5 comments about The Park Loop Road.

1. An excellent overall introduction to Acadia National Park and Mount Desert Island. Good overview of geology and natural and cultural history. Provides up-to-date information on roads and hiking trails. A wonderful guide or souvenir of the Acadian experience.



2. After throughly reading this book through 3 times I have come to the conclusion it is a wonderful book full of useful information. The pictures alone are beautifuly taken giving reason enough to purchase this book. Also Mr Thayer is an excellent chemistry teacher and I hope after reviewing this comment he will raise our grades



3. All of the books written by Robert Thayer convey the true beauty of Acadia National Park. Robert is an outstanding photographer/ author and is an inspiration for my own work. I have seen many slides of Roberts work and I am always impressed. I give this book my highest recommendation for any person interested in learning about Acadia, nature, wildlife, and especially photography. He also has 3 other books available on Amazon.com of an equal caliber.



4. I can't wait to get there in late Summer '06!
   This book is great for anyone planning on visiting Acadia National Park.
   If the park is only half as beautiful as the pictures in the publication, I can't wait!
   I've already planned several routes to run and ride (bicycles) while we are there.
   Thanks!



5. I bought this book before going to Acadia Natl Park. It was incredibly helpful. Our exploration of the Park Loop Road was more interesting because of all the helpful info in this book. Loved the pictures. Very representative of the actual places.

4 comments about A Cruising Guide to Narragansett Bay and the South Coast of Massachusetts: Including Buzzard's Bay, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island.

1. I always wondered what those old ruins were hidden on overgrown islands, the history of secluded anchorages.... Great naturalist, along the shore information. Excellent cruising guide!



2. I lived and sailed Narragansett Bay all my life and never knew the history behind all I was looking at. Excellent book and great fishing section!



3. Being very familiar with boating on Buzzards Bay i was drawn to expand my sea ventures. This book gave a great dipiction of the waters along the south coast of Mass and RI. I have already traveled to many of the destinations the book discussed. what a great service the author has done for the boating community



4. Great guide to all the inlets in Narragansett Bay and surrounding areas. The book has all the place we know of and we agree totally and we can't wait to try out the places we didn't know about.
   Thank you for a great book.

No comments about Moon Maine (Moon Handbooks).

2 comments about Jane Austen in Bath: Walking Tours of the Writer's City.

1. Verse rich in history is just one plus contained within the covers of this little gem. Illustrated with color engravings from the era throughout. You can read it in about 30 minutes, but not to be missed. And something you'll enjoy reading again and again.
   A great Christmas gift for all of your special Jane friends.....



2. Bath is a wonderful town to visit, and the town was very important in Austen's life and novels, especially in Northanger Abbey (Barnes & Noble Classics) and Persuasion (Penguin Classics).
   
   Austen was 24 when her family moved from the countryside to the city, then at the very height of its glory. Reeve traces four "Walks" through the parks and beautiful buildings of Bath, and describes Austen's connection with each of the sights. The text is enhanced by period maps and illustrations, and enlivened by photographs of Austen's manuscripts.
   
   Reeve argues that the transition was not easy for Austen, whose family suffered financial reverses and who had psychological difficulties of her own. She describes Austen's distress as follows:
   
   "Martha accompanied Jane back to Steventon in early December, just before Jane's twenty-fifth birthday, on December 16. As their luggage was being taken upstairs by the servants Jane received a shock. Her niece, Caroline Austen, recalled her mother's version of events: 'My Aunts [Jane and Martha] had been away a little while, and were met in the Hall on their return by their mother who told them that it was all settled, and they were going to live at Bath. My Mother who was present said my Aunt Jane was greatly distressed--All things were done in a hurry by Mr Austen & of course this is not a fact to be written and printed -- but you have authority for saying that she did mind it.'"
   
   Nigel Nicholson argued in "The Guardian" (December 13, 2003) that in fact Austen's stay in Bath was essential for her development as an author, and that she was not unhappy there. Because none of her six completed novels was even begun there, critics assume she was a country girl who hated towns; she could write fiction only in the country.
   
   Nicholson reviews the 16 letters written by Austen during her Bath period. "The early letters record her dismay at her parents' decision to leave Steventon, where she was born, and settle in Bath." After an interval, she wrote 'I get more and more reconciled to the idea' ... 'We have lived long enough in this neighbourhood.'"
   
   "So they made the move, selling all their furniture except their beds, and, inexplicably, George Austen's library of 500 books. After searching Bath for a suitable house, they settled on 4 Sydney Place, at the far end of Great Pulteney Street.... They could afford three servants and an annual holiday by the sea. This does not suggest a life of penury and exile. They expected to enjoy themselves, and so, in my reading of the evidence, they did."
   
   "After her father's death in January 1805, Mrs Austen and her two daughters remained in Bath for several more months, living in straitened circumstances, and then moved to Clifton, a suburb of Bristol, and to Southampton where they remained until 1809, the year when they settled at Chawton. It was there that Jane Austen revised her earlier three novels and wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion, all in the space of the eight years before she died. It has therefore been tempting to draw the conclusion that country living revived her latent genius. But never, in all her many letters written at this period, is there any hint that she felt hampered by city life or craved a return to the country."
   
   It is great fun to read Reeve's take on these events, compare her analysis with the contrary analysis by Nicholson, and re-read the novels to make up one's own mind. The Little Bookroom has packed this pretty little book with a great deal of evidence. It's a delight to read and see Bath at least a little through Jane Austen's eyes.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008

5 comments about The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls.

1. This is a wonderful book...it's about stone walls, and about building stone walls, and all the things stone walls have meant and done for 350 years, and what it feels like to live and work in a place where just past the urban sprawl every one of those 350 years blends with this one (and if you look out the corner of your eye there're older times than that hiding in the shadows.)

   It's not a homeowner howto, though it's got everything you can learn from a book. It's a book for masons who love their craft, New Englanders who love their home place, and anyone who likes good work. Whatever that means to you.




2. Of the half-dozen books I bought in preparation for recycling some of the old stonewalls up through the woods on our farm into a new retaining wall, this is my clear favorite. It is more detailed than John Vivian's Building Stone Walls, particularly when it comes to retaining walls. Because it is not as glossy and illustrated as Haywards' Stone in the Garden or David Reed's Stonescaping (which are, by the way, both excellent in their own right), I'm not as wary about taking it out to the project with me.

   The text is clear and concise, and includes a healthy dose of stone philosophy and the index is detailed enough to help the do-it-yourselfer find what he needs, but short enough so that he can find what he wants, even if he does not know the proper name for it.

   However, the main reason I like this book so much is Gardner's assurance that anyone who puts his mind to it -- which includes me -- can build a stone wall. While his respect for old stone walls and the art of building them is obvious, he also has a healthy dose of practicality. "The notion that all, or even most, of the old stone-work we see around New England is the result of concentrated applicaion of arcane skill," he write, " is demonstrably false." Once that sacred cow was out of the way, my confidence level went up and anything seemed possible.

   The black & white drawings that illustrate the text are clear and very helpful.




3. The Granite Kiss is an endearing look at the practical and esthetic aspects of creating and repairing stone walls. The book has an artistic quality with its extra wide pages with pen and ink drawings of walls under construction or old walls still standing. There are no photos.
   
   There is a feeling of working alongside the author while he idly rambles about the task at hand and jobs he has completed in his career. I especially enjoyed his nicknames for the various rock shapes likely to be found in any imperfect rockpile and the relationships the shapes may have to each other in a completed wall. All in all, stone wall building is a task of patience and persistance - which the author relays in topics such as: spreading the "good" rocks out; working with rocks that are not perfect blocklike shapes, time management; and what is likely to stand the test of time.
   
   This is a book to get you into the slow and methodical, but contemplative mood for learning and practicing this dying art.



4. I surprisingly enjoyed this book. I purchased a few other stone wall books with the intention of building my own wall. I originally did not buy this book because other reviewers indicated not any pictures & a few drawings (this is true). But it is a easy read & tells of the pleasure of building in addition to techniques.



5. I was excited to get this book, being from New England I was looking forward to having a stone wall book focused in that area. Unfortunately I was immediately let down when I received it. When I turned the pages I quickly noticed that there wasn't a single photo in the book! In my mind this is almost a crime, it would be like purchasing a book on sunsets and finding out there were only scattered black and white illustrations inside.
   Also, the most knowledge filled tidbits of information are quotes the author uses from other stone masons. I recommend their works instead; Charles McRaven's Stone Primer , and John Vivian's Building Stone Walls (a good mix of photos and illustrations, all in B&W, but less expensive than most.)

No comments about Vermont Off the Beaten Path, 7th (Off the Beaten Path Series).

5 comments about Land's End: A Walk in Provincetown (Crown Journeys).

1. I have never been a lover of P-town. As a child, my family made a yearly visit to climb the Pilgrim Monument, but as I got older, the long drive from our Harwich vacation home (also on Cape Cod) home made climbing the monument less appealing. Every now and then, I did visit the place, but more often than not, I found it crowded and congested, and always had trouble finding a parking space. The art galleries, a small book store, a store that sells all sorts of odds and ends, and of course the people made a visit to the town worthwhile, but I never realized what all the hype was about until I read this book. Lands End gave me an appreciation for the town and the people, and the history, and when I recently visited the town, I had a new appreciation for this interesting and varied community, largely due to Cunningham's ability to be a "tour guide."

   Cunningham's book is almost a guided tour, not by a tour director who is just doing a routine job, but one who actually loves the place being visited. As he takes readers on a tour of the sights and sounds of the town, we see a place where he grew both as a person and as a writer. Though the work is factual, it flows more like a book of prose than a piece of journalism. Cunningham's awe of the rugged beauty of this small town on the Atlantic coast is easy to detect. He also seems to feel as if he is a kindred spirit to the artists and writers who inhabit this town, known both on and off season as an art and writing colony. His book treats the locals with respect. Provincetown has become rather well known as a "gay Mecca." Cunningham certainly makes mention of the many aspects of this town that are part of a gay culture, but Cunningham writes in such a way that the entire Provincetown community-locals, gays and straights, artists, writers, business people, and tourists, all make Provincetown the beautiful, somewhat quirky, but interestingly cohesive community it is today.

   People who love Cape Cod will enjoy this book. Those who have visited the town will have a greater appreciation of the community after reading this book. Tourists will find the book a nice memory of a unique town. Provincetown visitors who are less than fans may find a new appreciation for the town and will once again struggle with the transportation woes of the town.




2. Michaeal Cunningham loves Provincetown and conveys that love in every sentence in this beautifully written book about a great town. He ably does what every travel writer should do: he convinces those who have never been to Provincetown to visit and makes those who have been there want to return.

   Mr. Cunningham does a thorough job of describing the town's geography as well as both the famous artists who lived there in the past and those of the present, also the "town characters" one can run into on the busy streets on any summer day. There is also poems by Mark Doty, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky and Melvin Dixon, among others included throughout the book.

   Finally Mr. Cunningham discusses the effect AIDS has had on the gay population of Provincetown in a chapter called "Death and Life" and pays tribute to a friend named Billy who died from AIDS. "Provincetown has been widowed by the AIDS epidemic. It will never fully recover, though it is accustomed to loss. . . Provincetown possesses, has always possessed, a steady, grieving competence in the face of all that can happen to people. It watches and waits; it keeps the lights burning. If you are a man or woman with AIDS there, someone will always drive you to your doctor's appointments, get your groceries if you can't get them yourself, and take care of whatever needs taking care of."

   Is there any wonder why this writer loves Provincetown?




3. I bought this book having read another book in the series about Nantucket, and having lived on the Cape for a good part of my life, I am always interested in adding another book on the Cape to my small collection. This book however is not so much about Provincetown, a town on Cape Cod, as it is a gay guy's experience of life in P-town. It begins well enough. Then the author shares with us that he prefers the company of men. Okay, do we really need to know? Well, apparently, because he goes on and on until he takes us into an almost surreal Breugel-esque night landscape of men languishing after men's love. One has the impression that beyond every dune, behind every door and around every corner there are men having sex- not just any men, but painfully beautiful men according to the author. On page 119, I learn that Provincetown is being "widowed by AIDS"- being a widow myself I wonder what the comparison is that he is making- will we be left with only the natural beauty of the Cape to comfort us? Will we be able to go to the beach without having to ask how to get to the heterosexual family beach? (Well, I did learn that much). One can only hope. I agree with another reviewer that the research is meager- the anecdotes uninteresting. What a disappointment.



4. This slight book reads like a leisurely travel article from a magazine that offers good wine with the article. Cunningham gets the facts and history of Provincetown straight but he adds to his narrative his personal anecdotes. This is what wonderful writing is: a perfect blend of the factual and the personal. Having lived in this place that is heaven on earth---Provincetown---I was touched deeply by this little book. Many times while reading it and certainly when I finished I wished I could leave cloudy Los Angeles for the golden perfect light of Cape Cod. Bravo, Mr. Cunningham, for another lovely piece of writing.



5. In this little volume Cunningham is able to capture the essence of Provincetown which is no mean feat because it is probably the most idiosyncratic and elusive town to encapsulate in the United States. He uses poetic prose and quotes some poems in his search for evoking the essential nature of the place.
   Before World War II my family brought me to the town on day trips. We would drive from Springfield, Mass. to Boston and then take the ferry across to this end-of-the world place. In 1962 I made my first visit as an adult and then became a very frequent visitor often staying for weeks at a time. Between 1970 and 1980 I owned a house and cottage there with a dear friend, and we rented out four units. The winters in P'Town are dreary and nasty, and I never spent a winter there, although I've been there every month of the year. In summers the 4,000 resident population swells to about 40,000.
   By carefully selecting details and lifestyles, Cunningham is able to paint a picture of the sexual, artistic, literary, and social strands of this bohemian town. Gays and lesbians form an important element in the town. A great many famous writers and visual artists made the town their home. It has one of the most beautiful harbors in the world, and the main drag, Commercial Street goes on for three miles along the waterfront.
   This book is a very personal account by a gay man. Because he is able to weave his own experiences into the narrative, the book becomes much more meaningful and a joy for P'Towners to read. People and places that I have saved and savored in my memory pop out as he tells this story. This book catches the look, the spirit, the personality, and the soul of America's most unique town, my beloved Provincetown. I too have spread the ashes of a loved one closeby the place where Cunningham scattered ashes of a close friend.
   Nine Lives Too Many
   The Daemon in Our Dreams
   The Rice Queen Spy
   Clawed Back from the Dead

1 comments about Fodor's England 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. It was so hard to chose a travel guide for a country I have never been to that I obsessed over the choices available. I finally settled on Frommer London and Foders England. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find any mention of an area of England that I must spend time in due to a work obligation, in the Fodor's guide. I couldn't believe it!!! I should send it back for a refund, but instead you can look for it in my third party bookshop sometime in the near future.

5 comments about Making History.

1. Making History is about a Cambridge student, Michael, and a physics professor who, by transporting sterility drugs through time to a well in Austria, create a world were Hitler had never been born. Making History is conceptually interesting, but poorly executed and at times exceedingly dull. Many of the action sequences are written in a screenplay format, which leaves some of the book's major scenes without any narrative description and results in tedious chapters where characters act without discernable motivation. The slower paced, more interesting first person narrative style is abandoned (it seems) in favor of getting quickly through scenes that, though vital to the plot, do not afford the oppurtunity for clever banter or amusing description that the author is so fond of. The resolution is forced and unsatisfying, and there are glaring holes in the plot that are never resolved. Fry is a witty writer, but I think he is overreaching with this book.



2. I don't ususally read non-fiction, and have never been into the Alternate History craze. I bought this as a Stephen Fry fan, and perhaps a bit because I was a history major in college.
   From page one, I could not put it down. The way Fry writes, discussing how one feels when getting up in the morning, writing a thesis, and comparing us history students to pretentious literature students for example, was hilarious and dead-on.
   Mike Young is anxious to have his PhD thesis read and earn his doctorate, while living in a strained relationship with a logical but herbal tea drinking scientist. He literally bumps into a stranger with a guilty secret, and a story unravels, involving an attempt to make sure Hitler never gained power without actually going back and killing him.
   Fry writes this book from several different views, a past time, thesis, young Hitler in the trenches, screenplay, etc. I love his writing style, one rarely makes me laugh out loud, but as I said, his takes on life's little crises are on the mark.
   The ending is good too, perhaps something has changed after all. There is a side story that some might not like, but it's so near the end you won't want to stop reading.
   If you were like me and have never ventured into time travel stories, and have a good sense of humor, and a love of things British, buy this book! You'll be calling all those "Eds" at work "Double Eddie" in no time.



3. What if you could prevent Hitler from taking power? What would you do to prevent it? How far would you go? All interesting questions and Stephen Fry's take on the idea is well worth a read. Although the writing style can be jolting at times and some of the references are kind of out there, it all comes together eventually. Overall a brilliant effort, although at one point one of Fry's characters discusses political correctness and actually uses it in a positive context. Fry must be one of the few people left in the western world who can actually find anything good to say about PC.
   
   
   
   But hey, it IS science fiction!



4. A lovely ramble through time - made even more enjoyable if you can imagine Stephen reading it to you in that incredibly honeyed accent, with lashings of dry sarcasm thrown in for good measure / pleasure.
   Wrong actor, but the plot: a cunning plan, complete with 'cinnamon' on top (Homage to Baldrick)



5. I loved the humor in this book (except some of the British humor, which admittedly sometimes escapes me) and especially the main character. I found some parts of the book a little tedious, but found that when I skipped ahead, I would miss crucial parts. It all comes together at the end. An enjoyable book, but not one I would necessarily read again.

No comments about Karen Brown's England, Wales & Scotland, Revised Edition: Exceptional Places to Stay & Itineraries 2008 (Karen Brown's England, Wales & Scotland Charming Hotels & Itineraries).