No comments about Inside The Berkshires: Sixteen Journeys of Discovery (Pathways to the Past) (Pathways to the Past).

3 comments about New England Waterfalls: A Guide to More Than 200 Cascades and Waterfalls.

1. Quite simply, this is the quintessential reference to waterfalls in New England. The guide provides a rating, description, detailed driving directions, and advice on the hike (if applicable) to 200 different waterfalls in Conneticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the 1 waterfall in Rhode Island.

   Having used the book to visit a few waterfalls, I can attest that the directions are fairly accurate, and that I went to waterfalls I simply could not have found any other way. The state maps at the beginning of each section make it easy to plan trips that visit lots of waterfalls, or to "check" to see if you're going to pass one on your road trip.

   I look forward to using this reference for years to come. I thought the ratings were fair, the information accurate, and it was all presented in a useful and readable format.




2. I used this guide extensively on a recent trip to New England. While it has a good deal of information in it, the guide could be greatly improved by changing a few things.

   The organization of the book could be improved by using a sequential numbering scheme to identify waterfalls that are close to one another rather than the current scheme of numbering them alphabetically. Because of the current method, it necessitates a lot of flipping between huge ranges of pages to decide which waterfall to visit in even a very small area.

   The guide includes photos for a large number of waterfalls, but it doesn't include photos for all of them. I found several highly ranked waterfalls that were missing photos, but some waterfalls which were ranked much lower did include photos. The best solution would be to include photos for all the waterfalls included in the book.

   I appreciate the effort given by the authors to include driving directions because I wouldn't have been able to find most of the waterfalls without them. Unfortunately I found that there were times when the directions are confusing & there are also errors in some of the directions. In addition, directions are written less clearly than they could possibly be.

   One final suggestion would be to include the best time to view each waterfall and which direction does each waterfall face. Some of them have eastern exposure so they would be best in the early morning. Others have western exposure and would be best in the late afternoon. A choice few are situated perfectly enough to have southern exposure and they are good all day long. For the photographers in the crowd it would be great to find this final bit of info in the guide.

   Overall the book makes a good start to what could be the ultimate New England Waterfall guide.




3. I like waterfalls. I don't know why. I just do. So I liked this book as I found a bunch of them I had no idea exsisted. A great guide to this part of the country.

No comments about Maine Mountains Trail Map 1: Baxter State Park-Katahdin/Rangeley-Stratton/Gulf Hagas.

5 comments about Great Lake Effects: Buffalo Beyond Winter and Wings : A Cookbook by the Junior League of Buffalo.

1. This cookbook is a must have for anyone who has ever lived in Buffalo or is interested in learning more about Buffalo. The recipes that I have made so far have all been delicious. It has also been very interesting to read the facts and stories about Buffalo.



2. Laurels for all the effort put into this cookbook. I found the history tidbits very interesting! The pictures just beautiful. And the recipes mouthwatering. All this in a cookbook?! Way to go Junior League of Buffalo!



3. This cookbook is a five star winner. I have tried many of the recipes and they are all great. I love the artwork and I also enjoy reading about the history of Buffalo. A must have cookbook for all collectors of Junior League Cookbooks.



4. This book is great for anyone who collects Junior League cookbooks. It has beautiful pictures and little history tidbits about Buffalo. The recipes are diverse and easy to do. I can't live without the "Sherry Chicken for a Crowd" and the "Potatoes Foster" - both great for entertaining!



5. I find this book well organized ,with a lot of informations about the community,the town of Buffalo,nice old pictures and very good food,real food for real people.I appreciated expecially the chapter about bread and bakery and some appetizers,anyway all recipes are put down very clearly and it is evident that before writing everything was tested many many times

5 comments about 'Salem's Lot.

1. In King's 1999 prologue to the Signet edition of the book he remarks that the book is "dated." I agree with that. When you read it, you can tell that is was written in the early 1970s. However, I found that is what made this book so special. It is a timeless story of a small New England town under siege with the townspeople living their daily lives afraid of the boogey man, be it the Vietnam War, new residents, etc. This book is scary, well paced, and a beautiful adaptation of Dracula in the 20th century.



2. Ben Mears spent part of his youth in the small Maine town of Salem's Lot and has returned for the purpose of writing a book and laying some ghosts to rest. But instead of confronting childhood fears and conquering them, he faces something a lot more solid and dangerous in the form of vampires. Ben can scarcely believe what is happening, and telling the authorities would be more likely to land him in an asylum than it would be to get any real help. So Mr. Mears and a small group of acquaintances do their best to handle the problem themselves.
   
   Salem's Lot is Stephen King's second book and one of the things that I found impressive is how much he had grown in his ability to tell a story after publishing Carrie (not that Carrie was bad by any means). He does a good job of populating the town, giving the various characters distinct personalities, and investing the reader in what happens to them. Some people have complained that the pace is too slow, but if you're a regular King reader then you know that he always spends more time fleshing out characters than a typical horror novel would offer. The tension definitely ratchets up in the second half of the book and is mostly sustained until the end.
   
   The one thing I would change in this novel is that there are probably a few too many passages speculating on the nature of evil and other philosophical questions. While it's interesting up to a point, there was one section in the last third of the book when it really interrupted the buildup to the climax without adding much at all. This certainly didn't ruin the book for me, but a bit of judicious editing would not have hurt it either.
   
   Salem's Lot is an easy novel to recommend. The characters are interesting, the story grabbed me, and it was an enjoyable read all the way around. If you're looking for non-stop suspense and thrills you may be disappointed but that would be true of most of King's books. For everyone else, it will be one of the more enjoyable vampire novels you're likely to read.



3. I really enjoyed this book. It was a great book from beginning to end. Another one of Stephen Kings books that I could not put down. From the beginning it got me interested enough so that I needed to read as much as I could at each sitting.



4. With the amount of vampire media currently flooding the market, I found it refreshing to pick up Salem's Lot. It is not a perfect book, as it's one of King's earliest, (his second? I believe) but it still packed a punch.
   
   The writing style is interesting and like many things about this book, faintly reminiscent of Dracula. I found it an easy read and one of the things I like about King's style is his frank way of writing. It is slow in some places and moves quicker in others, but overall I felt gripped from the opening scene and couldn't put the book down. There were plenty of parts that got my heart racing, sitting up in my seat and hoping the creaking on the stairs was just one of the cats.
   
   It describes small town life as it is and it's interesting to read as death spreads along all the intertwined threads of a small town. One of the most frightening things about this book is that it could conceivably happen. There are plenty of small towns in the country, and if a vampire were to inhabit one of them, I don't know that anyone would notice for a long time.
   
   A lot of the ideas in this book are ones that repeat themselves often in King's writing, like the precocious young boy, the writer protagonist, the haunted house, and of course, the Maine setting. (Write what you know, right?)
   
   There are a lot of similarities to Dracula, and King never makes a point to disguise that fact. I would recommend reading that before reading Salem's Lot, so that you don't miss the "inside jokes." At some points I wish he had been more original in his ideas, but all the same I found it to be an excellent book with all the creepiness one should expect, both supernatural and mundane. Evil in all its forms is presented in this book, from child abuse, alcoholism, adultery, and vampires in their truest, most wicked form. These are vampires as they should be: evil at its truest form. (No glittering, sparkling, or dazzling.)
   
   As for the "Illustrated edition," It is worth noting that there are not a lot of illustrations actually in the book. I enjoyed this copy because of all the extras, the two short stories, an introduction, an afterword, and deleted scenes, but anyone buying the book for the pictures should just get the paperback.



5. Unlike most hard-core Stephen King fans, I have been reading his books in no particular order...just whichever one I can get my hands on next. Thus, I happened to read the entire Dark Tower series penned by King before I happened onto this novel. In that series, I learned more about Father Callahan, who was first introduced in this book. By reading things so disjointed, I figured that "Salem's Lot" was just a book about vampires who had to be expelled from a small town. Once I dove into this text, however, I realized that the true genius of this novel has nothing to do with the vampires themselves, but more so how King sets up their appearance.
   
   The biggest thing that surprised me about this book was that actual vampires do not appear until the last 100 or so pages of the novel. They are hinted at many times earlier, but never fully exposed/explained. However, at least to me, that is where King makes this story so scary. Pretty much the entire first half of the book is devoted to trying to capture the small-town feel of Jerusalem's Lot but examining its citizens, their relationships, and the day-to-day events of the little town. Thus, when the great evil is unearthed towards the end of the novel, it makes it all the scarier that the evil is coming from such an out-of-the-way place, a type of place usually reserved for a slow, uncomplicated life. That, not the vampires, is the most interesting theme of the novel.
   
   Of course, in typical King fashion, the characters are also very well-written and interesting, thus easy to root for (or against, in some cases) as they fight to extinguish the evil in small-town America.
   
   So, although "Salem's Lot" was first published way back in 1975, it is still a thrilling read even today, as small-towns still exist all over America...small towns where he feel safe and never think anything can hurt is. In King's universe, that is not so, which is what makes this book so frightful.

No comments about The Transcendentalists.

5 comments about Connecticut Icons: 50 Symbols of the Nutmeg State.

1. I bought this book as a gift for a Connecticut native who moved out of state for work and he said it is one of the best gifts he has ever received. This book makes a great gift for your friends who love Connecticut and now find themselves living elsewhere but still pining for Connecticut. It is also a nice way to introduce people to many of the charming sites in Connecticut.



2. "Connecticut Icons: 50 Symbols of the Nutmeg State" by Charles Monagan, provides a multi-angled window on the frugal beauty of this place of American origin, Connecticut, evoking its character, traits, and values. Each of the entries gives pithy portraits of sites, facts, and things, resonant with history and laden with a poetic meaning as well as the pragmatism of a people who like to make things work. Whether writing on the hot dog from Blackie's or a gaudy castle, an Italianate train tower in Waterbury or the wiffle ball born of Shelton plastics, roadways as cluttered as the Berlin Turnpike or as would-be pastoral as the Merritt Parkway, a Mounds bar from the Armenian ingenuity of Naugatuck or the Sperry top-sider concocted on the Long Island shores in 1937, amusement parks of yesteryear or white clam pizza, the Yale Bowl's football unheroics or the state capitol's misplaced golden dome, Monagan can turn the banality of the everyday into poetry and history. "Connecticut icons" conjures taken-for-granted foods, tools, greens, roadways, or buildings into signifying traits of deeper value, ethical qualities like "reliability," spareness, frugality, decorum, pride in labor, under-statement, exactitude. This is a splendid book, a work of character, insight and staunch beauty worthy of its subjects.
   
   Pondering "things most of us see but take for granted, that could take a closer look," Monagan graphs a deft "iconography" of place combining sensibility and research, humor, local color, and common sense. If Connecticut "sit[s] between Rhode Island clam chowder and Manhattan clam chowder without a chowder to call our own," there is much else to savor and praise. From witch hazel to tobacco sheds and steamed cheeseburgers and the Cornwall Bridge, "Connecticut Icons" is a work the great Walt Whitman would love and honor as bric-a-brac of the American sublime.
   
   There is a superb essay on Connecticut as ethos and place by the great American poet, Wallace Stevens, who spent the better part of his life in the insurance business and poetry vocation in Hartford, where he had migrated from Pennsylvania Bucks County. It is the best meditation I had ever read on what makes Connecticut abide as place, value, and style in some thrifty, pragmatic way. "It is a question of coming home to the American self in the sort of place in which it was formed," Stevens writes, affirming his ties to "an origin of hardihood, good faith and good will." I go back to it now and then, for inspiration and an overview of this "place of origin." In these bleak times, we need to be reminded of such values. Steven's essay is the only thing that comes close--though in a far less detailed and dated way-- to the under-stated beauty, joy, and insight of "Connecticut Icons."



3. A delightful compendium of Charles Monagan's Connecticut Magazine columns written over the years, his collection features some of Connecticut's most beloved sights. It also includes a few of Connecticut's own original inventions, such as Pez, Mounds Bar, The Colt .45, Wiffle Ball, The Top-Sider, Raggedy Ann, Silly Putty, The Sunfish, and Witch Hazel. It's a collection that will leave even those who have lived in Connecticut all of their lives saying, "Wow, I never knew that about Connecticut!" Monagan's prose is elegant, colorful and rich in detail, and each of the 50 essays is thoroughly enjoyable.
   
   The author takes us on a journey through a State that is vibrant in all of its natural offerings. His first stop is "that charming little archipelago off the Branford coast" - The Thimble Islands, one of which Monahan describes with characteristic eloquence: "a lone house sits possessively astride its rock like an insect on a bread crumb." His collection concludes with a look at Connecticut's lighthouses. He asks the reader, "Who isn't drawn to the image of the faithful, unwavering light flashing high above the crashing waves or through a gathering mist?" Who isn't indeed!
   
   Monagan artfully captures with vivid imagery the finer points of the Connecticut locales he has chosen to profile, including such interesting spots as The Sleeping Giant, Hammonasset Beach, Cornwall Bridge (a 137 year old covered bridge that spans the Housatonic River between Sharon and West Cornwall, Gillette Castle, and Castle Craig. He takes us along the Merritt Parkway and the Post Road, to the Waterbury Train Tower, to the Town Greens and the State Capitol, and shows us with luscious language what makes each attraction special in its own unique Connecticut kind of way.
   
   This book is a wonderful resource and great conversation starter. Every Nutmegger should have one on the coffee table!



4. I ordered this book for my husband, we now reside in California, so I thought he would enjoy it for Christmas. I also purchased one for my inlaws. When I received it I was very surprised at how samll this book is. It measures approx. 7 - 8 inches across the cover. I would have liked it more if it was a bigger book with larger pictures.



5. Actually this is the second copy of this book I purchased. The first copy my wife and I read, and then sent to friends and relatives in Florida.
   
   This past summer, we had relatives from the mid-west who visited and were impressed with New England and especially Connecticut, so we purchased another copy to send to them. It gives you a taste of Connecticut and leaves you looking for more. So hopefully they will come back to visit Connecticut again.

5 comments about Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign.

1. This is a well worked area of the ACW but Thomas A. Desjardin brings a fresh look to the subject. He is an excellent author and scholar, both show in his books. The book contains very good maps, photos and current status of Little Round Top, roster of the 20th Maine, 5 Appendix, notes and index. This is a very well done book that can be used as an introduction or reference.



2. I initially read this book after participating in a staff ride of the Gettysburg battlefield. My knowledge of the battle at that time came largely from Shaara's "The Killer Angels", and the subsequent film "Gettysburg". As both were meant to inspire and entertain rather than inform, I had an unrealistic understanding of the 20th Maine and its place in the struggle at Gettysburg. Thomas Desjardin's book changed that.
   
   Well written and fast moving, "Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine" provides excellent background information on the 20th Maine, identifies members of the Regiment beyond Chamberlain and his brother Tom, and reminds the reader that the 20th Maine's opponents at Little Round Top weren't a nameless mass of rebels, but members of a proud regiment with a strong leader all their own.
   
   Desjardin explains the fight between the 20th Maine and the 15th Alabama in tremendous detail, with accompanying maps that enhance the narrative. More importantly, he describes the post-war growth of the Chamberlain legend, and explains the difference between Chamberlain the Man, and Chamberlain the myth. Desjardin's Chamberlain is not the battlefield intellectual who conceived an unorthodox maneuver in the face of the enemy to win the day, but an ordinary man who led from the front under extraordinary circumstances. I prefer the latter.
   
   Students of Gettysburg will be interested in Desjardin's perspective on familiar events, and those unfamiliar with the battle will find it a great introduction to the subject. While not a history of the overall campaign, it is definitely a great starting place to learning what took place in PA over 140 years ago.



3. Interesting book, good subject. Some people, with a degree of justification, bemoan the attention given to the 20th Maine, but I'm not one of them. What I would like to see is that same attention given to other deserving regiments as well.
   
   This book has the advantage of being well-documented and, as far as I can tell, accurate. It has the disadvantage of being somewhat superficial in that the regiment is never put into any larger context. There are anecdotes galore, and of course there is a thorough reconstruction of the 20th Maine at Little Round Top. But the substance of the battle around them is lacking; to be fair, this is not supposed to be a book about the battle as a whole.
   
   In short, this is a good supplementary book if you have already read a thorough account of the battle (I recommend Coddington, personally), and it's good for bits of information about the 20th Maine, so it fulfills its purpose. Subjectively, I found it a rather dry account; interesting, informative, clearly written, but somehow lacking flavor.



4. Thomas Desjardin has done something I would have thought impossible. He wrote a history book that I found hard to put down! His expanded research included many eye witness accounts of the battle of Little Round Top which serve to give us a clearer picture of what happeded that day. No one or even couple of people can give an accurate accounting. We all have a limited range of vision. When gathering all accounts it may seem that one contradicts the other, but it's really only a matter of perspective. We all see things differenly plus & understand it differently. This book takes nothing away from Chamberlain. It only shows he was not alone up there. I found the book fascinating & well worth reading.



5. The defense of Little Round Top by the 20th Maine Regiment on the far left of the Union lines on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, is perhaps one of the most famous small unit actions in American military history, right up there with Custer's Last Stand - except the latter lost. As the author of STAND FIRM YE BOYS FROM MAINE (SFYBFM) points out, the U.S. Army still uses the actions of the 20th Maine's commander, Col. Joshua Chamberlain, as a model of leadership under hostile fire.
   
   Author Thomas Desjardin picks up the story of the 20th Maine in the aftermath of Chancellorsville on or about June 21 as the regiment marched north along the east slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains while Lee marched his Confederates on the west slope towards Maryland through the Shenandoah Valley. After some skirmishing at Ashby's Gap, the unit arrived in the vicinity of Gettysburg at the end of the battle's first day. Desjardin's focus is, of course, on the 20th Maine's resistance against the assaults of the15th and 47th Alabama regiments against Vincent's Spur on Little Round Top, followed by the 20th's relatively uneventful occupation of Big Round Top before being relieved. Chamberlain's command spent the third day, during Pickett's Charge, in reserve behind the front lines. The next day was spent maneuvering across the Gettysburg battlefield until, after it became apparent that the Army of Northern Virginia had decamped and was headed homeward, a pursuit was mounted through rain and mud to a final skirmish with the Rebels on Sharpsburg Pike on July 10, an event that marked the end of the Gettysburg Campaign for the boys from Maine.
   
   Having finished with the battle itself, Desjardin examines the post-war period, during which, Little Round Top having receded in time but not in the participants' memories, bickering broke out among the survivors as various accounts of that fateful day in July, 1863 had to be reconciled with each other (or not).
   
   I saw the film Gettysburg (Widescreen Edition) on the Big Screen when it was released, and was greatly impressed with the leadership qualities of the Joshua Chamberlain character under fire (as portrayed by Jeff Daniels). Subsequently, I visited the Gettysburg National Military Park and stood in reverence before the monument to the 20th Maine set in the trees now covering Vincent's Spur. Therefore, the final chapter of SFYBFM, "American Legend, American Shrine", in which Desjardin puts the regiment's defense in perspective and deflates some of the mythology surrounding the action, poured a certain amount of cool water upon my adulation. As the author points out, as evidenced by Chamberlain's recollection of the event, the colonel never actually ordered "forward", but only that his men fix bayonets. With that, the Maine troops charged off down the slope on their own and the famous "right wheel" by the 20th's left was more of a ragtag pursuit after already fleeing Rebels instead of the textbook maneuver of mythology. Moreover, the entire Army of the Potomac's line, from left to right of the famous "fish hook", was never in danger of being rolled up. Had the 15th Alabama actually been able to capture and hold Vincent's Spur, it would've had to face the 83rd Pennsylvania, the regiment next to Chamberlain's, as well as the 140th New York that had just come up. Furthermore, there was only room on Little Round Top for perhaps eight artillery pieces to be aimed at the rest of General Meade's army. If all of Longstreet's cannons couldn't dislodge the Federals on Day 3 of the confrontation, eight weren't going to do it on Day 2.
   
   The strength of SFYBFM is in the comprehensiveness of Desjardine's research, which encompassed examination of close to eighty accounts of the battle by survivors on both sides. There are twenty-two pages of Notes and a six-page Bibliography. There's a complete roster of the 20th Maine soldiers at Gettysburg, which includes each man's rank, company, hometown, age, marriage status, civilian occupation, height, and post-battle status as applicable (killed, wounded, mortally wounded, captured). In addition, Appendix One enumerates the number of combatants in the three regiments involved. Appendix Three, Four and Five list in greater detail the nature of each casualty for the 20th Maine, 15th Alabama, and 47th Alabama respectively. For example, Private Mansfield Ham of the 20th Maine is noted as having been:
   
   "Wounded severely in side, thumb shot off."
   
   SFYBFM includes a serviceable assortment of photos sprinkled throughout as well as a number of maps, the most useful of which depict the evolving positions of the 20th Maine and 15th Alabama as they engaged.
   
   STAND FIRM YE BOYS FROM MAINE is an exemplary battle history. While it may refute some of the more outlandish claims of the legend, e.g. that the survival of the Union hinged on the 20th Maine's victory, it puts the supreme efforts of both sides on a human scale and not on pedestals, especially as the personalities and civilian lives, both pre- and post-war, of combatants from both sides are described. From this vantage point, the Civil War student, whether casual or serious, can better appreciate the command style of the regimental officers and the heroic fighting qualities of their men. The volume deserves prominent place on any bookshelf dedicated to the American Civil War.

5 comments about Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul.

1. ...you'll relate to this book in a truly personal and humorous way. But even if not, or if you have no religious affiliation at all, this is a fantastic personal journey to experience. I listened to it on audiobook, and found the act of listening to the author himself (it is his own voice on the recording) reveal his life, with all its ups, downs, triumphs, and failures, to be refreshing and touching. Well written, witty, but not arrogant, this book is worth picking up.



2. In spite of his celebrity and achievements in the world of satire, Tony Hendra possesses a worldview that is fairly typical of those who came of age in the 1960s. Deeply antagonistic to established authority -- be it that of parents, government, the Church or themselves -- he and his cadre of stalwarts blazed a path that changed the modern world, but brought more than a few to the hell of drugs, bitterness and alienation. Many have reconstructed their lives, after a fashion, and a few seem to have struggled back from the inferno to establish lives of meaning and peace.
   
   "Father Joe" is Hendra's funny, autobiographical, and brutally frank account of his successes and failings, especially through its touch points with Father Joe Warrilow, a Benedictine monk at the abbey of Quarr, on the Isle of Wight. Hendra grew up a stranger in a strange land -- a Catholic in anti-papist 1950s Great Britain. His memoir starts with his attempted seduction of a neighbor's wife, which landed him at Quarr on Good Friday, ostensibly for a bout of penitent reflection. It is here that Hendra meets Father Joe, almost a caricature of a gentle, pious monk, with large ears and flat feet and knobbly knees. Yet in spite of his comical appearance, Father Joe would be a presence throughout the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s, as Hendra endured (usually willingly) the well-intentions depravities that characterized that era and his narcissistic generation. From his days as a guilt-ridden youth, Hendra nursed a desperate desire to become a monk, though like Saint Augustine, he wanted it "but not just yet." Hendra's lifestyle brought him fame as an actor (band manager Ian Faith in Spinal Tap), editor (National Lampoon) and director (Spitting Image) but also the purgatory of unfulfilled dreams and personal failings. His struggles often returned him to Quarr and Father Joe, whose generosity of spirit, elfin artlessness and unfailing love sustained Hendra through some truly difficult times.
   
   I heartily recommend listening to the audio version of the book if at all possible. Hendra does a wonderful job of portraying Father Joe's kindly, stuttery voice and his calming spirit. Hendra expertly renders his own state of mind at various stages in his life. There's the horny and hyper-pious 14-year-old, the college student bowled over by his first taste of satire, the hedonistic, ambitious 30-something and the burned-out middle-ager reaching for comfort, forgiveness and stability. Hendra is unflinching in his depiction of others and of himself. He is an absentee father; a brilliant if lacerating satirist with unyielding standards; an attention-seeking perfectionist who seeks idealistically and naively to change the world. Hendra's memories of his talks with Father Joe are full of meaningful detail -- probably reconstructed -- that show the older man to be wise, kind and even occasionally irreverent. Father Joe was way ahead of his time. In an era when churchmen regularly resorted to threatening hellfire on miscreants, Father Joe reached back to gospel images of a God of inexhaustible love and second chances.
   
   Hendra's critical eye falters only when discussing changes in the Church that began in the 1960s. Like many who left the Church before the reforms and returned afterward, he confuses nostalgia for the old Latin rite with worthwhile worship. In this, Hendra betrays a lingering selfishness that was always his trademark. Strange that an unorthodox believer like Hendra would pass judgment on a liturgical form whose underlying reality (the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, even the Resurrection of Jesus) he is far from accepting.
   
   Like St. Augustine's "Confessions," Hendra's "Father Joe" is an unsparing review of a man's quest toward the eternal. Though Augustine went considerably further in this journey does not diminish the value of Hendra's work, especially for this generation of skeptics and self-appointed spiritual authorities. Whatever his faults, Hendra is honest about his failings as Father Joe is unselfish with his love and support. A wonderful book for those who love spiritual quests and who appreciate the snarky humor and commentary of one who was in the middle of it all.



3. Fr. Joe offers one a splendid peek into the life of an admirable person. It was a priviledge to get to know him and his wonderful influence on people and his encouragement for all of us to live on a higher plane. This book made me feel that God holds us in the palm of His hand because we are the apple of His eye no matter how we fail; and we do so fail! Not a bit 'churchy', but rather speaks directly to real life.



4. I read this recently, in a public library so as not to help Hendra's sales. I read it after being exposed to his daughter Jessica's book which makes a convincing case that he molested her.
   
   The narcissism was always self-evident in this book. But for Hendra to draw this picture the way he did where Father Joe's last advice to him is that he was put on this Earth to be a good parent and husband, that that was his destiny ... amazing. Hendra's fictitious bologna will stand throughout the ages as the penultimate example of "playing thyself" in print.
   
   To the extent that Father Joe actually told him anything like that, it reflects both Father Joe's disconnect with reality, borne of his insular life within "the Church", and the natural acceptance of pedophiliac tendancies that such a life seems to correlate to.
   
   "A Life Wasted Badly" would be a better title.



5. Father Joe sounds like a fascinating guy the only problem is that most of the later parts of the book are not about Father Joe caring and insightful monk but rather about Tony Hendra. While it was interesting to see the author struggle with his faith and eventually turn away from it there is an inability on my part to feel any kind of sympathy for the man he eventually became.
   
   I'll go easy on him as a child I mean we all did strange things because we were lonely or misunderstood but having to read pages and pages of the self destructive behavior perpetrated by the author was almost too much to take. The only thing that kept me interested was waiting to see how the life of old Father Joe turned out.
   
   Overall-Parts of the book were fascinating but the book needed less Tony Hendra and more Father Joe.

4 comments about Moon Coastal Maine (Moon Handbooks).

1. After spending last summer in southern Maine, I was delighted to see this book. It provides information such as travel strategies and touring itineraries. The author lives on the mid-coast, but grew up around Portland.
   You know the format for these handbooks means you get solid information on an area. I'm looking forward to another summer in Maine where I'll see so much more with this handbook to guide me.



2. The Monn Handbook Coastal Maine was invaluable in planning and during our Sept. trip to ME. We used the info to make reservations at motels and restaurants and we were never dissapointed. It also included excellent craft shop recommendations and places to see that were really off the beaten path. I would recommend this guide book for anyone planning a trip to ME.



3. Don't even think about planning a trip to Maine without first reading the Moon's Handbook Coastal Maine. It is the best travel guide. The author offers lots of great information.



4. MOON HANDBOOKS COASTAL MAINE is yet another great book about the Maine Coast, with plenty of information about great shopping, dining, and recreational activities to help you look great for your significant other and/or your favorite celebrity. However, there is a flaw- the failure in the section on the Portland area to mention either any independent music stores (Bull Moose Music) or the Maine Mall. Overall, however, this is a wonderful book that anyone with geographical interests will love.