No comments about Peoples of a Spacious Land: Families and Cultures in Colonial New England.

No comments about The Darlings of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

2 comments about Lighthouses of New England (East Coast).

1. This book is not only very informative, but full of wonderful photographs. It is an interesting read and lovely to look at.



2. When I received this book as a gift I expected that it would be another lovely book of New England photos to keep on the guest room bookshelf. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself caught up instead in the beautifully-written text. Who knew there were so many intriguing myths, legends, historical facts, and entertaining anecdotes about the people who built, populated, and even haunt New England lighthouses? This book turned out to be a terrific history lesson and an all-around great read.

5 comments about The New Girls.

1. While I enjoyed this book, it wasn't a must-read, impossible-to-put-down kinda story. This is the second novel of Ms. Gutcheon's I've read, (the first being More Than You Know, which is GREAT) and you can tell it's an early effort.
   
   The story focuses on 5 'New Girls' as they're called, who all went to the very prestigious Mrs. Pratt's School for Girls (a prep school) in the early 60's. The first chapter starts with their 15 year reunion, where we learn one of the girls has killed herself...the rest of the book tells us about each one's experience during their three years as a Pratt Girl, and their path to finding friendships with one another.
   
   I thought the storyline jumped around a little too much. I felt like each girl was a bit incomplete, and wanted more information at a time, instead of the scattered pieces we're given. And there were so many secondary characters that I couldn't keep up. I'd come to a name and have to stop and think about whether or not I was already introduced to this person, or if it's another new character. In my opinion, it probably would have been easier to follow if their had been one less main character, 4 'New Girls' as a opposed to 5. Also, we never find out why the one girl ended up killing herself years later. That was quite a disappointment.
   
   Overall, it was a decent book. I don't think it's for everyone, there's really no climatic point in the story. It's pretty much just an account of the day-to-day life of prep school girls, and their wealthy upbringings. Though it wasn't my favorite, I'll definitely read more from this author, I've read her later stuff and it's much improved.



2. This novel reminded me of what it was like to go off to a new school. Muffin wanted so much from herself. She wanted to be the popular, beautiful girl. She nurtured a fierce conviction that someday life would give her a chance to show her own unusual self. The story goes through her life at bording school and the changes she begins to see in herself as a young girl growing into a beautiful woman.



3. Beth Gutcheon knows how to write and she also knows the world of an all-girls private school, where this novel is set. But there are so many characters in this book, and so much happens in approximately 350 pages that it's hard to remain engaged with the action and the characters. I had to fight the temptation to skip ahead in several parts, because I was bored with whatever was going on with some minor character I could barely remember. Like most authors, Gutcheon has gotten better in time and her later books are much better than this one.



4. I really enjoyed this book. Havig been disappointed with Prep, I was happy to find another book set in a New England boarding school and was even happier to discover that this story lived up to my expectations.
   
   The story is very thorough, very descriptive, and very complete.
   
   The only thing I would have liked to have seen would have been more of a reaction to their friend's suicide. However, the remainder of the book was so well told that I found it lacking very little.
   
   Well done.



5. The book was a replacement for one I had lost. I just wish the book had arrived earlier than it did.

No comments about The Collected W of Samson Occom, Mohegan: Literature and Leadership in Eighteenth-Century Native America.

5 comments about Miracle Myx.

1. Diotalevi hits the ground running with Miracle Myx.
   
   Myx Amens is an astounding and addictive character that you'll immediately like and find yourself caring and cheering for. His synesthetic memory, two near death experiences, (I think he really died twice) and natural curiosity propel Myx into the realm of the next great fictional hero.
   
   Diotalevi's rich writing style makes for a read that you can't put down.
   
   Miracle Myx starts with Myx Amens, just finishing his last adventure and one quickly learns of his near supernatural powers through Diotalevi's intricate character development.
   
   The author weaves an old world whodunit with an inexplicable modern day adolescent hero into one great read.
   
   I highly recommend this book. When does the next book come out?



2. I just love Myx, the sneaky, fascinatingly quirky, frightfully intelligent young man who takes on the mystery of some grisly murders in his small Massachusetts town. Somehow Dave makes us like this fellow who stops at nothing to learn all he needs to know about people.
   
   And I not only love Myx, but I love the storytelling! Dave weaves this tale in a way that keeps us thinking, wondering, and laughing. Every page is interesting and fun!



3. "I learned that nothing is yours until it's yours, and that you make it yours by taking it, protecting it and hiding it," says Myx Amens, a uniquely talented 14-year-old foster kid living in Miracle, Massachusetts. In Dave Diotalevi's debut novel, Miracle Myx, we encounter 42 hours in the life of Myx as he investigates a series of murders.
   
   There's a seminal chapter in this twisty mystery of hidden secrets where Myx is in jeopardy from several thugs at the estate of their boss - a powerful Italian business man. Myx artfully escapes from the thugs and finds himself in the company of the boss' wife, Mama. Suddenly, Myx's intuitive mix of synesthesia offers up a song, for which he quickly scribbles onto paper. In Italian, no less. Mama reads it and recognizes it as her mother's homemade gnocchi recipe - written in her mother's handwriting. This isn't the first or the last time Myx uses his talents to tease out what someone needs at the moment they need it. And to this reader's point of view, this scene tells us much of what we need to know about the heart of this unique man/boy character whose primary desire seems to be easing the way of others. Particularly, if they are female.
   
   One will read this book as much for fast-action, 42 hours in the life of Myx as they will for the poetic turns of phrase such as "My hand sang the music of its curves as I wrote," and "Air currents made the flames and shadows move in interesting ways. To me, they felt pliable and sounded like the wind in a field."
   
   This smart, sexy novel from Dave Diotalevi may be his debut, but it is clearly not his first try at beautiful prose, evocative language, and moving storytelling. Let's hope there's more to come from this author.



4. For fourteen-year-old Myx Amens, a walk down a city street is a sensory experience the likes of which Ken Kesey never approached with his notorious Acid Tests. Myx, however, requires no psychoactive substances to experience synesthesia - the sensory cross-wiring that results in seeing music, smelling colors, or tasting words. All he had to do was die a couple of times.
   
   Myx has so carefully ordered his life in the Massachusetts town of Miracle that he can literally come and go as he likes, anywhere, any time. He knows a lot more about the residents than they know themselves, in some cases. Most especially in this case - the murder and mutilation of a small-town high-school bitch queen.
   
   In his first novel, Dave Diotalevi presents a neatly-plotted mystery, as well as the most wonderfully disorienting first-person POV since Robert Montgomery's film noir classic, Lady In The Lake.
   
   As a life-long synesthete, I can assure readers that Diotalevi's evocative prose offers a convincing authenticity. For example, my non-synesthete husband was taken utterly by surprise by the Big Reveal at the end of the book, while Myx more or less told me precisely what it was by the middle of the story. In addition, my husband experienced none of the sensory out-of-kilterness I felt. He's a pretty literal kind of guy. He was, however, as enthusiastically engaged as I was by this tale. Diotalevi deftly inserts clues in more forms -- literary and pop cultural references, as well as archetypal and iconographic images -- than John Campbell could shake a Jungian stick at.
   
   Hints of a richly-textured backstory and foreshadowings of Myx's future activities offer hope for follow-up novels.
   
   I can think of only two complaints about Miracle Myx. First, I was distracted by the frequent product placements. Myx's eidetic memory could register traits other than brand and model or style of food, clothing, and electronic gear. Some segments read like the novelization of an M. Night Shyamalan film. Second, the book was too short. I want more Myx!
   
   
   **a later note**: Michael disagrees with me once more. Says the flurries of product names never really attracted his active attention. He agrees with the 5 stars I awarded in his name, and states for the record that has zero complaints, can't wait to read Miracle Myx again, and wants to see more Myx.



5. I enjoyed this novel thoroughly with its lively writing, tight plotting, and memorable characters. I'd love to read further adventures with Myx in the middle of it all. My only complaint is that Myx is a mere fourteen. I'd feel a lot more comfortable is he were 16 or even 15. 14 just feels wrong for all this boy gets into.

2 comments about Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of New England (Smithsonian Handbooks).

1. There are approximately 920 species of birds known to visit North America, and 302 of them are documented visitors to New England. All 302 are covered here, as well as 179 occasional species. This compact yet comprehensive book begins with 28 pages of introduction, including instructions on using the book, identifying birds and field technique.

   Profiles are one page per species, and the quantity and quality of the information on each page is spectacular. Each entry contains the family and species name; the length,wingspan and weight of a typical specimen; plumage, habitat and migration information; and descriptive paragraphs about the species' song, behavior, breeding, nesting, population and conservation as well as a distribution map (with migratory information); and pictorial depictions of the species' flight pattern and nest identification. Also included is a scaled silhouette and at least one color photograph. (More pictures are included if the male/female/adolescents/seasonal plumage differ in appearance.) There are blank spaces to note the date, time and location of a sighting. After these 302 entries, smaller entries describe each of 179 bird species that are considered vagrant or casual visitors to the region, and contain the name, a color picture, a distribution map and the average length of that specimen. Entries are organized taxonomically, beginning with birds that do NOT perch and sing, and continuing with those that DO. The book concludes with a glossary (though nowhere does it define 'altricial' -- meaning born helpless, a word used frequently in the entries), a good index, and acknowledgments, including picture credits.

   I'm an old reference librarian, and I have a shelf full of flawed naturalist guides, so I'm not easily impressed -- but this guide is spectacular. If you have any interest in the birds of New England, this should be the first guide you get.




2. It's probably my own fault but this book is a bit over my head. I just wanted a book to identify birds I might see in my area of NH or New England and this book has lots of birds I am sure I will never come close to seeing! If you are a serious birder and are on the lookout for rare birds stopping by during migration you would like this book, but many of them don't live in New England at all. I guess thats why the title has the word "of" underlined. Now I know. Descriptions are thorough and each bird gets it's own entire page full of information and the birds description sometimes helps more than the picture as some of the pictures are just not that good. There is a little box on each page that lists "similar birds" which helps in identification, but I just wish the pictures were more clear.

1 comments about Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast.

1. This is the 2nd edition of her book and I just found out there is a new edition dated Feb., 2000, which I plan to buy immediately. An excellent starting point - this book will save you a lot of research time when planning a trip and will help you immediately pinpoint the best dining and accomodation choices. It's one of the first books I turn to when planning a trip or where to eat and has given me ideas for other trips (e.g. Brandywine Valley and Wilmington). The writeups are accurate and give a sense of the foods and surroundings. My only criticism is that the photography could be better. But then, the reader can always follow up by visiting an establishment's web site (if they have one).

No comments about Water Trails of Western Massachusetts: AMC Guide to Paddling Ponds, Lakes and Rivers.

No comments about Hidden Boston and Cape Cod: Including Cambridge, Lexington, Concord, Provincetown, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket (Hidden Travel).