Vermont Books

I thought the book was a fine first novel. The language was well-crafted and vivid, the characters felt real and unpredictable, and the story kept me reading continuously. There were moments that felt a bit preachy or sentimental, for example, the various talks among the soldiers about fighting for the freedom of all men, and so forth, but those conversations struck me as things that Civil War soldiers might actually say, a level of sentimentality that was present at the time, and, while a bit out of place in our society today, perfectly reasonable for the era Hummel was writing about. I came away from the novel with its characters still on my mind, some of the lines and images still reverberating for me. In all, a very good reading experience.

"Wilderness Run: A Novel" sounded like a great novel from the dust jacket. Civil war, romance, historicalness, you name it. Then the story began. I was interested in where it was going, with it starting with the relationships of Bel and Laurence's parents, then to the cousins Bel and Laurence, and then to their separate lives in the war and at home, and then onto Bel and her tutor Louis. There were so many relationships intertwined with each other, but development was scarce and then just abandoned. I wanted more relationship growth between Laurence and Bel and Bel and Louis, but I was left disappointed. Then author Maria Hummel threw in the past triangle between Bel's mother, Faustina, and Laurence's father, George. Hummel was trying for a very rich symbolic way of writing, but she came off as artsy, and she expected her readers to grasp her method. I also sensed that she did not know which plot to expound upon. I do admit that I was at times disturbed by the war descriptions. The ending left me very disappointed, and made me ponder the entire point of the story. I was sorely disappointed. I do not recommend.

This was the kind of book that left me thoughtful and satisfied like those books I read in my teens on Saturday mornings curled up and never going downstairs to start the day. I can't wait for Hummel to write more books. She mixes insight and poetry well. It is as if she talked first hand with those who recalled specific Civil War experiences and then wrote them into this novel.

there are few civil war novels that stand above the crowded field. most hobble themselves with buddy-picture-like male cameraderie that fails to invoke the true spirit of an age that at least for the middle and upper middle class was more concerned with the etherial and transcendant than back slapping brotherhood. ms. hummel evokes the suffering, the dread, the gothic din and the warmth of the period better than any recent effort.

This is a good rainy weekend book, full of enough gory battles to keep you
riveted and enough warm domestic scenes to stop you from feeling guilty for
sipping your third hot chocolate. Beautiful writing, great historical
detail.

I have yet to hike the Appalachian trail, and I'm only 41, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author has some wisdom well worth sharing, as well as a very candid view of his experience. I didn't feel he was in denial at all. Rather, he was realizing that 65 isn't so old, after all. This book is about the physical AND emotional journey into retirement. If you are interested in human nature as well as mother nature, chances are you will enjoy it. I gave it 5 stars to make up for some of those 2 star submissions. I've given it to my Mom, who has read it and enjoyed it and plans to give it to my sister. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it's way to my Dad after that ... Enjoy.

This book started out slow, but it really picks up and is an interesting read, especially when the author hits the Appalachian Trail. I found it hard to put down the book at that point.

"Walking to Vermont" is a worthy addition to anyone who collects, reads, and enjoys books on the culture of walking. I especially enjoyed it because it is also a worthy addition to literature related to the Appalachian Trail, and sits on my bookshelf besides Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", Emblidge's "Appalachian Trail Reader" and Hall's "A Journey North."

This is not a book of discovery -- Mr. Wren knows who he is and is comfortable in his own shoes (but perhaps not his socks). The story reads like both a narrative and a memoir, as Mr. Wren recounts events and stories collected in a life as a foreign correspondent.

Fans of the Appalachian Trail and of the literature associated with it will be very familiar with the themes: trail magic, trail angels, trail names, and the wonderful people that make up the hiking culture.

I have been to the Hanover Ben and Jerry's and have never had a "White Blaze." I will protect my source on who informed me about it, however...

A good book for those who are interested in nature, human and otherwise. At age 65, this New York Times foreign correspondent walks out of the Times building and just keeps on walking. Four hundred miles and five weeks later, he is at home in Vermont. This book chronicles the ups and downs, humanly and geographically, as he hoofs his way on New York city streets, over highways, under bridges, through towns and villages, over the Appalachian Trail, arriving home just in time to feed the cats. Henry David Thoreau is his philosophical mentor as he ponders things like the best way to carry a backpack, filter your water, boil your oatmeal, keep the mosquitoes away, pamper aches and pains, and decide upon a suitable trail name. Along the way he meets an interesting variety of fellow travelers, most walking for reasons that go way beyond just exercise. Civilization is never far away, and the author meets up occasionally with his wife and friends, when he forsakes the Daniel Boone lifestyle for that of the aging jet-setter dining in an exclusive restaurant. He admits that after these respites he is glad to hit the lonely trail again. During the book the reader is treated to gentle flashbacks that reveal Wren's adventurous career as a reporter in Russia, China, the Middle East, and other exotic locales. These recollections seem a bit shoehorned in, but they are necessary to understand how far the author has come. After what he has seen in his life, a hike of four hundred miles is just a walk in the woods. Those like me who are generally the same age as Wren will find the book a nice reminder that we're not over the hill yet. Wren says, "Life seems sweeter once you accept that it cannot endure. The best part of growing old is that welcome relief from being merely young." Great stuff for a graying head! Upon finishing the book, I went out for a good, long walk. But I'll be back for supper.

I would call this a quiet book; pleasant storytelling with rippling rhythms of then and now. The author is a retired N.Y. Times foreign correspondent who attends his retirement party in Manhattan and then the next day starts walking to Vermont (near Hanover) where he is going to live. He walks on the Appalachian Trail where the distance is almost 400 miles and he accomplishes this in 5 weeks moving through 5 states. He tells of his experiences while on the trail with frequent interjections of incidences overseas while doing his work for his newspaper. I feel he could have elaborated more about his overseas experiences as they were interesting, but they took up from one paragraph to one page...oh well, I guess that is another book. He meets some interesting characters on the way, but because of the nature of his quest, nothing is permanent. I thought he hiked in a most sensible manner as every so often he would rent a motel/cabin, get a good meal in a local cafe, and take a shower/bath to clean off all the accumulated crud, and stop in to see past friends in their homes (which were on the way) and stay for a day or two. He accomplished lhis goal and derived great satisfaction in doing so and then wrote a book about it.

The descriptions were lovely but seemed to be the raison d'etre for the book. I kept thinking it would get better. If I hadn't bought it on CD I would have abandoned it quite early on. Characters were not engaging and seemed unapproachable. I thought it might have been the reader at first but I don't think so. Kipling seemed a caricature of himself.

Victoria Vinton, whose stories have appeared in a variety of publications including "Prairie Schooner" and "Sewanee River", has a gem of a first novel in The Jungle Law. Using what has been described as a literary footnote, Vinton has crafted an imaginative, engaging tale of Rudyard Kipling and a small neighbor boy, and the exchanges between them which led to the very famous Kipling work, The Jungle Book.

In an effort to escape increasing fame, Kipling moved his then pregnant wife to Vermont in the late nineteenth century. It is in the backdrop of the rural Vermont countryside that VInton introduces us to Kipling, his wife and their nearest neighbors, the Connellys. Young Joe Connelly's lively imagination helps to spark some of the details that any Jungle Book fan would readily recognize. Many of the characteristic mannerisms of the Jungle Book's "man-child" Mowgli are descriptions of Joe at play with Kipling urging the boy to imagine he is the man-child being raised by jungle animals.

Vinton weaves the story of young Joe Connelly through the story of the Kiplings in Vermont, but the strongest thread in her tale is that of the evolution of The Jungle Book.

Kipling spent part of his early life in Bombay. His family was filled with eccentric members whose stories infused a love of words and storytelling into the impressionable and imaginative Kipling. A move to England catapulted the writer into a literary mecca where he kept company with many notables. Because his privacy was far more important to him than fame, he moved to rural Vermont in the hopes of finding a place where he and his Daemon (the equivalent of his muse) would be able to take the seeds of a story and see it through to its end. The roots of those story seeds were in his days in Bombay. It is from the Hindi names for various jungle beasts that Kipling gave names to his Jungle Book characters: Baloo, the bear; Bagheera, the panther; Tabaqui, the jackal. Drawing from his imagined man-child's movements, he assigns the name Mowgli from the Hindi term for Little Frog.

In the jungle, there is an unspoken law by which the beasts abide. This law--The Jungle Law--becomes the backdrop for the lessons the jungle beasts present to Mowgli. The Law was "a set of rules and protocols that all the animals followed in order to live peaceably side by side, in relative good faith and order." In truth, it is in the tradition of the Law that Kipling and Joe both live among their family members and friends. The friendship between the two is, in many ways, as unlikely as Mowgli being raised by jungle animals and schooled in jungle law. Yet, their friendship is what gives voice to that man-child, his jungle family, and the simple laws of life which provide a framework for peaceful living among others.

Vinton paints word pictures as vivid as the film version of The Jungle Book. In doing so, she thrusts her readers into the nineteenth century life of Rudyard Kipling and into the mind of a creative soul developing one of his finest works. Opening the pages of this book is like opening an invitation into another lifetime, some other place, and some other realm--the realm of make-believe where those who believe can make anything seem real.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Everyone seems to be raving about this book. The premise is terrific -- Kipling's interactions with a neighboring Vermont farming family. However, I just couldn't develop a sense of sympathy with any of the characters. I want to like Kipling because I like his work. I want to like Joe (the boy who befriends Rudyard Kipling) because his life is hard. Nevertheless, I don't really like these characters - or care much about them. It saddens me because I really wanted to like the book as well.

The unusual friendship between Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) and an impressionistic neighbor boy, Joe Connelly, is the crux of Kipling's Jungle Books in Vinton's imaginative tale. In 1892, the newly transplanted writer has settled in Vermont to build his dream house, inspired to write without the exotic distractions of India. Forming the skeleton of his new tale, Kipling finds both landscape and boy a source of inspiration: "The cold and the snow were like a revelation, with stark and unspoiled purity he'd never beheld before... here was a place where he could work... where the seasons went from wet to dry and the dead never seemed to stay dead."

Joe's imagination is caught by Kipling's words, the tale of the boy, Mowgli, yet forming in the author's mind. With Joe as inspiration, man and boy confer, Kipling sharing the bits of adventure yet to be written, the boy taking ownership, ignited by such freedom, the color and warmth of India, the lush jungle so different from the icy scene of Vermont. Reaching into the Vermont landscape, Kipling builds Mowgli's world, peopled with all its enchantments, dreaming Joe into the verdant fantasy, while the boy's parents watch their son with chagrin, determined to recapture him. The two families could not be more different, yet Kipling and Joe form a bond that transcends circumstances in Vinton's fictionally believable account of a creative endeavor and a budding friendship. The prose is striking, contrasting the stark Vermont countryside with the India of Kipling's youth, the tales of Scheherazade and the burgeoning adventure of a boy raised by wolves.

Joes' father, Jack, is an Irishman come to America to escape the famine, almost killed while working on the railroad, now toiling on his own small farm for meager sustenance. A man burdened by disappointment, the ideals he once nurtured dashed by the reality of hard labor, Jack finds solace in his jug at night, but the drink turns him bitter, shamed that his wife, Addie, does washing and ironing for their strange neighbors, the Kipling's. Jack doesn't trust Kipling, views him the same as the wealthy landowners who passed the starving Irish peasants without a nod. What can such a man do when his son is threatened by the fascination of new ideas, called to a world so unlike what his father can provide? In his wanderings, a conflicted Joe has come face to face with his own limitations, Kipling's words a heady drug that leads him into the dark and unforgiving night: "How foolish to think that he was heading forward... when in fact all he's done is wind his way back to another story's beginnings, one that leads only... to dull compromise and sharp regret."

Vinton has brought all together in a fierce, magical tale, filled with the intimate details of Kipling's life, his pampered childhood; his removal from the security of mother and home, placed in a hostile foster home until his mother rescues him and his sister; Kipling's friendship with Wolcott, who introduces the author to his sister, Carrie. After her brother's untimely death, Carrie marries Kipling, now pregnant with their first child. Vinton's brilliant prose introduces the reader to the inventiveness of the writer's world and the power of a fertile imagination unrestricted by geography, fashioning a compelling story from Kipling's rich history, building on the writer's life with layers of her own imaginings, the pages scattered with images that transcend time and place in the heady prose of the creative mind. Mixing fact and fancy, Vinton has indeed written her own jewel, a novel to be savored and passed along. Luan Gaines/ 2005.

THE JUNGLE LAW by Victoria Vinton brings the author Rudyard Kipling to life -- fictional life, that is, as Vinton presents her interpretation of what may have happened when Kipling and his wife, Caroline, moved to Vermont in 1892. It was there that Caroline bore a child and Kipling developed the character Mowgli of The Jungle Books. Now, this is beautiful literature.

Vinton invents the Connollys, neighbors for the Kiplings: Joe, a boy of 11; his mother, who does the Kiplings' laundry; and Joe's jealous, abusive father. The adults are kept apart by class barriers, but Kipling and the boy become friends.

For Joe, Kipling's house "is like a marvelous treasure trove, filled with all sorts of riches." And when Kipling talks, it's exciting, colorful and lyrical. Joe is fascinated by him. Kipling introduces his young neighbor to the Law of the Jungle and to the world of wonder inside his own mind.

The book centers around their relationship, but it's really about imagination -- the glorious treasures inside Kipling's head and the boy's budding curiosity about ideas and possibilities. In the midst of his mean, hard life, the boy daydreams about Kipling's travel tales. His dreams become grander and his mind becomes more free -- and his father hates the result.

Her characters are complex and she evokes vivid emotions, but it's Vinton's language that is simply gorgeous, with lush images. The book is a pleasure to read: "Light falls through the trees in bright dapples, glancing off the fruit in the trees and the wings of the monarchs that flutter and perch on the Queen Anne's lace by the roadside." Pondering the differences between India and Vermont, Kipling "knew right away that here was a place where he could concentrate and work, if only because it was so different from the India he'd known, where the seasons went from wet to dry and the dead never seemed to stay dead and the walls of gardens were set with old bones and vultures were as common as crows."

Ooh, this is a lovely book -- a graceful read, a perfect fit for the reader who loves to be in the company of splendid language.

You know how you slow down when you drive by a traffic accident, and turn your head to gawk at the cars; well that's how I looked at this book. Dalia Pagani does an amazing job developing her characters, but she had so many of them going in this book, that you never really have a feeling for any one of them. She also goes off on some really strange ideas in regard to the outdoors world. I won't even bring up my feelings about how she prorated the Rural Vermont persona. If you are one of those people who likes to look at other people's misery, you'll probably enjoy this book, other wise maybe you should look the other way when you drive by the mangles cars.

For a novel based on harsh realism, I found the character of Tina to be sureal. Mid-way, she filled many pages and I became bored with her situation. By the end, I decided that if she had been omitted entirely, she wouldn't have been missed. On the other hand, Aunt Mattie and Uncle Tom had the potential to be very strong characters, not only in the lives of Darlene and the children but most especially for Earl, for whom I felt some sympathy. He struck me as being mean and cold simply for the sake of not knowing any better. Mattie came on the scene too late, and in my opinion, dumped a lot of revelations and insight into the story that (at that point) was already complex. She was distracting when I wanted to focus on the other characters - I found myself wondering "where have you been? why now?". Overall, I really liked this novel and look forward to future work by this author. Highly recommended.

So far I've found this very enjoyable. The characters are interesting and unpredictable. I don't see the story as being so much about weather and poverty as it is the unstated emotional needs of this family. Any woman that's ever felt unappreciated can relate, in some aspects, to Darlene.
For the record, I found The Book of Ruth (Jane Hamilton) terribly depressing. Enough so, that I have not since sought any other of her novels. I do suggest Amy and Isabelle (Elizabeth Strout).

I loved it. Found it at library by chance. Beautiful writing. Totally real characters and landscape. One or two events seemed somewhat over the edge, at first - but when i think about it -life is often that way. Sid was a totally heartbreaking character. An awesome writer!

In the genre of E. Annie Proulx and Carolyn Chute, a new standard has been set by this Vermont saga of a unique family, steeped in poverty and surviving the best way each family member is able. It is poetic, creative and sensitive writing with unique characters and a compelling plot. How I hated it to EVER end! A new bench mark !

This is Howard Frank Mosher's best. It is truly magical. For those of us who came of age in "The Kingdom" and some of us have even written our own books in the same setting, there is nothing like the feeling of awe for a character like Jane, a female Paul Bunyon of sorts--maybe. There is a real Lake Memphremagog. And those of us who know its reality know also that The Kingdom is also a legend unto itself. In my case, better to be observed from afar than to be there still. It's a great book and deserving of the five stars. Eric Selby

Loved this book from beginning to end. Enterwining story of a woman who was a true pioneer, fearless and true to herself.

I've truly enjoyed every book Mosher has written (especially "Northern Borders" and "A Stranger in the Kingdom"), and his latest is another very good one. Although I thought Miss Jane was a bit too eccentric and some parts of the novel were too precious, nonetheless this story of life in northern Vermont is another wonderful read. The story is engrossing, the action is compelling, the characters are fun, and the vivid descriptions of the setting are excellent (especially since I live in Maine and have spent a large part of my life in Canada). No one writes a story like Howard Frank Mosher (incidentally, I recently talked to Richard Russo, and he is a fervent fan and friend of Mosher's); his novels are magical, heart-warming, and entertaining. I can't wait for his next book.

Not since A STRANGER IN THE KINGDOM (1989) has Mosher produced so tightly woven a narrative. A comedic performance, with parts of the book laugh-out-loud funny, the novel--an odd-ball romance masquerading as tall tale--is as finely crafted a piece of work as a Shaker chair or Louisville Slugger.
Miss Jane Hubbell Kinneson, a k a "The Duchess" of Kingdom Mountain, is 50 years old, unmarried, and one of Mosher's most memorable and entertaining characterizations. Fiercely independent Miss Jane is a capable farmer and outdoorswoman and at home in the wild; she is also a lady of distinction, a woman of culture with some highly idiosyncratic ideas on matters literary and religious. An ex-schoolmarm and proprietor of the common bookstore and lending library, Miss Jane refers to the celebrated with less than reverence: Henry David Throeau she indicts as "Pronouncer and Proclaimer"; Shakespeare is "The Pretender of Avon"; King James, author of the King James Bible, is a "villainous imposter," and as one of her self-imposed chores, Miss Jane, something of a Pronouncer and Proclaimer herself, is revising the Bible, clarifying matters having to do, as she says, with the "Nazarene know-it-all," his disciples "the twelve fawning slackers," and his "lunatic cousin" John the Baptist.
The Duchess's hardscrabble yet idyllic country lifestyle, and her beloved mountain, are threatened when town fathers, led by Miss Jane's wealthy cousin Eben Kinneson, decide to build a highway across the mountain. To stop the "Connector" Jane goes to war against the forces of so-called progress. Using her sharpshooter's rifle "Lady Justice" to good effect, she is aided in her fight by a Texas stunt-pilot named Henry Satterfield who, after crashing his Burgess-Wright biplane (the year is 1930) onto Lake Memphremagog, is given shelter by Miss Jane.
Unknown to Jane, Henry, who becomes something more than houseguest, has his own agenda: recovery of 100,000$ in gold coins--loot taken from a Kingdom Common bank during Civil War years and hidden, Henry believes, somewhere on the mountain. Henry's grandfather Captain Satterfield was one of the Confederate raiders who committed the bank robbery.
The search for the lost 100,000$ treasure, and Jane's fight to stop the Connector, serve as plot lines to the tale. The treasure hunt becomes somewhat convoluted in the telling but does not slow the fast pace. In any event,Jane, with her outsized character--and Henry, to a lesser degree--is the Story. Like Mosher's larger-than-life characters, Quebec Bill Bonhomme, Noel Lord, Austen Kittredge, etc., Miss Jane's depth, perspicuity, and intrepidity of spirit, makes plot somewhat academic, or at least of secondary concern.
Characters from previous Mosher novels--stalwarts of the fiction--make cameo appearances in the new novel, and Mosher fans, of which I am, will be delighted to reencounter such notables as Julia "Hefty" Hefner, George "Castor Oil" Quinn, Judge Allen, Dog Cart Man, and auctioneer Bumper Stevens (alas, no sheriff Mason White! His job preempted by "low high sheriff Little Fred Morse").
The novel contains more passion, less sentiment, as well as more depth, intellectual, than Mosher's most previous novels. As in earlier works, the hinterland world of Kingdom County, geographic correlative of the fiction, is endearingly described, and with a botanist's particularity even the Proclaimer of Concord might admire.
The novel is a darn good yarn and, ultimately, a romance, and as such a testament to a homespun adage the Duchess is fond of quoting: "All the best stories are about love."
Wayne F. Burke, Montpelier, VT., author of KINGDOM COME: The Fiction of Howard Frank Mosher (PA, 2005).

Set in the Northeast Kingdom, a corner of Vermont butting up against the Canadian border, Mosher's ninth "Kingdom" novel is a "character story" featuring one of Mosher's best-drawn personalities. Jane Hubbell Kinneson, almost fifty and the owner of Kingdom Mountain, is the essence of self-reliance during the Depression which has engulfed the country. Accustomed to fending for herself, she "didn't need much income. She burned her own wood, ate her own venison, moose, and trout, cultivated a large kitchen garden, cut her ice on the river, compounded her own medicines...and had no taxes or electric or phone bills to pay."

A former schoolteacher, baseball coach, and bookstore owner, Miss Jane is also a prize-winning woodcarver of life-like birds. Particularly fascinated by birds "in strife," she sees strife as "the way of the world," and strife is what she has aplenty on her mountain. Her cousin Eben, a lawyer, has big plans to bulldoze a Connector road across Kingdom Mountain in the name of "progress," so that people can save time when they travel.

In the early spring of 1930, as Miss Jane is hauling her ice-fishing shack across the ice of Lake Memphremagog, a spluttering biplane, identified as "Henry Satterfield's Flying Circus Rainmaking and Pyrotechnic Services" makes a crash-landing on the lake ice. Henry, injured, recuperates in her huge barn and is eventually persuaded to move into the guest room in the main house, where he stays for many months. A factor in Henry's stay is the tantalizing legend that $100,000 in double-eagle gold pieces, robbed from the local bank during the Civil War, is buried on Kingdom Mountain. Henry has acquired part of a riddle about this treasure, and he believes that Jane's deceased father may be a connection to the second half of the riddle.

In this cozy, down-home novel, local color is all, and many oddball characters, their way of life, their "strifes," their family histories, and their plans for the future all give life to Kingdom Common and to the homestead on the mountain where Miss Jane reigns as "the duchess." As the seasons change, the threat of the Connector road increases, as does Henry's obsession with the gold. Though Miss Jane believes that "On Kingdom Mountain there are few coincidences, only consequences," the last sixty pages of this novel contain innumerable coincidences, each one shown to be the "consequences" of actions from a generation or more ago. The bang-up conclusion (dependent on yet more coincidences and ironies) will satisfy readers who have identified with these quirky and often charming characters. Filled with nostalgia, this novel, like many of Mosher's others, encourages the reader to "suspend disbelief," leaving him/her with a warm smile and a temporary respite from the chaotic present. n Mary Whipple

Waiting for Teddy Williams
Disappearances
Northern Borders: A Novel
A Stranger in the Kingdom: A Novel
Kingdom Come: The Fiction of Howard Frank Mosher

Archer Mayor's first Joe Gunther mystery was Open Season. It is indicative of the Gunther novels both in its strengths and (unfortunately) in its weaknesses.

Open Season (and the Gunther novels in particular) are strong in many respects. Mayor can craft an intricate plot that is difficult to unravel. Another great aspect of the Gunther novels is their New England setting; Mayor is one of those writers who makes the setting vivid and realistic.

There are also a few drawbacks to Open Season that Mayor never managed to correct as he continued with the Gunther series. Mayor's characters are weaker than his plots. Unlike his settings, the characters never strike me as wholly real; to be fair, the characters are not one dimensional, but they never entirely come alive, either. Mayor's novels also have a strong undercurrent of politically correctness. This is a real problem for a mystery novelist; once you know Mayor's viewpoint, some aspects of his novels become very predictable.

In the end, I would recommend Open Season to those who want to read a mystery with a vivid New England setting. While I would not say that Open Season qualifies as "literary junk food," I would say that it is best for those readers who want simple escapism.

Lt. Joe Gunther is a Korean War Vet and 18year veteran of the Brattleboro police department. Joe's wife (of eight years) died twelve years ago and he lives quietly by himself. Brattleboro is a quiet New England town where not much happens from year to year and murders less frequently than that. When a man looking for his dog is shotgunned by an old woman, a stolen car with a sawed off shotgun is found in a man's driveway, and a young woman is sexually assaulted Joe finds a disturbing pattern of familiarity. They all served on the same capital murder jury three years ago.

So begins Archer Mayor's first book in this series about murder and mayhem in rural Vermont. Mayor does a good job at filling out his characters so that they seem like real people, with real jobs and real problems. The late 1980's was a tough time in this region and Mayor does a good job at giving it the right melodramatic flare (or sputter).

The story itself is a great tangle of circumstances that lead to a credible ending without the use of any cheap tricks or side characters who come out of nowhere to produce the antagonist.

All of Archer Mayor's books have a gripping story line. Although the stories are first class, the pictures drawn with words as the story unfolds are the best that I have ever encountered. The magnificent metaphors can create, in less than one sentence, images that may take other authors pages. Although each book is independent in and of itself, I enjoy reading the stories in sequence. There is a steady progression in character development and interpersonal relationships as we go from story to story.

If you are a mystery fan, I am sure that you will enjoy the entire series as much as I have. If you are a student taking a course in creative writing, I don't think that you will find a better word artist than Archer Mayor.

I read this book because one of the characters is modeled after someone I know. Although the part pertaining to that person spans a few pages, I am glad I read the story. Obviously, it takes a stretch of the imagination to make Vermont that exciting, but it is credible and enjoyable. I have read all of Ridley Pearson, Patricia Cornwell, John Sandford, and several others. I will now begin the task of completing Mayor's series. His research is thorough, and it is easy to visualize the story as you read along.

This is the first in the series about Joe Guther, a police lieutenant in Brattleboro, Vermont. The story does very well in portraying life in Vermont and the politics in a small city in which everyone has to answer to someone.

The character development is well done and the love interest aspect is satisfying. There are a plenty of subplots, maybe too many, but the overall story is inventive without being too complicated. However the various successful developments of solving the mystery do seem to be very conveniently available.

The solution is more of following the dots than putting the pieces of the puzzle together to get the big picture, the way most police solve crimes.

Better than the average crime novel but if you read 1-3 a week, you might have trouble remembering much about the book 2 weeks after finishing it.

This book is actually somewhat boring but on a cold and rainy weekend I found it a quick and easy read. Bits of humor, some insight into this person who appears to be trying to find herself as age creeps up on her. This book may inspire those who at midlife are looking for a change to go for it, take the gamble.

This book carries the warmth you would share as you sit in the evening by the fire listening to an old friend tell you personal stories of their life. Some of the chapters, such as 'My Father's Violin' stand on their own as beautiful essays. I read and re-read that chapter several times as Eliza talked about memories of her father and the few shared times that they had together. The entire book is a reminder of what is important in life and how we all search for our own home.

From all the books I checked out at the library, this is the first that I had to own. This book is so New England you can't help but laugh out loud. She has guts AND the ability to laugh at her own stupidness. Any one who does not get a chuckle out of this book needs to loosen up in life and stop and smell the roses. I wish I had half the gall that she has to make life the way she has, and I wish I knew her.

This is such a lovely, small treasure. Like reading the diary of a wonderful friend, off on the adventure of her life, taking chances, getting scared, terrified, stuck, lonely, but trying again each time, full of life, hopeful--a lot like a lot of our lives. I think that's why I liked it so much. It was so real. It made me feel that there are others out there who are scared, vacillate, worry, yet continue on. I loved this book.

Like many memoirs written in the 1990s, this one celebrates the vacillations, doubts, and insecurities of its author, who in her 40s realizes that "Time had been running out, and I hadn't been paying attention." So begins the chronicle of this midlife crisis, in which our anti-heroine relocates to a cabin in the woods, adopts a Chinese baby and redefines her life. Actually "redefines" conveys too much clarity, too much self-awareness, too much sense of purpose.

I know we are suppose to empathize as the author stumbles through the snowy woods (after skidding her car off the road), sees her house glowing in the distance, and realizes she is home.

But all I wanted to do throughout was slap some sense into her, get her to read a book, research a subject, or learn how to do something for herself.

I purchased this book when I first moved to Vermont to help me find my way around the trails here. It provides a decent cross-section of hikes, "rambles", and overnights throughout the state and across the entire spectrum of difficulties (from "easy (even with kids)" to "oh goodness, that was rough").

If you are just starting out with outdoors activities, this is a good place to start because you are almost certain to find something near to you that is within your comfort zone (as far as challenge goes). However, if you are a more experienced hiker, you will outgrow this book too quickly. (And if that is the case, I would suggest the Green Mountain Club's "Day Hiker's Guide" instead.)

I liked this book - easy to read and informative. The only problem was it didn't have very specific information on things like shelters, camping, etc. - it's more of a day-hike book. I phoned the Green Mountain Club (the authors) to get more info, and it turns out that they have written a book of their own called "The Long Trail Guide")that is much more comprehensive and they recommend it more than this one. I would check that book out before you get this one. But if you just want a good book for day hikes, I like this one fine.

The fifth edition of this book, written by two members of the Green Mountain Club, covers hikes everywhere in the State. To no one's surprise, the majority are located along the Appalachian trail and the area with the least hikes covered is in the Northeast Kingdom.

The authors offer a very good "At A Glance" section in the beginning with hike name, location, and so forth-- many of the things also covered in the individual hikes, but what stands out in this secion is whether or not each hike has a view, good for kids, nearby camping, good for winter, and my personal fav, notes that state whether the hike is good for x-c skiing, snowshoeing, waterfalls, historical interest, etc. The book also contains a "hiker's" guide to trail map symbols, safety, what the pack and more.

There are no surprises in the write-up for each hike. The authors have not left anything out: distance, hiking time, vertical rise, difficulty rating, pictures and topographical maps.

You won't find a better book about hiking in Vermont for this reasonable price.

Living in California, I don't get a chance to hike in Vermont as often as I would like. But when I do, I always take this lightweight guide along in my car and in the pack. The best part about the guide is that hikes are described in detail and directions to each trailhead are given in exhaustive detail. This is especially important for out-of-towners who aren't familiar with the back country roads. The authors have hiked each of the trails and they offer pithy comments on trail conditions, the possibility of seeing wildlife and other pertinent information.

There is a separate section on the magnificent Long Trail, the 260 mile hike which runs from the Massachusetts border to he Canadian border. My one slight criticism is the photos, which could be of better quality, but the text, route descriptions and ancillary material are of high quality.

This book does provide good trail descriptions for a reasonable number of hikes in Vermont. I've hiked about a dozen of the trails listed in here, of those 10 there were:

2 in which the directions to the trailhead listed the wrong forest service road to take.

3 in which I saw other trails at junctions that weren't mentioned in this book leading to nearby attractions (without giving full descriptions it would be nice to mention alternatives for longer hikes available).

1 in which the directions led to a difficult hike, but it turned out talking to people at the top that a much easier hike was available to reach the same destination from the same trailhead.

Having said that, this book does give the visitor an easy way to plan some hikes in Vermont. The Falcon guide looks to be similar, so it might be useful to read both before planning your hikes.

Number Uno, I live in Bellows Falls and Mr Archer Mayor lives in Putney. So he doesn't know the first thing about what it's even _like_ to live here! The book only focused on the bad things of BF, not the good things. It made us all seem like a bunch of debauched hick drug addicts. Get a life! Not only has everyone in the state now heard of us, but the whole country! I'd rather be from Westminster any day.

The whole thing begins simply enough. Joe Gunther is asked to help the police chief of nearby Bellows Falls investigate a sexual harrassment complaint against one of his officers by Jan Bouch. However Gunther quickly realizes that there is more to the whole thing than simple sexual harrassment when he meets Jan's con-man husband, Norm. Does Norm really run drugs as the Bellows Falls police believe and is he behind the disappearance of known drug seller Jasper Morgan?

As with all of Mr. Mayor's books the plot seems simple to begin with but as Joe Gunther peels away layer after layer we finally realize just how convoluted the whole thing is. I'm always amazed at how Mr. Mayor is able to tie it all up neatly at the end, but he does. And it always makes sense when he's finished. As always Mr. Mayor's characters are dead on. And he really seems to know what makes a small police department tick. All of the Joe Gunther books are just flat-out entertaining. These stand head-and-shoulders above much of the garbage that passes for mysteries these days. I recommend all of Mr. Mayor's books highly.

Great if you like a well spun yarn with facinating characters who deal with real life problems. Great to read a book set in places you can find on the map, and recognize if you have ever been in Bellows Falls.

An engaging and thoughtful crime mystery novel. Based in Vermont, it has an unusual feel. We are so used to crime settings in big cities, this has a unique outlook. Of course, small towns and small states have crimes, also. This book, set in Vermont, gets to focus in on characters and personalities. Archer writes with clarity and precision. His characters are interesting and the secondary characters have particular depth.

Having lived and gone to school in Vermont (Middlebury, for which Archer gives a nice plug in the book) the settngs and geography all ring true. Fun, light reading.

This, the 7th in the series is as entertaining as the first. The author has a winner in his main and secondary characters. If you like mysteries, you'll read 'em all in a hurry and wait for the next one.

Ordinary Time: Cycles In Marriage, Faith, and Renewal, written by Nancy Mairs, is a very inspiring adult faith memoir. This book is about a woman's search for God's presence day after day. Nancy writes about her life, highlighting some major events such as illnesses, raising children, and infidelity in her marriage and discusses these situations as a Catholic feminist. She also discusses her faith journey in great detail.
I would recommend this book to others. Nancy presents very tough issues that we all can relate to at some point in our lives. She inspires her readers to examine their own faith journeys, because she is so honest when relating her feelings and thoughts. As a reader, the only negative I found with the book is that it jumped around a lot and at times, it was hard to follow. I believe it would have been more helpful if the story had been presented chronologically.

Ordinary Time is a collection of essays by Nancy Mairs documenting her spiritual journey through a fatherless childhood and adolescents, marriage, parenting and infidelity, conversion and acceptance in the Catholic Church as a self proclaimed feminist, illness and death. Nancy's journey is often an upsetting one as she maneuvers through her life trials. She is very frank about her feelings and life experiences. I was drawn into her story and was in awe as she described her families struggle through her husband's battle with cancer. This was accentuated when later we discover that she is also dealing with a debilitating illness. Her strength and reliance on her spirituality guided her through the "Ordinary Time" of life.
I found myself often feeling confused during her story as she does not arrange her journey chronologically. Despite this quirk, which at times was really more of an annoyance, it kept me interested in the story because I were never sure what she might reveal next. I was encouraged the strength she displayed during her many struggles in life. She wrote with such a candid voice that I felt like a good friend sitting around the table having coffee sharing our frustrations. Being a Catholic women myself, I could relate to the feelings of frustration that she had with the Catholic Church but at the same time being attracted to the richness of the history, tradition and teachings of the Catholic Church. I would highly recommend this very easy to read spiritual journey.

This is a very important and useful book for me. Nancy writes essays about her life from a spiritual perspective. She includes everything that is important in her life: conversion, prayer, sickness, family life, finances, the poor in spirit and health.

I was raised as a Catholic and spent 35 years away so I can relate to Nancy's comments about the difference between the church hierarchy and the people. They each have different needs and actions. I prefer the people and have learned to diminish my strong feelings of criticism of the church hierarchy so that it doesn't keep me from being one of the church people and taking care of my spiritual needs.

This is one of the most important books that I have read.

Autobiographical reflections of a convert to Catholicism, about her committed struggles with marriage and with faith. ("A Catholic feminist? Dear God, couldn't I please be something else?") What I love about this and all of Nancy Mairs's books is her uncompromising honesty about the difficulties of living a human life, and the way she shows that joy and gratitude and humor can be found right in the midst of the big mess we're in. I'm on my third or fourth copy of this book because I keep giving it away. This and "Waist-High in the World" are my favorites by Mairs.

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First of all, Mairs is an extraordinary prose stylist. "Each life must hold one, I think: one pain that overarches and obscures all others, one haunting irreversible fault for which one can never atone." There is no other living prose writer who regularly makes me put the book down, take several deep breaths, and then gingerly pick it up again to go back and find out what hit me. This is, I suppose, what the word "breathtaking" originally meant.

Second of all, Mairs wriggles between categories with perverse delight: I'm not surprised that some reviewers here express bewilderment. She's never quite where you expect her to be. Catholic activists don't write explicitly about their own sex lives. Inspirational writers don't admit to screwing up on their child-rearing. Feminists don't point out that there was no possible way male authorities could have avoided stifling their voices while they (the feminists) were in a dysfunctional relationship with God. If you're looking for a book to pet you and sooth you and reassure you that everything you already think is exactly right, you've come to the wrong shop.

But third -- most surprising of all, given all this -- Mairs is humane, inclusive, tender, and loving. This book is about adultery. In Mair's hands, adultery becomes the paradigm for the human relationship with God: we have all been unfaithful, and we have all felt betrayed. Okay. Then what comes next? What do we do with these betrayals? How do we look at them steadily, and turn them into a deeper love and a more meaningful faith?

Painfully, that's how.

I love this book. I don't know if you will. Probably not, unless you're one of those people who has to touch paintings to feel the stipple, shut yourself in closets to see what the dark looks like, and touch ice cubes with your tongue.