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
STOLEN AWAY, a Novel of the Lindbergh Kidnapping, by Max Allan Collins, Bantam, 526 pages, $22.50 hardcover, $9.99 paperback. No one laughed after 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr. was plucked from his nursery in Hopewell, N.J., after a decaying corpse later was identified as the child’s… Read More
FRANCHISE FOOTBALL LEAGUE — 1991 FANTASY FOOTBALL JOURNAL, by Dick Giebel, Dell Publishing, 199 pages, $9.99. The “Franchise Football League” handbook is to many football fans what “The Rotisserie League Baseball Association” handbook is to baseball fans in the fantasy sports world. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
THE GHOST FROM THE GRAND BANKS, by Arthur C. Clarke, Bantam Books, 274 pages, $24.95. Beware the book whereon the author’s name is writ larger than or at least equal to the title; it is being sold on the basis of fame, not content. The… Read More
All of the books described below are of regional interest to Maine readers. First, two quite different novels. CALL AFTER MIDNIGHT, by Camden author and physician Tess Gerritsen (Harlequin Books, 251 pages, $2.79), is being reprinted because Harlequin Intrigue thinks it’s a classic of romantic… Read More
THE CRISIS YEARS: Kennedy and Khrushchev 1960-1963, by Michael R. Beschloss, HarperCollins, 816 pages, $29.95. One of the most important benchmarks in the relatively short, yet complex, history of American-Soviet relations, is, of course, the Cuban Missile Crisis. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
RIVETHEAD: Tales From the Assembly Line, by Ben Hamper, Warner Books, 234 pages, $19.95. For 11 years, until forced to retire because of ill health, the author was a third-generation “shoprat” — a worker on the assembly line at General Motors’ Truck and Bus Plant… Read More
THIS IS LIVING, by Lynn Redgrave, Dutton and Penguin, 291 pages, $21.95. Long before she was twirling all over the tube as a spokesperson for a well-known diet company, Lynn Redgrave was no stranger to the American play-going, movie-attending public. In fact, few members of… Read More
Music review You know the world beat aesthetes — the types who scoff at Paul Simon and his international band, afraid that a pop star who plays with rhythm will somehow taint an imaginary canon of African and South American music. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
Elwood P. Dowd is a lovely fellow. He greets everyone with a smile, is kindhearted, generous, mannerly, and, by most standards, quite mad. It’s obviously not his personality that makes Elwood so puzzling and irritating to his family and friends — and to the Freudian charlatans at a… Read More
Each month publishers send regional books unsolicited to the Bangor Daily News in hopes of garnering some free ink. The books, either about Maine or of related areas, come in all sizes and prices, and vary in quality. Some, like the three recent titles outlined below, are above… Read More
WINTER TAPESTRY, by Kathy Lynn Emerson, Harper Paperbacks, 389 pages, $4.50. Weaving in and out of turbulent Tudor history and the plots between Queen Mary and would-be-Queen Elizabeth is a personal story of intrigue in a family involved in those machinations of the throne. This… Read More
BEAST, by Peter Benchley, Random House, 350 pages, $21. Peter Benchley’s up to his old tricks. 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… Read More
CONDITION BLACK, by Gerald Seymour, Morrow, 336 pages, $20. The menacing figure of Saddam Hussein hovers darkly over this taut, timely and terrifying thriller whose action takes place shortly before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The author, a former television news reporter, tells the suspenseful… Read More
FLIGHT OF THE AVENGER: George Bush at War, by Joe Hyams, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 171 pages, $16.95. It doesn’t take a combat veteran to order thousands of American troops into war, but it helps. As President George Bush signed the papers sending hundreds of pilots… Read More
BASEBALL AND LESSER SPORTS, by Wilfrid Sheed, Harper Collins, 298 pages, $19.95. This is not just another baseball book, because, for starters, Wilfrid Sheed is not just another hack writer cranking it out to add credits to his resume. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
A WARDEN’S WAY: The Story of Lyle Smith, Maine’s “Flying Warden,” by Lyla E. St. Louis. North Country Press, 98 pages, illustrated, softcover, $11.95. The story of Maine’s legendary Warden Lyle Smith is a fascinating one indeed. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
AN OCCASION OF SIN, by Andrew M. Greeley, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 351 pages, $19.95. That the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, a Roman Catholic priest, would write novels “about sex” leaves some people scandalized — but not so scandalized that they don’t buy his books. googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
Although he’s been performing for more than a decade, Clint Black went from nowhere to the top in a few short years. But Sunday night, Black was nearly upstaged by a group that’s spent its 25-year career on the fringes of success. In the concert… Read More
Latecomers to the Maine Center for the Arts concert with Frank Morgan on Friday night might have wondered whether they were there to listen to jazz or to watch a new two-person comedy routine. Morgan himself was late, too late to perform a sound check in private, so… Read More
If Friday night’s event at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach had been a baseball game, it would have been postponed. But since it was a concert, the event went on, with those in attendance getting soaked, both literally and figuratively. The star attraction for… Read More
Thelma and Louise were the first women to pick up guns this summer and defend themselves against the seemingly unavoidable brutality of men. Then came “Terminator 2” and “V.I. Warshawski,” films in which women fire a few feminist rounds to keep themselves or their children safe. Now, at… Read More
If you drive down Mount Desert Street in Bar Harbor, you won’t be able see The Unusual Cabaret from the road. Tucked away behind the more common novelty shops and T-shirt factories, the cabaret may be difficult to find. But once you’ve found it, you’ve found some of… Read More
It’s always a treat to see what surprises await the audience during a production by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Hancock County. Brought together by a certifiable devotion to the comic operas of G&S, this group of community actors is known and admired for its entertainingly zealous… Read More
Early in Friday night’s concert, vocalist Larry Stewart of Restless Heart chided the near-capacity audience at the Maine Center for the Arts for being too quiet. “I know you can get comfortable in those soft chairs, with no aisle,” Stewart said. “But we want you… Read More
“Painting Churches,” which opened Tuesday night at Acadia Repertory Theatre, has nothing to do with painters who are interested in depicting religious architecture. Nor is it about laborers who make a living whitewashing New England steeples. Rather, the play tells the story of the Church family, a set… Read More
Concert goers to the Maine Center for the Arts Tuesday night found a way to beat the heat and humidity of mid-July in Maine. Soon after the near-capacity crowd had filed into the air-conditioned Hutchins Concert Hall, the jazz combo A Train took the stage… Read More
THE BOY AND THE DOLPHIN, by John Christopher Fine, Windswept House Publishers, 34 pages, illustrated, $15.95. John Christopher Fine’s moving account of a young boy and his struggle to free a baby dolphin from discarded tuna nets is a wonderful children’s story that touches on… Read More
ELIZABETH AND PHILIP: The Untold Story of the Queen of England and her Prince, by Charles Higham and Roy Moseley, Doubleday, 483 pages plus bibliography, $22.95. Judging by the extensive coverage of the recent visit of the Queen of England to this country, and the… Read More
THE MISSION: A Novel About the Flight of Rudolf Hess, by Jerome Tuccille and Philip Sayetta Jacobs, Donald I. Fine, 228 pages, $18.95. After Rudolf Hess was found with a cord around his neck at Berlin’s Spandau Prison on the afternoon of Aug. 17, 1987,… Read More
THE NOVEL, by James Michener, Random House, 446 pages, $23. I’ve been spending too much time with James Michener these days. It’s an easy thing to do. Read one book, then you’re off to another, and before you know it, you’re hooked. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
MAINE FARM: A Year of Country Life, by Stanley Joseph and Lynn Karlin, Foreword by Helen Nearing, Random House, 192 pages, $32.50. With disarming honesty author Stanley Joseph sets forth the satisfactions and vicissitudes of life on a 22-acre saltwater farm in Maine. Located on… Read More
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PORGY AND BESS, by Hollis Alpert, Alfred A. Knopf and Co., 354 pages, $35. American operas have not fared too well, either in their native country or abroad. “The Pipe of Desire,” “The Canterbury Tales,” “Susanna,” “The Ballad of Baby… Read More
EVER GREEN: The Boston Celtics, by Dan Shaughnessy, St. Martin’s Press, 259 pages, $18.95. From “Curse of the Bambino” to “Ever Green: The Boston Celtics,” Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy seems to be on a course to documenting the storied histories of the “Big Four”… Read More
GUADALCANAL, by Richard B. Frank, Random House, 800 pages, $34.95. As a kid back in 1943 I vividly remember seeing “Guadalcanal Diary,” the World War II flick starring William Bendix and Anthony Quinn: Creepy, crawly jungles. Banzai attacks by hordes of screaming Japanese. Hand-to-hand combat… Read More
Theater review Something wonderfully naughty and pungently cynical lurks behind the elegant smiles of Noel Coward’s characters in “Private Lives,” playing through July 14 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. Set at a ritzy French resort in the late 1920s, the English comedy follows the… Read More
NEW YORK — Despite occasional saber-rattling between the Soviet Union and this country, glasnost has had some happy results, the most recent of which is the visit of the Bolshoi Opera to the Big Apple, the first since 1975. Like most cultural centers in Europe, the Bolshoi (both… Read More
Music review As always, “Asleep at the Wheel” was tough to categorize in its appearance at the Maine Center for the Arts on Friday night. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for (var… Read More
Most everyone knows the tale of “Hansel and Gretel,” about two children who are abandoned in the wood, captured by a gingerbread witch, and, through their own resourcefulness, save their own lives and reunite with their parents. Through June 30, the Theatre of the Enchanted Forest is retelling… Read More
Toes tapped and hands clapped last night when “The Roots of New England Music” brought the musical sounds of the Northeast to the Maine Center for the Arts. Divided into four sections, the show presented the Scottish, Irish and French Canadian musical techniques that formed the styles of… Read More
ESCAPE FROM THE CIA: How the CIA Won and Lost the Most Important KGB Spy Ever to Defect to the U.S., by Ronald Kessler, Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, 210 pages, $19.95. The most well-known moment of Vitaly Yurchenko’s spy career was… Read More
WINCHESTER: An American Legend, by R. L. Wilson, Random House, 404 pages, $65. The flyleaf inscription begins like many another book but continues: “AND with apologies to Christopher and Stephen — this is why Dad couldn’t take you fishing.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
THE YEAR OF THE TURTLE: A Natural History, by David M. Carroll, Camden House, distributed by Firefly Books Ltd., Ontario, Canada, 172 pages, $17.95. Seventeenth century English critic John Dryden held that one’s vision of the universe could be sharpened through the spectacles of books. Read More
Is there life after divorce? Contrary to the grim tales of impoverishment and emotional emptiness that are often identified with divorce, a new study by a Boston University sociologist shows that divorce has its positive side. In her recent book, “Divorce Talk: Men and Women… Read More
Navy Commander William H. LaBarge, the son of Mrs. H.J. LaBarge of Dexter, and author of the successful “Sweetwater Gunslinger 201,” has released two new novels, “Desert Voices” and “Hornet’s Nest.” “Desert Voices” is personal testimony from Gulf War combatants, what author LaBarge has described… Read More
CAPE COD, by William Martin, Warner Books, 652 pages, $21.95. A master storyteller is back again, this time with a blockbuster tale encompassing 652 pages, not one of which you dare skim. This is not just because William Martin is a skillful writer, but also… Read More
FREDERICTON, New Brunswick — New Brunswick’s highest court has ordered the publishers of the book “Terror: Murder and Panic in New Brunswick” to stop distribution of the book. The New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruled that the book might prejudice the right of convicted murderer Allan Legere —… Read More
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING BAGPIPES, by Kathy Lynn Emerson, Avon/Camelot Books, 122 pages, softcover, $2.95. In what may seem at times to be sweeping changes in generational tastes, it is heartening to know that in the young adult novel field, mysteries are still extremely… Read More
BLACK ROBE ON THE KENNEBEC, by Mary R. Calvert, The Monmouth Press, 292 pages, hardcover, $22.95. As one of the most controversial characters in New England history, Father Sebastian Rale has generated a lot of ink since he died in 1724. Much of it has… Read More
A DELIGHT TO ALL WHO KNEW IT: THE MAINE SUMMER ARCHITECTURE OF WILLIAM R. EMERSON, by Roger G. Reed, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, 144 pages, $29.95. Traditionalists were mortified in the late 1800s when a Boston architect designed buildings in Maine that utilized the Shingle… Read More
In the presence of more than 50 hungrily interested onlookers, Stella Stalloney was murdered Friday night. Then she was murdered again on Saturday night. Both times, her fatal misfortune set the stage for Bangor Community Theatre to host a murder mystery dinner at the Isaac Farrar Mansion. Read More
Writing books for children is more difficult than it may appear; for an adult to get into the mind of a child is no easy task. In the final analysis, the only true measure of success is whether young readers enjoy — and keep returning to — the… Read More
ONE-EYED KINGS, by Sen. William S. Cohen, Doubleday, 466 pages, $20. Like the smoke-and-mirrors world of espionage, William S. Cohen will leave the reader of his latest book wondering how much is imaginary, and how much actually came from within the sealed and heavily guarded… Read More
WASHINGTON — Sen. William S. Cohen, fresh from serving eight years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has spent part of his spring promoting “One-eyed Kings.” For the most part, the book’s hero, Sen. Sean Falcone, is the product of Cohen wondering what would happen if… Read More
THE BODY’S MEMORY, by Jean Stewart, St. Martin’s Press, 276 pages, $16.95. “How long is the body’s memory?” is the question around which Jean Stewart wheel-dances in what is being hailed as the first real novel for the disability rights movement. And, indeed, her work… Read More
EXPLORING MAINE ON COUNTRY ROADS AND BYWAYS, by Michael Uhl, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 262 pages, illustrated, softcover, $15. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false; for… Read More
STOLEN SEASON, by David Lamb, Random House, 283 pages, $20. “Nostalgia is a dangerous obsession. It turns stumblebums into princes and dunghills into shining mountain peaks. It makes yesterday sweeter than tomorrow can ever be. But nostalgia is an expression of faith, because inherent in… Read More
ACADIAN HARD TIMES: The Farm Security Administration in Maine’s St. John Valley, 1940-1943, by C. Stewart Doty, University of Maine Press, 184 pages, softcover, $24.95. 1940 to 1943 were hard years. They had been preceded by even harder years for northern Maine farmers, as they… Read More
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE SAVINGS FROM CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS AND NURSING HOMES, by Harley Gordon with Jane Daniel, 183 pages, $18.95. Add $2.50 for mail order to Financial Planning Institute Inc., P.O. Box 135, Boston, Mass. 02258. This is a hot potato. Attorney Harley Gordon’s… Read More
“The Music Man,” which opened Friday night at The Grand in Ellsworth, strikes a rollicking, frolicking, bring-the-kids note. When you see the glittering brass, hear the rolling drums and feel the blaring trumpets, you’re sure to feel something akin to the electric thrill that this magnificent cast of… Read More
Can-can kickers and leaping lakeside critters came to life in Portland this weekend as American Ballet East and Portland Ballet Company presented their spring concerts in honor of National Dance Week. Though distinctly different in strengths and styles, both shows featured talented dancers and the excitement of live… Read More
Music review Talking about the Yellowjackets used to be easy: irresistible dance beat, bouncy melodies spiced with funk, and a seamless sound, live or recorded. For good and bad, they were fusion — and they had the Grammy Awards to prove it. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
No community show in Bangor is complete without two elements: a light-hearted approach to theater and a cast that is delighted to perform for friends and family. The musical “Oliver,” playing through Sunday at Peakes Auditorium, has both. Presented by St. Joseph Healthcare, the production features a cast… Read More
In this time of fierce patriotism, Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” playing through Sunday at the University of Maine, is yet another idealized view of the simplicity and clarity of American values. Set in the small town of Grovers Corners, N.H., during the early years of… Read More
Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamed of being Cinderella, relinquishing her chores and hardships for life with a prince in a castle with towers. It was all very enchanting, but when it came time to go out and see the world, the little… Read More
Nineteenth-century Russian composer Alexander Borodine called himself a “Sunday composer” because his music came second to his primary careers as doctor and noted scientist. Despite this, Borodine created some notable works, including a choral piece, Polovetsian Dances, the highlight of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s final concert of the… Read More
This weekend’s University of Maine spring dance concert displayed more than a variety of energetic, avant-garde and outspoken modern dance pieces. It also aired the concerns of dance coordinator Kim Arrow about the unfortunate but inevitable cutbacks in the UM arts curriculum. In program notes, Arrow reprimanded inspecific… Read More
ROAD FEVER, by Tim Cahill, Random House, 278 pages, $17.95. Once you’ve set records like driving around the world in 77 days, and driving from the tip of Africa to the most northerly point in Europe, what do you do for an encore? googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
THE BIG PICTURE: An American Commentary, by A. Whitney Brown, HarperPerennial, 180 pages, softcover, $9.95. If you spent your last $9.95 on A. Whitney Brown’s “The Big Picture,” your pockets would be empty but your soul would be full of laughter. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
REBELS, THE IRISH RISING OF 1916, by Peter de Rosa, Doubleday, 530 pages, $25. April 24-30 is the 75th anniversary of The Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland. A new book called “Rebels, The Irish Rising of 1916,” written by Peter de Rosa, a former theology… Read More
DICKENS, by Peter Ackroyd, HarperCollins, 1,195 pages, $35. “Recalled to life.” This is the cryptic, foreboding message on which the plot of Charles Dickens’ classic thriller, “A Tale of Two Cities” turns. Now, 132 years later, Peter Ackroyd recalls the life and times of the… Read More
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Civil War series on public television has increased demand for books examining the events of the 1860s. Although many new books have surfaced as a result of the series, many people have rediscovered some of their old books on the Civil War. Henry Sherrerd takes… Read More
IN OUR DEFENSE: The Bill of Rights in Action, by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy, William Morrow and Co. Inc., 430 pages, $22.95. For many, the Bill of Rights is an obscure idea penned two centuries ago on a now tender square of parchment. Few… Read More
WE LIVE TOO SHORT AND DIE TOO LONG, by Dr. Walter M. Bortz II, Bantam Books, 296 pages, $19.95. If there is any facet Americans are noted for in their pop culture it has to be their joy in bandwagon-hopping. Most especially as those pop… Read More
Chamber music has the uncanny ability to transform the grandest concert hall into an intimate yet exciting setting where magic and fantasy come to life. Such was the case Saturday night when the Tokyo String Quartet brought crisp, refreshing sounds to the Maine Center for the Arts. Carefully… Read More
Pointing out the funny side of life’s everyday occurrences has long been Jerry Seinfeld’s trademark. Seinfeld exhibited this skill in abundance before a younger, near-capacity crowd Friday night at the Maine Center for the Arts, University of Maine. Through the 75-minute show and 15-minute encore,… Read More
Twenty dollars doesn’t seem to buy much lately in the way of a night out on the town. But at The Greenhouse Restaurant, where the Bangor Community Theatre is offering its spring dinner theater Thursdays and Fridays through April 19, a little bit of money buys a lot… Read More
Pamela K. Tozier is a registered nurse who specialized in labor and delivery nursing at Maine Medical Center for more than 11 years and has taught childbirth classes to more than 1,000 expectant mothers. Wishing to share that experience with pregnant women and their families,… Read More
Allan A. Swenson, former editor and general manager of Gannett Books in Portland, has announced his formation of a sales and marketing firm, Books “RRR” Us +, to expand sales and markets for Maine and New England regional publishing firms and self-published authors. Although he… Read More
Historians and genealogists are praising the new perspective of “The Uncounted Irish,” published by P.D. Meany, Toronto publishers. Written by Margaret E. Fitzgerald and Joseph A. King, the book breaks new ground on the topic of Irish immigration. The authors, who are siblings, challenge much… Read More
THE MAN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD: The Lives of Mikhail S. Gorbachev, by Gail Sheehy, HarperCollins, 401 pages, $22.95. “The eyes of Gorbachev burn with the fever of a man who sees his own world upside down, a leader who … dared to try to… Read More
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, by Maeve Binchy, Delacorte Press, 565 pages, $19.95. “Circle of Friends” brings the old magic back. Not that it strayed very far. Maeve Binchy has magic to spare as a story- teller. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
THE GUTS TO TRY: The Untold Story of the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission by the On-scene Desert Commander, by retired Col. James H. Kyle, Orion Books, 352 pages, $21.95. When recalling the failed 1980 rescue mission to free 53 Americans held hostage in the U.S. Read More
All were settled snugly into their seats at the Maine Center for the Arts Sunday afternoon when Werner Torkanowsky nearly leapt onto stage to the roll of a drum and conducted the audience in an unexpected but heartfully welcomed rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the Bangor Symphony… Read More
Like a piece of lost mail, A.R. Gurney’s play “Love Letters” has been traveling around the country with a rotating all-star cast since 1989. It was first performed when Gurney himself read the two-person play with actress Holland Taylor in lieu of a speech he was to deliver… Read More
Playing in the oak-paneled elegance of Bar Harbor’s Jesup Memorial Library Sunday afternoon, eight of Maine’s finest jazz musicians put on a tribute to Miles Davis that simmered with controlled intensity. From the sweet ache of “My Funny Valentine” to the irresistible swells of “All… Read More
Edgar Allan Poe and Gertrude Stein may seem an unlikely pair for an evening out on the town, but, as a complement to the full-scale play “Stieglitz Loves O’Keeffe,” the Penobscot Theatre is presenting one-act biographical sketches about two well-known American writers, Poe and Stein. Presented as companion… Read More
A man dressed in a business suit leaps up and down like a Mexican jumping bean. Behind him, on a park bench, is an undulating street woman, who methodically raises her arms like the wings of a threatening hawk. Another person, dressed like a fish, slithers past them… Read More
Kodo, the heartbeat drummers from Japan, exploded at the Maine Center for the Arts last night. Beating, tickling and wailing on a variety of percussion instruments, Kodo recreated the sounds of swarming bees, warring pistols, stampeding cattle and shaking thunderclaps. Combining ritualistic movements of symmetry and grace with… Read More
A VASE FOR A FLOWER, Tales Of An Antique Dealer, Denny Pinkus, St. Martin’s Press, 217 pages, $16.95. “A Vase for a Flower” is a winter charmer. It is as enticing as a glowing fireplace on a stormy day. One can read each of these… Read More
Every year you can feel the anguish from Kittery to Fort Kent. Maine authors often are crestfallen when Random House and Simon and Schuster claim their first-time manuscripts are so much rubbish. “Have you tried installing aluminum siding?” editors may as well comment on their… Read More
AS EVER, by Jane Weinberger, Windswept House Publishers, 309 pages, $15.95. This engaging collection of letters was written during the period 1970-1990 by the wife of one of Washington’s most colorful and controversial statesmen, former Secretary of Defense Caspar “Cap” Weinberger. It is a fascinating… Read More
IF I EVER GET BACK TO GEORGIA, I’M GONNA NAIL MY FEET TO THE GROUND, by Lewis Grizzard, Random House, 586 pages, large print, $19.95. Lewis Grizzard is odd, very odd, and he’d be the first to tell you so. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define… Read More
The first in a series of four mysteries by a former Old Town resident and newspaper editor was published in November under Berkley Publishing Group’s Charter/Diamond imprint. “Murder at the Spa” was written by Stefanie Matteson, who was editor of the Old Town-Orono Times (then the Penobscot Times)… Read More
THE NEW RUSSIANS, by Hedrick Smith, Random House, 621 pages, $24.95. When Hedrick Smith wrote “The Russians” in 1975 the Soviet Union was a great, gray mystery. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
Pumpkin Press, a letterpress shop on Westport Island that uses only antique equipment, recently republished a classic book of poetry that first entertained readers in 1922. “The Coast of Maine and Other Verses” was written by Henry A. Swanton, who traded a career as an… Read More
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra, featuring guest pianist Anthony di Bonaventura, offered a mixed bag of musical expression Sunday night at the Maine Center for the Arts. Although the BSO delivers some of the best live classical concerts in central Maine, Sunday’s concert was somewhat disappointing. Read More
In the bicentennial year of Mozart’s death, we may be asking what the bewigged composer from Salzburg has to offer modern audiences. New York City Opera National Company director Joseph A. LoSchiavo answers this question brilliantly in the touring production of “The Marriage of Figaro,” which was performed… Read More
The Penobscot Theatre production of Erskine Caldwell’s “Tobacco Road” bites into the tired flesh of Depression-era life and exposes the corpuscles of the Lesters, a back-country family of dispossessed sharecroppers damned by an America gone awry. A once-formidable and aggressive clan, the Lesters are trapped… Read More