Connecticut Books

In this digital age there are occasions when nothing can replace holding a physical book in your hand. This is one of them.The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Stamford (1641-1852)contains an amazing amount of information. When you consider the immense amount of effort required to translate (from old handwriting) and organize it,the book becomes awe inspiring.

This is a great way to learn of your family history. Barbour has done a great job at noting all of the towns vital statistics. Great reference book.

This outstanding book brings the Beinecke Library to those who have not seen its splendid building and collections, and will serve as a reference to those who know it well. The curators' articles are entry points not only to the Beinecke's treasures but also to the talents and scholarship of the curators themselves. The book benefits from the sensitive editing of Stephen Parks and the handsome and imaginative photographs of Richard Cheek.

Two great things about this book, my son and I try something new every trip, and we spend lots of time together. Would love to meet this author because we feel like we know him from the way he writes. Knows what he's talking about! Taught us how there's a new fishing experience to be had everyday. We knew zero to start, but this book made it easy to get going. Now we catch fish all over, and I know what's up with my kid. Good book. If you're itchin' to take your kids fishin' you should check it out.

I was at an antique store in the country and a lady told me about this author. Heartwarming book! It made me laugh and cry! It's a classic!

I give this cookbook as gifts all the time. I've had it myself for years and I enjoy cooking from it. It is truly "New England" cooking and the recipes are fantastic!

Bridgeport native Pehanick shows close to 200 postcards of the Connecticut city (from his collection of about 3,000) from the years 1900 to 1940. During these years, Bridgeport was a bustling city with businesses of all kinds and a vacation destination for the well-to-do from New York City and nearby areas. The postcards show the factories, restaurants, mansions, shopping districts, amusements, and parks and seasides which made Bridgeport an outstanding regional city during the early decades of the 1900s. Bridgeport's P. T. Barnum and the famous Pleasure Beach amusement park are also included in the period postcards. Pehanick's postcard collection shows buildings and scenes that are now gone; and it can be used as a guide for the enjoyable pastime of comparing locations then and now.

Bright Pages is comprised of writing selections from people who have attended Yale; this common ground is surprising in light of the variety of perspectives and styles the book contains. The introductions at the beginning of each section by J. D. McClatchy chronicle the personal history of the writer, and the selections are diverse and intriguing. Some of the writers that I enjoyed were Tom Wolfe, James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Penn Warren, Thornton Wilder, and Jonathan Edwards. The selections span sermons, short stories, poems, and cartoons. Each selection is so different from the others that the whole book is captivating-- there isn't a moment of repetition. In all, the book is very well organized and representative of the variety and depth of writers that have sprung from Yale.

The Industrial Revolution is one of the turning points of American history, and the period just prior to the 19th century saw mechanized inventions advance by leaps - as seen in Rockville, Connecticut, a former leading woolen textile manufacturing center. Immigrant and mill worker history contributes to this survey of how a small village changed to turn itself into such a producer. An intriguing story of how change was achieved, Building The Loom City: Rockville, Connecticut, 1821-1908 is a welcome and highly recommended addition to American History reference collections.

Lucille Kallen was a writer's writer. No quibbles possible. She writes with lucidity and perception and such dry wit that you could almost wish to be reading in the rain. Or snow, whichever. Her alter ego in these books is Maggie Rome, a 40-something wife and mother who lives in suburban Connecticut, an amateur pianist and reporter for her local weekly newspaper.

C. B. Greenfield, (Charlie to his friends) whose name adorns most of the titles of the books written by Ms. Kallen, is the owner and publisher of said weekly newspaper, The Sloan's Ford Reporter. He is also a cellist, and with various other members of their small community, they meet once a week to make music together. In between the musical happenings, life in a small town continues, mirroring life in a big city, even to crime waves and municipal finagling.

This time around, it's the sale of an old school building that originally stirs up the natives, but it's really only a screen behind which more sinister doings take place. The solution takes Maggie to New York City and other suburban communities in the area, before finally she and Charlie head off to Florida for the evidence needed to solve the small-town crimes.

Nothing jars in this taut, exceptionally well-written novel. The characters are so alive, they nearly jump off the page at you, and every plot element is entirely plausible. It's so unfortunate that Ms. Kallen could not have written more of these wonderful books before her premature death some years ago. We just have to cherish those she did write.