New Hampshire Books

My mother just moved to New Hampshire, so this was book is/was great! after living in ct most of her life she has a whole new state to explore..and this book really found alot of great places to discover!!

This guidebook is wonderful in showing the many personalities of New Hampshire. With over 500 pages on our Granite State, it reveals the little-known gems that abound here. I checked out a copy from our library recently to explore southwestern New Hampshire, and it was so useful I am ordering a copy. It has excellent in-depth descriptions of inns, B&Bs and restaurants, as well as full descriptions of outdoor recreation opportunities. The writing is crisp and informative, and there are numerous photos. Maps are not plentiful, but the maps that are included are helpful. Recommended for residents as well as adventurous travelers.

The Explorer's Guide series provides in-depth travel information you can actually use, and the New Hampshire entry is no exception. Eating in good--not necessarily expensive--restaurants is a favorite part of my travel experience, and the authors' restaurant suggestions in the Lincoln/Woodstock area didn't steer me wrong.

Homeyer is targeting a small audience with this practical tome, but this may well be the best, if not the only, book of its kind. He gives plenty of practical advice for New Hampshire gardenders that I wish I had had years ago, such as how to grow peppers and eggplants and the futility of trying to grow celery.

My one wish is that Homeyer had included more information about herbs. I was specifically hoping for some advice on lavender and what varieties are best for NH. Overall, though, this is a very useful book.

This is the garden book you want if you live in N.H. It is the book you want if you live anywhere with a winter. I do not know the author but would love to hear him give a seminar.

The New Hampshire Gardener's Companion is the best practical gardening guide that I have ever read. It confirmed much of the knowledge that I've acquired in 23 years of trial and error gardening in the Granite State. Additionally, I picked up new information about organic gardening, native plants, and more. The book is a must for novices (you can save yourself time and money.) For the seasoned gardener your suspicions will be confirmed and some "holes" in your gardening data base could be filled in. This book should be sold in nurseries throughout the state.

I moved to New Hampshire about a year ago and I wanted to find out some history about my new environs. I found this pictorial history and couldn't put it down. It is truly fascinating! It shows century-old photographs of significant landmarks side-by-side with present day photographs of the same site. Brief local histories and descriptions are also included. The photography is very well done. This book makes a great conversation piece and would grace coffee table and library alike.

Peter Randall has outdone himself once again. This riveting book shows the "before" of many the scenes we are familiar with in the New Hampshire that all of us love. While Peter complained to me that too many trees had grown up since the original image was captured, I think we are a much improved place since the mid-1800's, instead. Going to any historical presentation of the Granite State in the past will confirm that. We need the trees to be the New Hampshire of today that we all enjoy! This Grand and Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains (Revisiting New England: the New Regionalism)
by Christopher Johnson, should accompany this book for the historical references we need to see our passage to the present. Buy both as Amazon suggests. We have preserved ourselves quite well and keep getting better.

The book has great illustration with a short history on the company or site shown. I think the background history could be a little more detatiled. There is also a typed mistake on the binding. The word "publisher" is spelled incorrectly. I was giving these as gifts and a person that had received it noticed the flaw. That is the only dissapointment to the book.

The Red Thread is an almost thriller about a girl with nightmares who discovers she has past lives. I could hardly bare to put this book down; it was just that intriguing. Dana has to solve a mystery about her nightmares, and through hypnosis, she finds two past, connected histories that reach into the present.

I don't believe in past lives, but this was presented and explained fairly well. Some of it didn't make sense, like some things relating to Dana's psychiatrist, but other than that...wow.

How do you avenge or forgive your own murder four hundred years after it happened? A teen's recurring dreams reveals not only an old crime but the linkage of souls through three lifetimes in a repeating drama only Dana might be able to break. Her journey to find the heart of truth and to break the chain of repeated events makes for a gripping time travel/ghost story that is compelling and hard to put down.

Dana has horrible nightmares, is having trouble in school and is seeing a counselor. Together, they determine Dana's problems are rooted in the past - past lives. Dana's search for the truth takes her on an adventure that is riveting. I started this book at 3pm and finished at 2 am! The author's view of history and how it may affect some people is fascinating. He includes some twists and turns that makes the reader continue truning pages. His characters are very true to life without gratuitious bad language or sex. Highly recommended!

This book is an absolute treasure and is a joy to read. It is at a 7-9 year old reading level, but I, the Mommy, loved it as well. It is the story of a lost little girl and the miracle that lead to her being found. It is set in New Hampshire long ago in our country's early days. I could barely finish reading through my tears.
As the book tells us, "Trust in the Lord."

Thanks so much for publishing this book. I am a decendent of Chase Whitcher and had heard stories about Cousin Sarah. What a joy to pass this on to my children. This book is well written and helps children learn how wild animals can be a friend in time of need. This gutsy little girls meets a bear in the woods. She is lost cold and knows that she needs shelter. The "big dog" comes to her rescue. Great reading for a group of children. Goes well with another book about Sarah Whitcher, "The Bear That Heard Crying" by Natalie Kinsey Warmock and Helen Kinsey.

Sarah's story was the tool we used to show our family how God is real and cares for each of us. Although the recommmended age is 7-9 we read a chapter to the whole family for part of our Bible story. Even my husband was captivated. We had a hard time closing the book after each chapter. Young readers can read with confidence, and little listeners are pulled into the wonderful dialogue and see the care the family characters have for each other. Our family loved this story. We do have a loving Father who cares for us and shows us time and again through many different lives just how much.

Koop's chronicle gives us a picture of an oasis of amity in a world torn by war, in the unlikely location of a prisoner-of-war camp in the tiny town of Stark, New Hampshire, several miles north of Lancaster and Berlin. We see German captives being pleasantly surprised by the humane treatment of the American guards, who observed the letter and the spirit of the Geneva Convention, and we see the Americans learning that not all Germans were enthusiasts of Hitler's fanatical National Socialism -- far from it! There are disputes about the 'pulpwood quota' (German prisoners in Stark assisted the locals in their efforts at paper production) which led to a five-day strike, but also led to deeper understanding about the dignity of the captive workers. There are amusing tales of attempted escapes -- the most successful being that of a colourful character named Franz Bacher, a youthful Austrian artist who made it to New York City. There is an illuminating glimpse into the generosity of the townspeople of Stark toward the prisoners of war, from an enemy nation but sharing a common humanity. There are tales of collaboration at arduous tasks, and there is a record of the small acts of charity and levity which transfigured a potentially painful experience into the basis of camaderie and a future peace.

One need not be a historian, or an ardent reader of history to appreciate Allen Koop's handsomely written book; one need only be a human being, possessed of sufficient imagination to place oneself in the shoes of a stranger in a strange land.

This book describes in great detail the lives of German POW's living in a New Hampshire POW camp in the 1940's. It is well-documented, with interviews with former guards and work-crew formen. The former prisoners, guards and foremen have met for reunions at the site of the camp.

I lived in the area and remember the POW camp.

I continue to enjoy finding additional information about the time WW-II POWs were kept in this country. Often I've spoken with friends about this historic moment and seldom have I found anyone aware that this occurred. This particular work by Koop is another example of the literature available.
I found his efforts to be worthwhile as yet another piece of the grander puzzle as to how this imprisonment took place. Without reviewing similar accounts from all the other some 400 U.S. camps, like the one at Stark, it is impossible to know if what took place in this camp was unique. I tend to think that while the details of each camp and its relationship with the surrounding community will be similar, I am sure there would also be differences. What I liked about Koop's book is the realization that people on each side of the fence that separated them, they were still people with similar desires and concerns, though the language may have been different. Each side learned from the other and came to realize that each may not have been getting the totally clear picture of their adversary. I assume this sort of thing happened elsewhere in this country-wide POW prison program. Like other works dealing with this POW experience, Koop's book should be included as a reading project in any modern history course.
I believe the book's overall impact would be enhanced by more photographs but, understandably, these may not be available.

A very poetic and wise account of a fading world that the author was lucky enough to be a part of. Quite moving in places, funny in others. A very satisfying book.

If you claim to like poetry or writing where the ink squiggles can actually allow you the experience of feeling the grist and sand of a place between your toes...take out any work by Donald Hall and you'll feel the tide of the New England coast coming in over your feet...Often mislabled with the churl quip, "regional writer", Mr. Hall is much more....
a master of making you feel you are where he wants to
take you...His characters come with the authenticity of having either been known, met, or viewed by Hall, or conjured from his collective memories and boiled down like a fine cider from actual sips of experience he's had with like individuals in his native New England...
...And what individuals he finds and has found in the ernest incredibly delicious confines and environs of the North East...In "String Too Short", Hall takes on the not inconsiderable task of fleshing out the rich hues of his own New England ancestory..You can smell his grandmother's kitchen, taste the dusty hay from his grandfather's barn, and feel the New Hampshire sun on your face via his entrancing and detailed prose...
Mr. Hall? Are you out there? As a one time correspondent known to him as "John-Tom" I hope all is well with the venerable "Don" of Eagle Pond...Mr. Hall has taken himself off the pony express of fans he has deservedly developed over the years...and as one who has come across his work and spent pleasant minutes and hours in fine examples of his work, recommended to other readers here such as " Their Bright And Shining Eyes", " Without", " Here At Eagle Pond", and lately, " The Painted Bed", Mr. Hall has well earned praise and a rest in the bright sun of poetry and masterful observations on life around us he has picked up through his well lived adventures and travel...ALL OF HIS WORK..highly recommended!

Donald Hall is a writer beautifully tangent to and cognizant of the New England spine we all wish to immulate in our thoughts of the 'old American spirit', a spirit too seemingly on the wane at present -even on 4th of July celebrations this year. His most recent collection of short stories , WILLOW TEMPLE , was my introduction to this Whitmanesque, Robert Frost-like wonder boy of observation. In returning to his early work in the Nonpariel Books reissue of STRING TOO SHORT TO BE SAVED one wonders why he has remained in the background, and hasn't found the wide audience he deserves.

"STRING..." is a series of short stories of Hall's recollections of spending his summers with his beloved grandparents in New Hampshire. All phases of farming and maturing from a small child to a young adult are addressed in a wholly readable, poetic, illuminating fashion. Hall knows how to describe nature as well as anyone writing today. He also revives an appreciation for his roots that we could all study as journeys toward finding ourselves. "To be without history is to be forgotten" he writes."My grandfather did not know the maiden names of either of his grandmothers. I thought that to be forgotten must be the worst fate of all." Hall invites us to accompany him on his memories of haying, picking blueberries, visiting the odd group of people who have become indelible American daguerreotypes for him. "The farm was a form: not a set of rules on the wall, but like the symmetry of winter and summer, or like the balance of day and night over the year, June against December. My grandfather lived by the form all his life, and my summers on the farm were my glimpse of it."

Simple gifts, these. And the simplicity of Donald Hall's writing is what makes it so readable and so memorable. The book stands solidly on its own as a definitive New England memoir. In this new reissue there is an added Epilog which traces Hall's return to his Hew Hapshire memories and farm after many life changes. This Epilogue is worth the price of the book. If only this edition weren't tainted by the crudely inappropriate pen and ink pictures imposed on the pages of each new chapter. But that is the only unnecessary clutter in this otherwise tender book.

This book is enjoyable to read and quite interesting. I wanted to learn more about the state of New Hampshire and its people, and I love reading tales. This is just what I was looking for. Now I want to go exploring through the state myself.

This book is a good read, especially at night before bedtime. The stories are not outlandish or embellished; just what has happened, or what peope think has happened over the interesting history of NH. I especially liked the real stories, such as the odd folk who lived away from civilization. Good writing by the author who has a lot of experience writing for NH magazines/papers.

As a native to New England I've always been attracted to the obscure history of my surroundings. However, when I thought of New Hampshire I only saw typical New England; quaint farmland, fall foliage, not witch tales and traveling mummies. When I finished reading Tales Told in the Shadows of the White Mountains I had a sudden urge to pack up the car and go on a road trip.
This isn't just a collection of embellished camp fire ghost stories. This is everything from strange facts to unsolved events in little mountain towns. So, if you have a taste for the unusual you should probably pick this book up.

Mary Ellen has once again produced a delightful mystery that fans of cozies will enjoy. This is the second Maggie Olenski book by Mary Ellen, and I hope there will be more.

Great protagonist, interesting characters and a fun read for all ages. This doesn't disappoint.

I consider this book as very interesting and enjoyable reading. The story was well developed, kept the reader interested, did not get off track or onto uninteresting sidetracks, and had a very surprising ending. I think this book rates top honors.

This is the author's second mystery novel. A delightful read. Mystery and suspense without blood and gore. Set in a small town in New Hampshire (you can feel the cold), a murder victim and lots of suspects. Maggie, the outsider, tries to help an old friend. I was getting to the end, anxious to find out who done it(I guessed wrong), but sorry the book would soon be done.

I enjoyed Mary Ellen Hughes' first book also - "Resort to Murder". Maggie's sleuthing career starts here.

Katy and her younger, Clover go to New England boarding school by "What Katy Did at School." They get many great friends. I become the feeling from which I became Katy's classmate.
In "What Katy Did Next", Katy's European tour is written interestingly. However, I do not so like the parent and child who are the companion of Katy. Moreover, the classmate of nostalgic Katy also appears. And we are excited by the whereabouts of the romance of Katy.

Those who remember Katy as a tomboy who always tore her frock and ran holes in her hose will be pleasantly surprised when they see how she turned out. Yes, she did mature greatly at the end of the first book, "What Katy Did", but the second book shows her as such a ladylike young woman that it will seem like she never ran around wildly as a child.

Katy and Clover go to boarding school where they make friends and have all sorts of adventures that only boarding school girls can have. (It is an episodic novel.) There are lots of funny stories about how school rules get broken and what it's like to live on the same floor as a strict teacher. A whole chapter is devoted to a wonderful game called "WORD AND QUESTION". It is my favorite chapter of the book, since it is full of funny poems and funny situations. (Word and Question is also one of my favorite games to play.) Another chapter is all about the S.S.U.C., a club of which Katy is president. The acrostic unbelievably stands for "Society for Suppression of Unladylike Conduct"--for Katy, Clover and all the members are determined to be as ladylike and proper as possible.

Some people despair that Katy, who was such a wonderful tomboy, finally lost herself. They say that the book influences little girls who are like Katy to be someone they are not. Personally, I think that "What Katy Did at School" is not about a girl being something she is not. In fact, Katy is extremely self-possessed. I believe that the books "What Katy Did" and "What Katy Did in School", when taken together, teach little girls that it is okay to be wild and free--but it is also okay to be ladylike. Anyone who says that Katy stopped having fun in this book has never read it, was never really a girl, or just has a personal bias against boarding schools.

This time, Katy is not staying at her beloved home in the countryside like she does while staying sick in the first book, "What Katy Did", but instead, she goes to a boarding school in East Coast with her sister Clover. This happens when Cousin Olivia (or Mrs. Page. She is Katy's cousin) says that Katy is solemn and does not "bubble over" like Cousin Olivia's daughter, Lilly, and she tells Katy's father about this untrue judgement. Her father, worried, sends Katy and Clover away to a boarding school on the East Coast.

Dr. Carr (Katy's father) and the two very sad sisters, go off together to the train which would take them to Hillsover, the name of the boarding school. At the train, Katy, Clover, and Dr. Carr meets Mr. and Mrs. Page and the "bubbly" Lilly. Lilly is very snobbish and spoiled but the two Carr sisters listens to Lilly's opinion about Hillsover, and they decide that they half like and half dislike it.

After some time of traveling, Katy, Clover, Lilly, and Dr. Carr reach Hillsover. Katy and Clover are allowed to spend one night with Dr. Carr in another Hotel and after they meet a very strange but interesting girl called Rosy Red, they start thinking that Hillsover will be pretty interesting after all. But they are horrified that they have to share a washroom with other girls and Dr. Carr, noting this, buys a washroom for them, very much relieving the sisters' terror. They meet all the girls and starts getting used to the flow of Hillsover. All the girls dislike Miss Jane, a missionary's apprentice, who has a verry sharp tongue and makes many strict rules, and another teacher, Miss Nipson, who does not have a good judgement over the girls. But the students are very respectful and rather afraid of another teacher, named Miss Florence.

As the days go by, Katy decides to make a society called S.S.U.C., which stands for "Society for the Suppresion of Unladylike Conduct" because the girls are flirting around with the boys in another house. The girls who joins has to be determined to be ladylike but Lilly does not join the society,
calling it "stupid". This society makes a fun game called WORD AND QUESTION. You have to write down a word and a question and the leader, who is Katy, puts it in a basket, shakes it, and the other players take out a paper. The players has to write a poem answering the question and using a word. This is a very fun part to read.

After a year, Katy and Clover goes back to their home but has to endure the slowness of the canal. They come back, happy and safe, and they find that their room had been decorated beautifully. It's a very delightful part.

This book is very interesting. Though I still like this book, I wonder what happened to Clarence, a boyfriend of Clover's. Clover made friends with him at Mr. and Mrs. Page's house during Autumn Vacation, but the book doesn't say much about after the Vacation, except a letter from him. I think this book was very, very,very, fun to read. I think it was a good book. Many people would like this. The next one is "What Katy Did Next".