5 comments about One-Way Ticket: A Brady Coyne Novel (Brady Coyne Novels).

1. As usual William Tapply kept me on the edge of my seat. His standards never seem to lessen thank goodness. So r reading his books are not a waste of time.



2. This was my first Brady Coyne novel and I so enjoyed it. Tappley is laid back and brings the action on at a steady pace. It made me buy more!



3. I have never been disappointmed with this author, he does a fine job of moving me to a differnt city, and a different reality for me.



4. One-Way Ticket is one of the best Brady Coyne novels in some time. If you want to enjoy a fresh story that will remind you of many classic mysteries and dive into new complications in Brady's life, One-Way Ticket is your pass to lots of fun reading.
   
   Brady is enjoying his private life more and more. But the outside world keeps intruding. First, an old client, Dalton Lancaster, is beaten up. Looking into the matter, Brady finds more serious problems beneath the surface that involve one of Boston's least pleasant mobsters. Second, Something is eating on Evie, but she doesn't seem to want to tell Brady what it is.
   
   Before long, Brady's life is torn upside down and he's in the middle of some ugly situations that cannot be ducked or improved on. Brady finds himself playing a role more like a rough-and-tumble private detective than a lawyer and gentlemanly fisherman.
   
   In the process, Brady finds himself wanting to get more phone calls than he gets. In the meantime, he's on the hot seat in more than one way.
   
   The charm of this book for me was that Mr. Tapply has put much more character development into Brady and Evie than he usually does. That makes the novel more compelling and interesting. In addition, the solutions to the crimes that entangle Brady aren't quite as transparent as Mr. Tapply usually makes them. Further, the plot borrows elements from many classic detective stories from Raymond Chandler to Bill Pronzini through Robert Parker. It's homage to some of the most delightful themes that detective fiction provides: Who can you trust? What are my obligations to others? What's life all about?
   
   My only complaint is that the crime's origins aren't quite mysterious enough. Otherwise, this would have been a five-star novel.



5. I was surprised by the good reviews for this one; I found it very dull. A good portion of the pages were filled with Brady's girlfriend, Evie, finding out that her father is ill and going to stay with him in California. OK. But for some reason, never explained or indeed mentioned as odd, she decides to tell Brady not to call her -- acting as though her father's illness means the end her relationship with Brady. Made no sense to me, and really, the number of pages of Brady moping became tedious.
   
   As for the actual plot, well, again not much happens. An old friend of Brady's is beat up and then his (the friend's) son is kidnapped. The reasons don't -- at least on the surface -- take long to figure out. Then there is a "surprise", but it's not very surprising. I had hoped for a lot more.

5 comments about Catskill Mountain Guide (Appalachian Mountain Club).

1. We visit Castkill Mountain more than ones and this guide have everything you need to planning your hikes in this region. The map, the sharp description of the trails and the recommendation are very useful for experts as for the beginners. Today we have other type of paper for the maps like Tyvek............ may be next edition?
   
   Adrian



2. This is an excellent guide with a great selection of trails and a handy topographical map with all the details necessary for planning and guiding you through the area.



3. This is really not to bad of a book. The map is helpful especially when driving to locate trailheads!!. I've been up two of the trails and they were fairly correct on the distance and time required. I think the author could have been more specific in his directions as to how to use the book (ie whether the distances and times are one way or round trip). He seems like he is speaking to someone who has been in the region and not to someone like me who is used to the type of hiking on the west coast. I also needed the map to figure out what he was talking about most of the time. I wouldn't complain if there were a few pictures.
   
   In summation... a solid effort but I've read better.



4. This book is devoid of BS and purple prose and some people will need more hand holding, for sure. this is a trail guide written for the more "advanced" hiking crowd--those who need TLC may be better off with a purfumey regional guide that tells you where all the good capuccino joints are. This is the best guide out there--and tho it has a little tweaking to do, it will be the cult classic for the next 20 years. Trust me. :)



5. Very good variety of hikes from easy to rough! Used for some hikes already, and if very accurate. Replaced my older guide from about 1987.
   
   Catskills are a great place to hike. Not that far from New York City, yet not crowded at all.

1 comments about Working the Sea: Misadventures, Ghost Stories, and Life Lessons from a Maine Lobster Fisherman.

1. A real "Down East" book about a real Down East fisherman, his life, trials, and stories. Reads great and I found it hard to put down. Being from Maine it reminded me of my childhood lobstering with my great grandfather and my great uncle. The memories just kept streaming in and this book is a keeper!

No comments about A New England Autumn.

1 comments about Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist's Manual: Illustrations of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada.

1. This illustrated companion to the classic Gleason & Cronquist is a "must-have" for anyone who needs clear, concise line drawings to help understand fine distinctions between species. Although expensive, it's a terrific reference that will become a classic. You will use it often and you won't regret spending the money. Caution: it's a big volume and very heavy; don't plan on carrying it along in the field.

1 comments about Great Houses of New England.

1. My wife received it as a gift and is enormously happy. What more can I say?

2 comments about The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Boston: Secrets of Living the Good Life--For Free! (Cheap Bastard).

1. Very informative, I recommend reading this book if you want to save some money.



2. The Cheap Bastard's Guide to Boston includes every free or very cheap thing to do in the Boston/Cambridge area that I've ever heard of, plus more. The author included almost anything you'd want to do in the city, including places to find live music, dance, and comedy for free. She also details non-shady methods to get in free to see films and live theatre. Other topics include book readings, wine tasting, free/cheap lunch, beauty services, housing, clothing, fitness, newspapers, pets, travel, museums and art galleries, and activities for kids. The book was extremely well researched and easy to use. Each venue has contact information, addresses, websites(if any), a short description of the activity, and details on when and under what circumstances you can get things for free, including any catches such as one-drink minimums and volunteer requirements (which are rare).
   The author also includes items that are extremely cheap (in the $1 to $5 range) and she keeps her promise on limiting these items to activities that are well worth a small amount of cash.
   This book is definitely something you'll want on-hand if you are visiting the city. There are so many entries, I'd suggest purchasing the book even if you are thrifty. It's more than worth the purchase price. As a dedicated cheapskate, I got this book from the library and will be purchasing it after reading it cover-to-cover.
   The only way this book could be better is if it encompassed areas outside the Boston/Cambridge area.

2 comments about The Lobster Gangs of Maine.

1. I live here in the midst of the coast of Maine, and this book is factual, absorbing, entertaining (to me, anyway), and historically significant. The world of the independent lobsterman is rapidly changing, but these guys are competent, tough, and they have their own code of discipline. If you want to understand better this unique part of America, this book is for you.



2. I was looking for a book that broadly covered lobstering. This book is very much into the people who do lobstering and how they relate to each other and to strangers and newbies.
   
   It's obviously a very detailed study if that is what you're looking for. I found it somewhat boring.
   
   I found this book much more interesting: "The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean"
   Trevor Corson

5 comments about Hons and Rebels (New York Review Books Classics).

1. A view into the always fascinating Mitford family written by family member, and best-selling author, Jessica Mitford.
   The personal observations about the totally diverse life choices made made by the sisters boggles the mind and confounds the senses.



2. I was looking for a Jessica Mitford autobiography and discovered "Hons & Rebels". The original title of this (1960) book is Daughters & Rebels". Is anything other than the title revised/updated? I'm such a fan of Mitford, I'd rather read her memoirs than Mary S. Lovell's "The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family", which is supposedly more detailed.



3. I absolutely loved this book. I had just finished reading the very long and very good "The Sisters" http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Saga-Mitford-Family/dp/0393324141 about the Mitfords, and wanted more when I was finished. Jessica ("Decca") was the most fascinating of all -- the one who ran away to Spain and America and became widely known for her politics and her book, "The American Way of Death." (and an Oakland resident, like myself, which is always intriguing!)
   
   "Hons and Rebels" is charming, witty, and in its pages is not only an interesting glimpse of life in upper class England between the wars, but a love story as well, as she retells the story the story of her romance with her first husband, Esmond.
   
   I never heard Mitford speak, but her voice comes through strongly in this book -- witty, determined, able to laugh at herself and family, but serious about her politics and trying to get by as a young idealistic couple in America. (And I imagine a very posh British accent...) What I also liked was how she treated the relationship with her closest sister, Unity, who, as a Nazi sympathizer, was the polar political opposite of Decca. What a family.
   
   Highly, highly recommended.



4. "I'm normal, my wife is normal, but my daughters are each more foolish than the other. What do you say about my daughters? Isn't it very sad?" Mary S Lovell has taken David Mitford's complaint to heart. She has a lot to say about his daughters. But after decades (it seems) of books on those mad, bad and sometimes dangerous-to-know girls, do we want to hear it?
   
   The six Mitford girls pursued lives which are footnotes to 20th-century history: Nancy, the socialist aristocrat, gentle satirist of the society she yet delighted in; Unity, conceived in the Ontario town of Swastika, destined to become Hitler's pet; Diana, whose marriage to Oswald Mosley set her at the fringes of acceptability; Decca, who ended up as a fiery Communist émigré in California; Pam, the country girl who married a scientist and lived quietly in Gloucestershire; and Debo, who declared her intention, and carried out the act, of marrying a duke.
   
   By drawing on new sources, Lovell presents a fresh version of the Mitford story. She fleshes out "Muv" and Farve" - the fictional Uncle Matthew and Aunt Sadie of Nancy's novels - and adds to our understanding of their progeny. David Mitford, "the most handsome man of his generation" according to James Lees-Milne, is as eccentric as his fictional portrait in The Pursuit of Love. He did regard almost all his daughters' suitors as "sewers"; but the word was Tamil, "soor", meaning pig. His wife, Sydney, achieves a Daily Sketch headline, "Peeress Saves Ha'pence", for her economies over home laundry (she used paper napkins).



5. Hons and Rebels, a memoir of the life of the "commie" Mitford sister, Jessica, details the authors life from her childhood in rural England up until the time she lived in Miami in the 1940s. The Mitford clan of six sisters (Nancy wrote The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate) and one brother was an unusual one, prone to playing tricks upon one another and outsiders. Jessica grew up to embrace the ideals of the communist party, while her sister Unity became a Fascist, hobnobbing with Hitler. Jessica then ran away with and married her cousin Edwin Romilly, later moving to the United States.
   
   It's a brilliant memoir, poignant and funny at the same time. Although Jessica's not always the most sympathetic character, she's always witty, touching her story every now and then with a hint of irony. Jessica describes everything in painstaking detail, from the Cotswold countryside to certain conversations she had with various people. The memoir is evocative of the time period in which Jessica lived in.

5 comments about Dan Eldon: The Art of Life.

1. It's a shame Kathy(his mother) never wrote this book.
   By far the most imtimate and well written part of this book was the last chapter that Kathy Eldon wrote.
   Obviously Jennifer New loves Dan's life like we all do but unfortuneatly she never met him and that glaringly stands out in the biography. There is way too much creative license here,the fact he is raised to almost sainthood can be squeemish at times.Jennifer's writing leaves a lot to be desired, but through the clumsy writing you can't helped but be inspired by the life of Dan Eldon.
   Dan is amazing!! His photos say more about him than any bunch of words can. 'The Journey is the destination" is a must have book!!
   Flip through that and I guarentee your life will be changed forever!



2. I purchased both The Journey is the Destination and The Art of Life on the same day. Over the next two days, I rotated the books as I couldn't decide on which one to read first. Jennifer obviously dove deeply into Dan's life. The stories that are told from memories collected from Dan's closest friends and his family are engaging. There is no doubt that Dan left a mark on everyone he met. Even more incredible is that he continues to leave his mark on the lives of those who meet him through these books. His death may have been premature but he certainly didn't waste the short amount of time that he was given. He certainly deserves to be known as one of the twentieth centuries heroes.



3. I love this book. The story of Dan Eldon is one everyone should read. It will change your perception of the world and how you live your life.



4. This is a very moving and powerful book from someone who was so young. It documents a movement of change and how Dan Eldon could find beauty in the simplest of things. The imagery will stay with you long after you've put the book down.



5. A more artistic interpretation of the traditionally print-driven journal, Dan Eldon's records are colorful and compelling.