No comments about Great Destinations Newport and Narragansett Bay Book.

No comments about Zagat 2007/08 Connecticut Restaurants (Zagatsurvey).

No comments about Streetwise Northern New England Map - Laminated Area Road Map of Northern New England - Folding pocket size travel map.

No comments about Bradford Washburn's Map of Mt. Washington and the Heart of the Presidential Range.

1 comments about The London Scene: Six Essays on London Life.

1. I enjoy reading about London and this book just fit the bill.

1 comments about Canoe Camping Vermont and New Hampshire Rivers: A Guide to 600 Miles of Rivers for a Day, Weekend, or Week of Canoe Camping (Backcountry Guides).

1. This book's title is misleading, and provides next to no info about camping. Its information about water conditions and white water classifications is pathetic (and unsafe) as well. More information is available about the rivers the author chose to include in the DeLorme Vermont Gazeteer and Atlas. I wish I didn't order this book, it will become camping toilet paper or an emergency fire starter.

5 comments about Curious New England: The Unconventional Traveler's Guide to Eccentric Destinations.

1. I liked this book because I'm always bored and searching for something different to do. If your into New England culture like I am then you'll appreciate us eccentric Yankees! Some of this stuff I wouldn't drive out of my way for but it's enjoyable to read about it. Having grown up in the Boston area I already knew about most of these places(and lots that didn't make the book!)but if your planning to be in the area it's well worth your while to check out this book.



2. My wife and I structured our honeymoon this month around this book, and we had a grand time touring its recommended destinations in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. As we both work in horror publishing, we particularly enjoyed places like America's Stonehenge and H.P. Lovecraft's grave.

   Buyers of this book should be forewarned to call ahead to every place they plan on visiting. We discovered that although this book was published this year, some of its information is already out-of-date. For instance, the aliens apparently beamed-up the UFO Museum two years ago. In some cases, the information was incomplete (e.g., the Occult Museum is only open to tour groups of 10 or more), or vague (e.g., road directions to the Bow Wow Villa (now no longer called that, by the way) and the Museum of Bad Art).

   Overall, though, the book has lots of interesting information, and our vacation wouldn't have been quite as nice if we hadn't read it.




3. If you like the path less traveled, then this book is for you. If disneyland, and the flashy theme parks are the forefront of the American psyche, then this is the back roads. To my mind infinitely more interesting, I only wish he could chronicle the whole of the US, not just New england.Not to be missed!



4. This is a terrific resource for those who will be travelling in New England and who are interested in seeing the more unusual sights the region has to offer. The book is divided into six chapters, each devoted to a state: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, and a map at the start of each chapter locates the cities covered. Each chapter contains entries listed alphabetically by city, and each entry contains a description, address, phone number, location, hours and sometimes a b&w picture. Entres include cemeteries, haunted houses, odd museums, unusual homes, monuments, etc. This book is lots of fun, contains great information and is well-written.
   
   Terrific resource.



5. Never did I know that there where so many odd places to visit in New England. This book goes state by state and lists places to visit that are famous and infamous. Man now I wish I had a GPS to find them! Get this book!!

No comments about Discover Southern New Hampshire: AMC Guide to the Best Hiking, Biking, and Paddling.

5 comments about A Wild, Rank Place: One Year on Cape Cod.

1. David Gessner isn't your typical nature writer. Not simply content to give lip service to "birds and trees," Gessner enters the landscape as an animal, swilling and raging and chortling his way across Cape Cod with glee and guts. He isn't afraid to tackle tough material either: he receives news of his father's malignant carcinoma after, ironically, beating his own cancer successfully. In the face of such significant life issues, Gessner worries about place---his own as son and native to Cape Cod, and the strength of his writing voice in the shadow of his real and literary fathers. This book does for fathers and sons what Terry Tempest William's Refuge did for mothers and daughters. I found Gessner to be charmingly self-absorbed: he allows the reader to view him ("the thing itself") and his landscape, warts and all. And just when some might dismiss him as another Abbey-wanabee who goes about the motions of outrage for outrage's sake, Gessner shows his talent and unique writing strength: he writes movingly and memorably about his own father's death in a stunning journal section simply titled, June. The last sections of the book are a Hymn---for Gessner's father, for the place of his birth, for life. In the end, Gessner shows how grace and real beauty rise from fiercely loving ALL the parts of the world, even the ones which pain us most.



2. An inspiring narrative about a young man who survives cancer, only to watch his father be taken by the same disease. In the tradition of Beston and Thoreau, Gessner brings the Cape to life in all its seasons. But this book should not be tied to one place: readers from all over the globe will identify with Gessner, his family, and his love of home. A Wild, Rank Place is a very special book. You'll be glad you read it.



3. Mr. Gessner has created a powerful memoir of his childhood on Cape Cod, the loss of his father and his love for the harsh Cape environment that is emblematic of personal struggles Gessner has faced and, with humor and intelligence, ultimately overcome. A thoughtful and thought-provoking work from a promising young author.



4. I found this book a disappointment because the author allowed his personal issues and problems (e.g. family problems, illness, drug use) to interfere with the picture he was trying to paint. Henry Beston's THE OUTERMOST HOUSE, A YEAR OF LIFE ON THE GREAT BEACH OF CAPE COD, is much more to my liking, because of the beautiful prose and the full concentration of Mr. Beston on the topic at hand (i.e. the Cape, its history, its beauty, its wildness). I find it incongruous for this author, David Gessner, to make the effort to get in touch with nature by living out in the wilds by the ocean, and then to take the unnatural step of using drugs while doing so. It offends my senses almost as much as do the actions of people who play boomboxes at the beach while supposedly enjoying nature. I guess I like my nature natural and without the distractions of these other modern day intrusions. And I like my information and insights gleaned from my readings to be based on reality not drug induced fantasy. These personal issues (which in another context, might have been appropriately raised and interesting) seemed only to be undesired distractions in this context.



5. I had the pleasure of meeting Gessner at a bookstore he made an appearance at. I bought two of his books, "Wild Rank.." and "Return of the Osprey." I was almost unable to put down "Wild Rank." It was so moving...so touching...so brilliantly honest, I kept the pages open as I did mundane things so I could peek over occassionally and be mesmerized by his essay. The book is a mix of so many things -- there's a little "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in his brutal honesty. Then there's a little Thoreau when he briefs us on what the marshes and the "Suet" mean to him. This book is a must read for anyone who understands or wants to understand that life on life's terms is the only way we can exist -- and one of life's terms is that we take care of the land. Another of those terms is that our parents, for whatever faults they have, shape us in ways we can neither forget nor sometimes identify. David, I'm so glad I met you -- the book has been one of those wonderful surprises in life that change you a little bit when you encounter them. Kudos!

No comments about Maine: A Portrait.