publishing House, edited by Stephen Helfant and J. David Coccoli, 149 pages, $14.95 (companion study guide 40 pages, $5). It has a dust jacket displaying a white, computer-age grid on a blue field with a sunburst peeping… Read More
WOODSMEN AND WHIGS: HISTORIC IMAGES OF BANGOR, MAINE, by Abigail Ewing Zelz, Marilyn Zoidis and Diane Vatne, Photographic Printer, Donning Co., 191 pages, $32.50. The last 20 years have seen the venerable Bangor Historical Society take on new life and vitality. No better outcome of… Read More
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, by Robert L. May, Applewood Books, distributed by Globe Pequot Press, 32 pages, $9.95. Rudolph takes a curtain call. By popular demand, the authentic reproduction of the original edition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (published last year in a Golden Anniversary… Read More
‘Tis the season to peruse area bookshelves for holiday giving. The following regional books and calendars are recommended. HENRY DAVID THOREAU: An American Landscape (Paragon House, 225 pages, $22.95), contains selected writings from the great author’s journals, edited and illustrated by Robert L. Rothwell. The… Read More
COLD WARRIOR: James Jesus Angleton, The CIA’s Master Spy Hunter, by Tom Mangold, Simon & Schuster, 462 pages, $24.95. James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s legendary chief of counterintelligence from 1954 to 1974, claims to have turned back at least 22 Soviets he believed to be… Read More
CRISIS ON THE DANUBE, by James R. Arnold, Paragon House, 286 pages, $22.95. “Crisis on the Danube” is not a book for every reader. It will, however, appeal strongly to the European history buff and the person consumingly interested in military tactics and strategy, particularly… Read More
HEART OF THE FLOWER, Poems for the Sensuous Gardener, edited by Sondra Zeidenstein, Chicory Blue Press, 103 pages, $13.95. Even the sun-clouds this morning cannot manage such skirts … googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
The hosannas of Mozart’s Requiem rose gloriously to the heavens last night when the University of Maine Oratorio Society and the St. Petersburg “Mozarteum” Orchestra celebrated the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death. Conductor Ludlow Hallman, who organized the cooperative concert of American and Russian musicians, delivered a… Read More
When new-wave folk singer/songwriter Christine Lavin hosts a sing-along, it’s bound to be a little loony, a little stirring, and a lot of fun. On Friday night, when Lavin visited the Maine Center for the Arts with three other solo guitarists, she once again brought her special combination… Read More
Ivan Kuzmitch Podkoliosin is tired of being a bachelor. His house is a mess, his clothes are a mess, his hair is a mess. According to the traditional Russian values of 19th century, the man needs a bride. “There’s no sense of order in my life,” he screams… Read More
Jaromir Weinberger was a one-hit composer. The success of his 1927 comic opera “Schwanda, the Bagpiper” made it possible for him to devote himself entirely to the writing of more compositions, none of which met with critical acclaim. But the undeniable mastery of “Schwanda” won Weinberger a place… Read More
KOOP: The Memoirs of America’s Family Doctor, by C. Everett Koop, Random House, 342 pages, $22.50. “Everett Koop is one of the finest pediatric surgeons in the world,” said Dr. Maynard Beach, head of surgery at Eastern Maine Medical Center. “He has earned the respect… Read More
THE DARK TOWER III: THE WASTELANDS, by Stephen King, Donald M. Grant, publisher, 509 pages, $38 hardcover; Plume mass market paperback, 432 pages, $15. In the Afterword of “Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger,” Stephen King estimated that it would take him roughly 300 years to… Read More
A beautifully illustrated edition of a Sarah Orne Jewett classic highlights this month’s minireviews of recently published regional books. Other highlights are a book about weather vanes and a history of Maine Maritime Academy. THE COUNTRY OF THE POINTED FIRS (David R. Godine, Publisher, 197… Read More
A NEW CHRISTMAS TREASURY, edited by Jack Newcombe, Viking, 532 pages, $25. This yuletide collection offers an array of 87 stories, sketches, vignettes, reminiscences and poems written by celebrated American and European authors. Prismatically, they reflect a diversity of emotions. Entries segue from J.M. Barrie’s… Read More
PASTIME, by Robert B. Parker, Putnam, 223 pages, $19.95. “My fortune was … to be partaker of the common woe.” — Edmund Spenser, poet googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var i… Read More
ME: STORIES OF MY LIFE, by Katharine Hepburn, Knopf, 420 pages, $25. Katharine Hepburn. 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; i++) { if (isMobileDevice()) {… Read More
THE DROWNING OF STEPHAN JONES, by Bette Greene, Bantam, 217 pages, $16. Bette Greene states that, years ago, she read an article about the death by drowning of a gay man, apparently caused by three teen-age boys: “… if the man in fact had been… Read More
FIRST JOHN: KING OF THE MOUNTAIN, by Philip B. Turner, Acadia Publishing Co., 228 pages. Following on his first work, “Rooster: The Story of Aroostook County,” Turner, a son of Aroostook, sharpens his focus to tell the story of John Arnold of Lyndon (later named… Read More
CONSPIRACIES, COVER-UPS AND CRIMES: Political Manipulation and Mind Control in America, by Jonathan Vankin, Paragon House, 319 pages, $24.95. Some people will tell you that the truth is stranger than fiction. After reading Jonathan Vankin’s new book on conspiracies, it’ll be difficult to separate the… Read More
The Maine Center for the Arts catered to the music-minded community of Bangor this weekend by presenting pianist Philip Glass in concert Friday night, and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s annual Pops concert on Saturday night. The offerings were from three diverse musical traditions — New Age classical, classical,… Read More
Imagine a world in which sweet strains of music transform the most evil of creatures into peaceful, joyously waltzing spirits, and where the goodness of love does, in fact, win out over badness every time. Mozart imagined such a world in his heroic opera “The Magic Flute,” performed… Read More
In the beginning of “The Heidi Chronicles,” Wendy Wasserstein’s Tony Award-winning play now showing at the Penobscot Theatre, art historian Heidi Holland delivers a lecture about the underrepresentation of great female artists in textbooks, art classes, and museums. It’s tempting to think that Wasserstein’s play follows suit, and… Read More
While our minds are hot with criticisms about the heroism of Christopher Columbus, the University of Maine production of “Terra Nova” keeps us burning with skepticism about the true glory of conquest. The play, about the Antarctic expeditions of Admiral Robert Falcon Scott, is an interesting variation on… Read More
The Johnny Cash show Friday night wasn’t just a concert. It was also a journey through country music history. The show at the Maine Center for the Arts featured not only Country Hall of Famer Cash, but also his wife, June Carter Cash; their son,… Read More
Lynne Cole of Hampden has been a faithful greeter at the Bangor International Airport of the more than 200 flights of returning troops from the Persian Gulf War. Now she has written a book, “Goodbye Desert Storm; Hello Bangor, Maine,” which recounts the celebrated troop welcomes through the… Read More
AN ANSWER IN THE TIDE, by Elisabeth Ogilvie, Down East Books, 278 pages, $12.95. Anyone who has spent time along the Maine coast knows of its unique nature. There’s nothing quite like it, and although other shores abound worldwide, life along the rocky crags of… Read More
VICTIMS OF MENTAL, POLITICAL, AND SPIRITUAL ADULTERY, by Al David Bernstein, Rel-Psych Inc., 434 pages, $20. Writers are often asked, “What gave you the idea for this book?” In a sense this book is an answer, for in the process of exploration of the story… Read More
THE LIVES AND SECRETS OF WILLIAM J. CASEY: From the OSS to the CIA, by Joseph E. Persico, Penquin Books, 601 pages, $14.95, paperback. Joseph E. Persico paints a flattering picture of William J. Casey in his new book about the venture capitalist and World… Read More
Stephen King said he decided to destroy Castle Rock because “It’s easy to fall into a rut, where you know who everyone is, and you know where everything is on Main Street. It gets almost addictive to go back to these people. So, I said I’m done with… Read More
THE SWEET HERE- AFTER, by Russell Banks, Harper Collins, 257 pages, $20. An odd phenomenon strikes those who sit through trials, who listen to day after day of testimony: even if the central facts of the case are known from the start, reality has a… Read More
SEE JANE RUN, by Joy Fielding, Morrow, 364 pages, $20. One afternoon in June 1990, Jane Whittaker, an attractive young woman in her early 30s, made a heart-stopping discovery. “It came to her without prior hint or warning, as she stood at the corner of… Read More
NEEDFUL THINGS, by Stephen King, Viking, 646 pages, $24.95. What do you need? I don’t mean what do you want. I mean what do you really, really need. What is so important that you cannot continue to exist without it? googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
HOSTAGE: My Nightmare in Beirut, by David Jacobsen with Gerald Astor, Donald I. Fine Inc., 308 pages, $21.95. Former Beirut hostage David Jacobsen shares his views on U.S. policy on the hostage issue and tells how he and other hostages were able to survive the… Read More
Putting pianists Marcus Roberts and Ellis Marsalis together on stage must have been a promoter’s fantasy: Marsalis, the patriarch of jazz’s fiery first family, handing the baton to son Wynton’s chief deputy, Roberts, the future of jazz piano. The only question was, would they make… Read More
A symphony should contain the entire world, said Austrain composer Gustav Mahler. And the enormous world of his Symphonie No. 5 took shape last night when the Bangor Symphony Orchestra began its 96th season. From the first lonesome sound of a bellowing horn to the chilling fullness of… Read More
Yesterday celebrated the 34th anniversary of Guinea’s independence from France, and Les Ballets Africains, one of Africa’s most accomplished dance troupes, celebrated it with breathtaking enthusiasm at the Maine Center for the Arts. The entire evening demonstrated the vitality of natural rhythms from within and… Read More
“The Wonder of It All” is the slogan for the lineup of artistic events at the Maine Center for the Arts this season, which began Saturday night with a sparkling performance by Germany’s Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and soloist Yo-Yo Ma. Under the firm direction of Michael Gielen, the… Read More
A QUESTION OF CHARACTER: A Life of John F. Kennedy, by Thomas C. Reeves, Free Press, Macmillan, 510 pages, $24.95. In a 1988 American Heritage poll of 75 prominent historians and journalists, John F. Kennedy ranked as the most overrated public figure in American history,… Read More