Maine Books

Nice little informative peace on UMaine that filled in a good portion of the gaps that orientation and campus tours left empty.

Untidy Candles: An Anthology Of Maine Poets showcases some of the best and the brightest of poets who participated in the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance workshops or retreats and reveal the variety, beauty, and range of contemporary poetry in Maine. For Lucy: Bone fragments/of jaw/thigh/and finger/do not reveal/the heart of my ancient ancestor/in Olduvai George./ Where were you going?/Had you lost a child in birth,/loved a dancing man,/sung to the morning light?/Were you tired of your journey,/afraid you'd lost your way,/grateful for the death that came/in the plain/between here and there?/Covered by earth for the millennia/you appear again, too soon,/my mother,/to raise simple questions. -- Susan Nichols

Olive Pierce and Carolyn Chute have teamed up to tell it like it is on the coast of Maine, in this home-spun fishing family community.

Olive with her keen eye for catching glimpses of light in phenomenal settings with her camera, and her obviously very relentless effort to live with these folks and document their spirits, has got to stand out as an American best-work The black and white photography is moving to the heart. She qualifies her perspective in the forward to the book, sharing a moment to lead the reader to look and listen to only one's unbiased emotions.

Carolyn Chute is, as always, bold and cutting to the point. She is poetically harmonizing with words and the photography, bringing an explanation to a perspective from deep within the soul--that place sometimes ignored by the demands of our fast-paced material world.

And the people in the book, there just some of the best folks you'd ever want to know. Why? I've not only read the book, I know them. They're real; and UP RIVER proves that low-income people are to be respected for their place in the spectrum of human experience.

This excellent book tells the moving story of growing up Passamaquoddy. (I live near where this reserve is located.)The book was well written and articulate and accurate. I also highly recommend his childrens' book.

This book was voted by our Nursery School to be the Golden Trap Award Winner. Children visit Aunt Sylvia's during each season. They find all of the neat fun things to do in Maine as the weather changes. This book has beautiful pictures and is highly recomended by our Nursery School.

Outdoor types will love this guide to walking America's most dramatic coast, from southern Maine to the Canadian border. Different walks in many localities and lots of how-to-get-there information and concise trail descriptions get you started and home again safely. Highly recommended.

Hiking enthusiasts visiting Cape Cod will definitely want to take this book along. On my last trip to the Cape I sampled several of the hikes in this volume and found them all to be wonderful. The book's detailed descriptions and clear maps of dozens of hikes of varying length and character make it easy to find the kind of places you want and navigate them easily. Don't leave home without it!

You read about a ship "in the thin tan waves / of dictionary pages," you see it later in a litter at the harbor's mouth. You travel to a conch shack, then you see "cosmopolitans / stalking the terrace." This collection brings you into a world that shimmers with the pleasure of travel, and stays with you long after you think you've finished reading it.

Part ode to the tropics, part ode to the sensual word, it may make you crave that "swollen drink with a sugared rim." Each page is a multi-faceted jewel that sparkles with creative metaphors and multiple meanings. Read it, then read it again: the poems turn like a kaleidoscope.

From the book's dustjacket:

Dr. Hasenfus, an alumnus of Boston College, class of 1922, has long been a summer resident of Maine, first visiting Blue Hill when he was a lad of nine. For 35 years he has been a summer resident of Maine. His love for this great state is well revealed in this local color story that in its simple and quiet way, pays a sterling tribute to the state and its interesting people.

This is no thrilling story of unusual events and spectacular deeds. Life in Maine is not normally of that type. Maine summer residents come to Northern New England for peace and contentment. They love the pounding of the waves on the rocky shores, the cry of the sea gulls, the aromatic odor of the pine forests, the beautiful salt rivers, the inland lakes, and the sparkling blue bays. Dr. Hasenfus has well brought these things to us in this simple story of family life on the rockbound coast of Maine.
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From the author's Foreword:

"...[This] is the simple story of 'Everyman' and of his quiet summer-time life in Maine amid its beautiful islands, its interesting people, its wooded inlets, and its sandy beaches. Although it tells the story of life in one small, unpublicized seaside village, this life can be multiplied a thousand-fold by those who visit Maine, for the town or two that are featured here are essentially the same as the other villages, towns, and counties that follow the coast from southern Kittery to easterly Eastport. ..."

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Illustrated with black & white photographs. Drawings throughout the text, plus drawn maps of Sagadahoc County, Casco and Sheerscot Bays inside the front and back covers.

This is a delightful story which our children have enjoyed listening to and hearing of the life of this unusual charming type of bird.