No comments about Frommer's San Francisco 2009 (Frommer's Complete).

1 comments about Rail-Trails Mid-Atlantic: Covers Trails in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D. C. (Rails-To-Trails).

1. This book is a wonderful guide to bike trails. It makes planning trips easy and fun, and it's very descriptive about the specifics of each trail (gravel, grass, paved, etc.)
   
   I thought I could just find this info on the internet, but to no avail, so I bought the book. I was nicely surprised that the book is exactly what I needed, good descriptions of each trail and a good map, AND how to get to the beginnings of each trail.

5 comments about Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles.

1. Before I bought it, I did not expect this book to be worth the money. But this is SIMPLY one of the BEST LA history books I've EVER read! I read the 200 pages cover to cover in no time! The authors put tremendous effort in covering the history of all parts of the Boulevard. The book tells histories of the people behind the real estate deals and the landmark buildings built. This is a mountain of research well presented! And the excellent photos can't be beat!



2. If your interested in the history and development of Wilshire Blvd, this is the book to own. Fantastic pictures, I have a hard time just putting the book down. Buy it, you wont be dissapointed!



3. This is a well researched and perfectly realized tribute to one of the great American thoroughfairs. The progress and history of Wilshire is tracked from its inseption right up to present day. There is no doubt that the author has a real love for the history and a respect for the singular importance this boulevard had and has to the city of Angels. The text is articulate and thorough and the images are crisp and well presented. If you have any interest in the history of Los Angeles, or great boulevards, or just great books in general, then i cannot conceive of you not being pleased with this purchase. Highly recommended.



4. The authors have produced a grand tale about one of the great streets of Los Angeles. Replete with numerous photographs that capture its storied history. The narrative is comprehensive. Famous personages liberally walk across the pages. Gaylord Wilshire himself, of course and firstly. Then we later see General Otis, Tallulah Bankhead, Earle C Anthony, Hancock, Ansel Adams, Ralph Parsons, Morgan Hunt, Upton Sinclair, and many more.
   
   You get a feel for how Los Angeles grew to a world class city. With Wilshire Blvd at its core. Ah, reading the book might inspire you to see the street for yourself. One easy way when you are in LA is to take the bus 20 (or the express bus 720) from downtown. It travels along much of Wilshire. Avoiding only a few blocks in downtown. Riding the bus will give you time to savour much of the architecture described in the book. Without having to worry about the driving, which can be pretty hectic. The street is often rather congested.



5. If you're interested in history, specifically of places you go everyday and you live in Los Angeles, this is a must read. Yes, it gets heavy with details, but that's the fun of it. To read about Wilshire Blvd. when it was nothing more than a kind of paved route to the ocean, it's amazing and nearly incomphrensible. The one thing that did it for me, and again, this with only make sense if you know the area: an aerial period picture of the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Wilshire. Nothing going on 'cept a RACETRACK. Seriously.

No comments about Fodor's San Antonio, Austin, & Hill Country, 1st Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

5 comments about Queen of the Turtle Derby and Other Southern Phenomena.

1. Well, having recently finished Celia Rivenbark's 'We're Just Like You Only Prettier', which was very amusing, I figured this book would be similar to that one. The reviews said it was very humorous, and entertaining. I'm sorry, but I do not agree. Julia Reed is a Vogue writer living in New York City, but she's from Mississippi. Now, I felt that at times when describing the silly ways of the southern women's traditions, it was almost like she was making fun of them. But then when she would bash the Yankees (which I happen to be, and am darn proud of it) she was all for her southern heritage.
   
   I love southern books, and I've always had this fascination with the south. I truly hope one day to live there when my husband retires. I have always admired southern women, their traditions, their tight family bonds, and the land itself. Ms. Reed made these women sound ditsy, and shallow, while making us Yankees sound like ignorant, clueless slobs. And she made the area (the south) sound like pure hell to live in.
   
   I gave this 2 stars because there were some interesting facts in it, and some of the events that go on down there were really neat to learn about, and all the food she talked about, sounds delicious! But overall I'd just like to forget this book. It has in no way changed my opinion of southern men and women, or the south itself, and I can only hope they don't look at the Yankees the same way Julia Reed does. If you're looking for a funny book on the 'ways of the south', pick up Ms. Rivenbarks book, that one won't disappoint.



2. Wow, where do I start? I read this book in one sitting and laughed and cried while I was at it. Being from Arkansas myself, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, "What would people think?" It was a mantra in my household, particularly when I was trying to do something as outrageous as leaving the house without lipstick. I turned about every other page over to show my husband later, so he would understand me better!
   
   I felt Ms. Reed presented both sides of the South well... the backward (and oft times embarrassing) ways, and the strong traditions and attitudes that make a real (positive) difference in a person's life. I bought it for my mom and her three sisters, as I knew they would laugh as hard as I did at how she nailed so many aspects of Southerners. I've also given this book to several young women, as I think it portrays the strength of Southern women. Ms. Reed finally gave me a way of explaining to blue-state Northerners (where I live now) why I'm so proud of being Southern.



3. There's plenty of laugh-out-loud fodder in this little book of short essays. Nothing is quite as funny as the human condition, observed and considered. At this, the author excells.
   
   What astonished me was that I turned the last page of the book with the realization that race seemed to be completely omitted from the narrative, except where one could infer the presence of a non-white in the kitchen or as a maid. For a book of the 21st century, this is beyond startling to me. A subtitle of "Other (White) Southern Phenomena" might have been more on point.
   
   Consider some of the topics. I know that debutantes, for instance, are not only white girls, but the writing about debs and their parties and their season is about a particular kind of girl whose lineage goes back to before -- well, you know. Think about the ubiquity of queens in places like Mississippi and Alabama and the picture that will come to your mind is not one of diversity. If the author's country club experience includes a racially integrated membership, this certainly would have happened not only in her lifetime, but probably since she has become an adult. But there's no mention of that reality, only of a particular kind of food available to those privileged few -- though I suppose that the included recipes purport to allow us to elevate our experience.
   
   The essay about Scarlett O'Hara goes some distance toward explaining what it is so many white women find so endearing about Scarlett: her pluck, her determination, her sauciness. It overlooks entirely that Scarlett, even in Margaret Mitchell's rarified imagination, did not save herself without a "mammy". I don't get Gone With the Wind and probably never will. What I got from the essay was a point of view blessedly or infuriatingly disconnected from decades of social criticism.
   
   The adage that people who like this sort of thing will probably like this seems quite apt. If you are interested in a funny, fairly unnuanced view of the upper-middle class white experience of a Southern woman born in 1960, here's your book.



4. By now, is there anyone alive who doesn't know Southern men like their guns, while their women like big hair and wear lots of makeup? Judging by this mundane ( the nth Scarlett O'Hara deconstruction), repetitious collection of vignettes (see the German model story), there is truly nothing new under the southern sun. The recipes ( except for the frozen tomato - and who would really serve that?) are familiar. Sure, it is a comfort to know that in the South losing one's mind isn't all that big a deal. It also helps to have housemen, plus maids and cooks to fry up all that great chicken, raise up the kids and allow that steel magnolia (what else?) grandma to keep looking so immaculate while doing years of exhaustive note-taking at the "closed" Belle Meade Country Club - and Julia and friends attend a "racist" boarding school.
   
   We know there really are wonderful cooks and writers to experience in the female South. For fun and style in writing, Florence King was there first. Her books are much more satisfying.



5. For those of us who are fascinated by the women of the South and the unique lives they lead, Julia Reed's Queen of the Turtle Derby is the ideal book. A senior writer at Vogue and a contributing editor at Newsweek, Reed grew up in Greenville, Mississippi, and still spends half her year in New Orleans. She knows the South, its women and its men, as well as I know the back of my hand. And she isn't shy about telling it like it is.
   
   I laughed on almost every page. At times, I thought I was reading about a foreign country. The manners and mores of the characters are so different than my own. Yet at times, I could imagine myself living there because I love the friendship of women. The women Reed writes about are utterly loyal and devoted to one another, no matter how diverse their personalities or how much they gossip about one another.
   
   Many years ago, I was a guest in the home of a friend from Jackson, Mississippi, for only a week. I was reminded of my time there when I read the notion of the author's columnist friend who says that to successfully adjust to living in the South, just "Don't think you know what is going on." That was a feeling I had frequently during my week with my friend. I was there. I was showered with gracious attention; yet I couldn't help but feel very much the outsider.
   
   Reed reminds us that the rules and regulations in the daily life of every young Southern woman are entrenched traditions which must be followed to the letter of the law. However one might feel about them. For example, "Memphis girls don't wear a lot of black and they wouldn't be caught dead in public without their makeup." At the same time, she tells us that Southern belles are tough as nails and hold every bit of power over their spouses...that all their "softness" (of which they are so proud and go to such lengths to maintain) is little more than a veneer...a veneer to let the fellows feel they are the ones in charge. Talk to any Southern belle, Reed says, and she will tell you it works.
   
   Another fact I read with interest is that the FBI has released statistics which show Southerners to be the most violent people in the country. Apparently, they own the most guns and will shoot one another at the drop of a hat. One example we are given is the stabbing of a husband by his wife on Thanksgiving Day. "They had been fighting over the last piece of turkey, some dark meat, and the victim had made the mistake of taking it."
   
   The author provides many other examples of their trigger happiness, which, henceforth, might make me think twice before disagreeing with anyone from the South. "The South leads the nation in murders of lovers, spouses, and other relatives (though we don't kill our children any more than most people do)," her source assures us. "But really, we'll shoot just about anything." At the same time, Southern women are the most church-going people in the country.
   
   Another fun subject is Southern food. A homecooked dinner might consist of fried catfish, okra, turnip greens, lima beans, green onions, potatoes, cornbread, sliced tomatoes, corn on the cob and tea. Not just some of these, but all. Reed also explains which foods "must" be served at funeral receptions--hams, roasts and, of course, tenderloins, not to mention dozens of casseroles topped with crushed Ritz crackers, crushed potato chips or canned Durkee's fried onions." She is appalled when families resort to Chinese takeout or deli sandwich platters on plastic trays. I doubt that my daughter, who insists that her children eat only organic and wouldn't dare touch anything resembling a potato chip or anything out of a can, would last even a day in that part of the country.
   
   Then there is the matter of drinking. Reed once asked a friend why he thought Southerners drink so much. "Because we lost the War," he said. But the author insists that Southerners drink less than the national average, and she points out that their rate of suicides and mental illness are lower. Though she readily admits that the definition of mental illness in the South is given a great deal more lattitude than in the North.
   
   These are only a few examples of this author's heartfelt appreciation of what makes her countrymen/women different from the rest of us. Indeed, they have their own special genre of unconventional behavior--a love of food and partying, a zest and passion for life that is as endearing as it is often "over the top." I suspect that if I lived in the South, I would be watching from the sidelines with great pleasure.
   
   by Duffie Bart
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women

2 comments about 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: New York City: Including northern New Jersey, southwestern Connecticut, and western Long Island (60 Hikes within 60 Miles).

1. You would think that a hike in New York City would take you from say Central Park to Battery Park along the sidewalks. To my surprise, the Brooks have found all of these hikes within a reasonable distance from the city. As a for instance, the Pelham Bay Park is 2,766 acres in size with 13 miles of shoreline. It's also reachable by public transport. (Take the #6 train followed by the Bx29 bus.) The hiking there is flat, shoreline and all that. Or there's Norvin Green where you'll need sturdy hiking shoes, and find multiple deep-water streams to cross in a 9.3 mile up and down trail. Other hikes include wildlife refuges, state forests, national recreation areas, swamps, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, ocean shores. You can get away from the concrete.
   
   As a book, the layout makes it easy to find things. The overall maps lead you to the general area you may find interesting. The descriptions of each of the 60 hikes includes a description, a detailed map of each, elevation profile, and directions - usually by automobile and public transport. As the back cover says, If you live near NYC, get it.



2. Christopher Brooks surely did his homework in writing 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: New York City: with northern New Jersey, southwestern Connecticut, and western Long Island. The details on the many hikes in the Tri State area are very helpful. One can easily trace around the suggested trails that Brooks provides. Also Brooks adds a little history to many of the recommended trails.
   
   He gives equal emphasis to New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island, and the Hudson Region. Also a comprehensive index is provided so the reader can easily distinguish flat hikes from vigorous climbs to ones to bring the children on. Every base is covered as this book is a fantastic guide for anyone looking to explore new hiking trails in the New York area.

2 comments about Moon California Fishing: The Complete Guide to Fishing on Lakes, Streams, Rivers, and the Coast (Moon Handbooks).

1. Tom Stienstra has spent his entire adult life exploring the outdoors in California and the Pacific Northwest. He supports his avocation by writing guidebooks to the state, the most popular being California Camping and California Hiking, the latter co-authored with Ann Marie Brown. But his true passion is fishing and it shows on every page of this book, the eighth edition of California Fishing.
   
   Like other books in the Moon California recreational series, this one divides the state into 15 geographical regions ranging from Redwood Empire and Shasta in the north, to San Diego County and the desert regions in the south. Each region is given its own chapter and prefaced by a map giving noted locations for each write up. Every chapter then includes 10 to 80 fishing locations, each of which is briefly described, along with local boating regulations, nearby camping or resort opportunities, and similar amenities. Of course you will also be told what to expect, best seasons to visit, and some strategies for each body of water.
   
   Fishing is an enormously addictive activity. As I child I owned multiple tackle boxes and would dream over my lures nightly as fishing season approached. I gradually moved away from fishing towards hiking exclusively, but after reading the book, I find I am again bitten by the bug. This April may well find me backpacking in Henry Coe State Park, and should that be the case, I will bring along some ultra light equipment and see if I can tempt a few bass or bluegill. So be forewarned; this is an excellent book, but it can lead to seriously reevaluating the relative importance of many things in your life. A t-shirt my mom gave my father sums this up nicely: We interrupt this marriage to bring you the fishing season!



2. This book is awesome, and especially great for the beginner, with plenty on tackle and techniques at every lake, reservoir, stream and pier worth fishing...and even a few that aren't! I used to fish as a kid with my dad, and am trying to get back into it. After reading this book I caught my first rainbow trout in 25 years. 'Nuff said.

No comments about Maui (Lonely Planet).

1 comments about Frommer's Denver, Boulder & Colorado Springs (Frommer's Complete).

1. I've now been to Denver twice and found this book to be a great resource. Their itineraries are really helpful, and the maps and write ups are right on.

5 comments about 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon & Southwest Washington, 3rd Edition (100 Hikes).

1. I have lived in Oregon for twenty years, I bought one of the first editions of this book, found it on my shelf yesterday. I can say its the best hiking book around, reading it was a trip down memory lane. I have done a lot of hiking, biking, kayaking over the years. Bought a new copy , time to redo a lot of my favorite hikes, Hamilton Mountian, Dog mt.
   This edition is improved, the flower guide is really nice.
   The best feature of this book is the small sctech maps showing the elevation and trails. No, it does not replace a real map, but its nice to have a viusual. ( years ago I was doing the Ramona falls hike and I meet a couple backpacking arounf Mt. Hood without a map! and they were lost!)
   If you want an guide to the best day hiking in the Portland area,this is it .



2. This updated NW Oregon hiking guide is an ideal daypack essential for visitors and residents alike. Bill is a peripatetic author whose slide shows I attend as often as I can, and this third edition was the subject of one of those. He's a friendly and most genial speaker/writer/ hiker whose words and pictures literally 'pop' from the page and propels the casual reader to 'take a hike'. The 2nd edition was good, but this edition's colorful photos of landscapes and wildflowers, plus traveler-friendly easy-to-follow directions and (new!) campgrounds/cabins listings puts it into the 'must-have' category. As a frequent hiker on Friends of the Columbia Gorge outings, I rely on his impeccably accurate descriptions of each hike. I also recommend Timberline Press Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest plus Moon Handbooks Columbia River Gorge for things to do before and after your explorations!



3. If you live in the Portland area and like to hike, this book is a must own. Sullivan's reputation as the definitive source for hiking information is well deserved. And this wonderful, well-researched and incredibly detailed book is the only item I need when I am out hiking (aside from food and water)!
   
   Not only does it serve as a clear and accurate guide to the hikes of the area, the book makes you feel as if you need to hike all of these hikes.



4. Typically, I buy Falcon Guides, but in this case I would recommend this guide. Not that the Falcon Guides of this area are bad, but this book is preferred. The author's living in the area shins through. His recommendations on hikes are excellent, and I found the book easy to use.



5. I checked the first edition of this book out from the library and then I didn't want to return it I liked it so much. A lot of other hiking books are hard to read and don't have pictures to help you visualize where you're going. When I saw the new edition with COLOR PICTURES, I had to buy it. This book is great-- it gives good directions, it has a picture for each hike, it even tells you if there is a campsite to say overnight or if you should expect crowds. Trail etiquette is also a good thing to include; hopefully people actually take it to heart. I love the handdrawn sketches of the trail; they do a great job of showing the topography of the hike. If you live in Portland and like getting out, this book should be at the top of your list. So many beautiful places so close by. There was one beautiful hike that was literally across the river from my favorite campsite, and I never would have found it without this book!