Arizona Books

I loved this book - it's thoughtful, warm, and wise -- and it says so much about both the natural world and the human heart. I hightly recommend it!

Bringing the Mountain Home by SueEllen Campbell is a book to treat both your emotions and your senses. The book of essays is largely about the Colorado Rocky Mountains but also has some gems about an Africa sojourn. The essays are visceral, intelligent, personal, and universal. As she eloquently says in the book: "In fact, I realized I was taking two walks at once. One was intensely personal and immediate, my body, sense, memories moving through a specific and extraordinary place and moment. The other was shared, my own experience formed by my culture, by other, earlier visitors to wild places, by circumstances, attitudes, assumptions, words, even emotions I had no part in creating but had somehow absorbed into myself" (x).

I love the gentle humor (such as the time she finds her friends all enjoying a backpacking trip while she somehow ends up as cook and camp-person) and the keen observations. I grew up in this area, but Campbell has looked at it with such wonder and detail, I can hardly wait to open my eyes and look around me more carefully. She knows every wildflower, every animal, every path and the reader is inspired to hike with eyes and ears wide open. With chapters titled with elements such as desire, pristine, trudging, grandeur, and misery, she captures so much of the wilderness experience in its many facets. I feel the misery of paddling a canoe when those muscles ache as well as the glory of seeing wildflowers in full profusion in a mountain valley. Campbell perfectly describes the sudden urges to get out in the wilderness, and then fearlessly describes both the glories and glooms of those trips.

Campbell's writing is lyrical, enthusiastic, honest, sensory. She is a master of words and of wilderness. I relish reading and rereading this book of essays and will never go on an Alaskan backpacking trip without it.

This book is the perfect gift for a hiking friend or a city-bound person who is far from the wilds. I recommend it to Amazon readers without hesitation. You're in for a treat, and so are your friends.

I stumbled across this book accidentally while researching a book about Glen Canyon and Lake Powell. I started reading it in the library parking lot, and finished it the next night in bed, around two a.m.
I WOULD have finished the book the very same night I got it, except that Scott Thybony did such a terrific job of invoking the feeling of the outdoor West that I had to fill a backpack and take my wife on an unplanned desert camping trip.
"Burntwater" visits an amazing variety of my very favorite places in the West, and is full of interesting history, great stories, unique facts, and insightful observations. And the writing: the writing is superb. (Bats "flicker"!) I found this book to be every bit as good as Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire"--much more Zen-like, and much less preachy; a good description of the West is reason enough to protect the West--it doesn't always need an insane prophet to yell about it.
This book distills and bottles the spirit of the Four Corners states; read it in the West and you'll find yourself running outside to be a part of it; read it somewhere else, and you'll find yourself going crazy to get here.

Author Scott Thybony shares with readers his fascination with and love of the Four Corners region of the Southwest. Burntwater is a loosely joined series of descriptions of Thybony's travels to various locations within this sparsely populated region: the Grand Canyon, back country on the Navajo Reservation, the Goosenecks region of the San Juan River, northern New Mexico, and others. Scott's wandering narrative describes his experiences in each place, often involving travel companions or new found acquaintances and sometimes just himself. One moving chapter describes how he nearly died from dehydration in the Grand Canyon while hiking to the site of his brother's death in an airplane/helicopter collision.

This is a wonderful book filled with gentle descriptions of sometimes physically harsh locations and circumstances. Scott describes but does not judge and, unlike so many other authors, refrains from directing readers to specific emotions or thoughts. Those he leaves up to you. You can easily read this book's 117 pages in a single sitting, but the invitation to this marvelous part of the Southwest may result in a literary and even physical journey of discovery that can last a lifetime.

This is an absolutely marvelous work on the Butterflies of Arizona, and undoubtedly one of the finest state field guides ever created. Includes a topography section (map of the basic parts of a butterfly), concise taxonomic list of species with lots of great photos, selected larvae of certain species, selected predators, and a 'Rare Butterflies' section, which covers the rarities that have been discovered primarily in the southeastern corner of the state. One other thing I especially liked was the Appendix of butterflies listed with their respective host plants. A super, must-have addition to any butterfly library!

A useful book covering the butterflies of Arizona. It is about the same physical dimensions as the Sibley Guide to Birds - a little large for a field guide, but still manageable.

The book is comprised of species descriptions on the left hand side of each facing pair of pages, with beautiful full color photographs of the relevant species on the right hand page. No more flipping between various sections of the book to match text and photos! The species descriptions include distribution within Arizona and general distribution in neighboring states, flight time, description, habitats, host plants and similar species.

There is also a small section on larvae, predators, and parasites.

This book is quite an achievement, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

This is consistantly the best cookbook I have ever used! Every recipe is excellant!

An amazing collection of over one hundred recipes from Arizona's finest restaurants. Each recipe is presented in basic terms that make it easy for home cooks to enjoy their favorites. Breast of Pheasant from the Grand Canyon Lodge, Southwest Corn Chowder from Vincent's on Camelback, Rustic Pear Pie from the Biltmore, plus many more mouthwatering recipes.

Sometimes you just want to read something that warms your heart. Something that is so rich and abundant with kindliness and warmth that you have to pause several times in your reading to ponder and absorb. The author must have been a very "nice boy." A nice boy with kaleidoscope vision and compassion.

Nothing fancy. Just plain home-cooking, albeit sometimes spicy, like the chilaquilas recipe in the book, which incidently, is wonderful!

I have never read a book about my hometown. This book took me back to my childhood days, and what it meant to grow up in a border town where everyone knew each other, everyone was friendly, there was no racism and you could sleep with the door unlocked, leave your keys in the car and it was safe. It also brought sadness at the same time, since Nogales is not the same Nogales of the fifties, sixties, seventies and even part of the eighties. It has grown extensively, has crime, and is no longer the little friendly town I once knew and loved.

Albert was at Nogales High School at the same time as I. He has truly written a BEAUTIFUL memoir of what my little childhood town was.I knew his family, his father married my husband and I and his mom pierced my ears. I was saddened by the fact that his father had passed away,(since we moved to culture shock California 10 years ago,I don't have much contact with Nogalians). But, believe me,you don't have to be from Nogales to enjoy this little marvel of a book.

The duo of Lani Robson Remender and Mary T. Hoiness is one evolving from interesting personal histories. Remender is a descendent of pioneers who founded Mesa. Lani is an English teacher and amateur archaeologist whose husband is a lawyer. Hoiness is also an English teacher who comes from Italian immigrant parentage. She moved to Arizona in the 1960's to teach. She has been involved with Arizona politics, having campaigned for various incumbents.

Jim Ryan is a defense lawyer who has just hired a new secretary, Jennie Bond. Although there is an obvious attraction, the two keep it in check. Jennie discovers a glitch in an Internet video phone Jim has purchased which sheds light on an insurance case he is working on. This case turns into murder reaching back to the Hohokam of Central Arizona, the mob, and the new Kamaho Casino, built on ancestral land. Shortly after the casino opens, Billy Horn Deer is found dead in his car, and his sister Connie Sue is the prime suspect. Ryan agrees to defend her and opens up a cache of rattlesnakes, some buried treasure, corrupt politicians, and the sins of his erstwhile girlfriend:

"She looked at him with a cold glare, 'Yes, I paid him for investigative work. Why all the questions?' 'I just came from Glen Johnson's office. He's a detective in the Phoenix PD.' She nodded that she knew who he was. 'They have some tape recordings that they took form Charlie's safe after this death. Your name is on one cassette, and there's some sizzling dialogue captured for all time on the tape inside.'"

CASINO works on many levels. It is a murder mystery most intriguing. The team of Remender/Hoiness dig up ancient Hohokam history to provide the motive. It's not too hard to come up with a cast of characters who each have their own agenda, and the team pull off excellent plot and character development. Numerous threads provide constant action, and the protagonists are in constant danger, just as they are drawn together and pulled apart by their emotions and circumstances. Arizona is an excellent setting for a mystery, and the two do a great job of covering local color (or cacti, in this case). CASINO TO DIE FOR is a well executed whodunit with lots of glamour and danger. It is an excellent read from a powerful pair of authors. A big thumbs up!

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

Reviewing; Casino to Die For
I especially like the sometimes quirky, often warm and always real qualities you gave your characters. Your dialogues were purposeful and clear. I enjoyed Jim and Jennies' monologues. They brought out strengths and weakness we're all heir to. The story, moved at a fast pace while it simultaneously entertained and educated.
As I entered into the last 20 pages, I felt sad letting go of the people and characters with which I'd become involved.
Then an idea struck "When's the sequel coming?"

Well, not really. I did work with him back in the '80s and I discovered that he was a damn good writer and I wondered why he was the religion editor and/or an assistant city editor rather than a superstar columnist. But I didn't mention this to anybody, because who would have listened to me? These things tend to work themselves out in time, and I'm glad to see that this one did. Get the book, and anything else he writes.

I've been reading Clay Thompson's Valley 101 columns in The Arizona Republic for years now. I grew up in Phoenix, but have not lived there for 20 years. Thompson has answered questions about Arizona's quirks (and our own) that I always wondered about but never knew where to ask, or had the time and inclination to find out for myself.

He has an irreverent, yet never offensive style. 90% of his answers would make great subjects for bar bets, if you're into that sort of thing.

I bought volume 1 while in Tombstone last January. Unfortunately #2 wasn't available. I am finally purchasing #2 via Amazon. They are a fountain of information that strike to the core of many of these "stalwarts". The 1st was a valuable aid in my historical/genealogical research and I know the 2nd will be even better!!!

"Cochise County Stalwarts" is a compilation of biographical essays about hundreds of the men and women who lived (and sometimes died) in or near Tombstone, Arizona, back in the days of the "Wild West". Some names are familiar to anyone versed in Western history: Wyatt Earp, Johnny Ringo, and Buckskin Frank Leslie. But most of the people profiled in the book would come under the heading of "ordinary citizens", even if sometimes they led rather extraordinary lives. This is a book which provides a wealth of background information behind the famous story of the "Gunfight at the OK Corral" (of course, it really wasn't at the OK Corral, but "Gunfight in the empty lot down the street" just doesn't have the same ring to it), but is also highly enjoyable to browse through, learning about the fascinating people history usually does not mention.

For anyone interested in wildlife, birds, and stories of survival....this is the perfect book. It's an amazing blend of facts about the natural history of the California Condor and the personal accounts of a biologist who dedicated several years of her life ensuring that the condors were successfully reintroduced to their historical range in the Grand Canyon. The photos are spectacular and the writing is absolutely beautiful. The book gives you a very personal look at the myriad challenges and rewards associated with the restoration of an endangered species. I highly recommend it.

Every so often a book comes along that makes you feel good and offers a glimmer of hope for the environment. This is such a book.
The California Condor is a magnificent bird, the largest flying land bird in North America with wingspans reaching 9.5 feet. There was a time, 10,000 years ago, when the Condor soared in abundance above the canyonlands of the American southwest, including the Grand Canyon. However, over time they began to disappear until in the early 1980s there were only 22 remaining in the wild. By 1987 the last wild Condor disappeared. Even today there are only 141 living in the wild, primarily in northern Arizona, southern Utah and California.
This book is about the near extinction of the bird and the heroic efforts of biologists and other dedicated individuals to ensure the survival of the species. The successful implementation of a controversial captive-breeding program that has resulted in the reappearance of the birds in the Grand Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs along the Arizona Strip in Northern Arizona after a 70-year absence has given hope that the species will return to its rightful place in the ecosystem. It is a story that is inspiring, bittersweet,and will leave you cheering for these magnificent creatures.
I personally viewed Condors at the Grand Canyon a few years ago and Osborn's descriptions of the visual impact of again seeing these birds are right on target. It is truly a sight to remember.
In addition to a splendid narrative there are photographs that surely will be made into a picture book. The photo on page 77 of a Condor in the Grand Canyon is worth the price of the book alone.
The book has been called the only book of its kind and that is surely true. I know of no other on the subject that makes such compelling reading and provides evidence that humankind can save endangered species, given dedication and cooperation among the myriad interests involved. A wonderful book.

I've used a number of recipes from this delightful little book, and never been disappointed. Engels/Thorpe present do-able recipes that work every time, using simple mostly on-your-shelf ingredients (at least if you live in the southwest, or live near an ethnic market.) I hope they will collaborate on another cookbook -- these recipes are much too good to be lost!

This is a delightful little book filled with recipes and family stories the authors grew up with. Records a way of life and a way of cooking that can raise the cultural awareness of all Americans! Great book!