New Hampshire Books

The Appalachian Mountain Club's latest hiking maps of the White Mountains of New Hampshire include this 1:40000 scale edition covering the ridgelines East and West of Interstate 93 near Franconia Notch, along with the Pemigewasset Wilderness area and the high ground North and South of the Kancamagus Highway as far East as Mount Passaconway.

The superbly detailed maps provide terrain relief, locations of established trails, and distances along major trail segments. The back of the map has inset closeups of Franconia Notch State Park and of Waterville Valley. The maps are in color on waterproof and tear-resistant paper, and are perfectly sized to be shoved into the side pocket of a pair of hiking pants. They are meant to be used in conjunction with the detailed trail descriptions found in the AMC White Mountain Guide, now in its 28th edition.

This map and the others published by AMC are absolutely essential for safe and purposeful hiking in the spectacular White Mountains and are very highly recommended to hikers of every level of ability.

Part of the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Trail Maps series, this particular map covers the Presidential Range in northern New Hampshire. One side of the map displays the area south of Route 2, including the Great Gulf, Mts Madison through Washington, and the area south and east of Mt. Jackson. An inset provides detail on the plateau around the top of Mt. Washington. The back of the map provides a close-up look at the northern Presidentials, including the myriad of trails that run down from the ridge between Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Madison down to Route 2.

The map is printed in color at 1:42240 scale for the large map and at 1:20000 or better for the two insets. The map sheet is waterproof, tear-resistant, and just the right size to be stuffed into a pocket or rucksack. The detail is excellent, including distances on major trail segements. This map is intended to be used with the detail trail descriptions in the AMC White Mountain Guide 28th edition.

This map is absolutely essential to safe and purposeful hiking in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, where weathers conditions can take away visibility and reduce hikers to careful route-finding by map and compass. It is very highly recommended to hikes and other visitors to the Presidential Range.

I found the atlas to be very accurate, easy to read and most of all a great deal for the price. I used it extensively on my New England vacation and highly recommend it to anyone who plans to visit the New England states.

This is one of the easiest street atlas's that I have ever seen to find your way around. This atlas has a lot of details with city hall's, post offices, and other useful information in bold red so you can find the things that you need. It is clear and conscience and with this you should be able to find just about anywhere you wish to go. This is a must have for any traveler who doesn't know the area.

I've just recently moved up to the northeast and this map has been invaluable to getting around. the spiral bound spine makes it easy to use in the car.

Dr. Lyon who has apparently been fishing in the premier lake in New England -- Lake Winnipesaukee -- for over 65 years brings together the wisdom from 14 other "Master Anglers" in this excellent guide to fishing glacial lakes, who together have over 600 years of experience fishing this lake. "Winnipesaukee" is the Abanaki translation for "The smile of the great spirit." The book is well organized into chapters on each of the major game fish in northern glacial lakes with wonderful stories, photos, and tips -- some quite unconventional but proven -- followed by a chapter presenting the tips and stories of each of the other 14 "Master Anglers" who were selected for both their experience and prowess as anglers as well as their willingness to give away their secrets.

The book, which contains over 300 photos, even contains a "Chart of Secrets" which has the average from all 15 Master Anglers of their favorite trolling depths, speeds, best lures, etc for Landlocked Salmon, Lake Trout, and rainbow trout. This information alone willsave the novice angler a decade of learning curve in mastering how to fish a big northern lake.

There is a special chapter on ice fishing as well as one discussing the various tournaments and fishinf derbies.

There is a spiritual component which runs through the pages making this book more than a "How To Book." Lyon, author of several other books is an excellent writer and this book, as proclaimed by one of New Hampshire's chief big lake fish biologists, is "...a must have book for anyone who wants to ... any northern glacial lake." An great read and wonderful gift suggestion for any angler in your family!

Years ago, when preparing for my three-year 50-state road trip I'd purchased a load of travel guides to help me plan what to see in each state, and was satisfied with guides until I stumbled upon my first ART OF STATE book in an Iowa museum. This unique book made all other travel books pale by comparison. Although small and slim the books throughout this series are packed with meaningful information. Beautifully designed and written, they are thoroughly engaging and a joy to read--like finding an ancestor's scrapbook or diary in the attic and reading a fascinating family heritage while viewing the images of a buried past. Each ART OF STATE story is lovingly told by someone with a deep appreciation of the state--and not just its good features, but the blemishes, too, all described evenhandedly and complemented by photographs of architecture, landscapes paintings, crafts and memorabilia. Each book presents the state's history, climate, landscape, traditions, symbols, recipes, must-see destinations as well as a statewide calendar of events. I've since purchased all the books in the series (19 of the 50 states as of 2007). If your budget won't allow you to buy all 19, at least buy two: one of your home state and one of your adopted state. You'll be amazed at what you'll discover about your former and current home state.

I apologize for raving so much about THE ART OF STATE series, but it was such a find for me, like discovering a diamond in a sea of glass. I can't help but gush.

The frontispiece of each book has a wallpaper design featuring a state motif. For New Hampshire, the motif is a moose: tiny golden brown moose, like polka dots, stand against a robins egg blue background. Sweet.

Now about the New Hampshire volume. Although New Hampshire is my adopted home, I never knew so many artist colonies began here the 19th and 20th century, from followers of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Cornish to the Hudson River School camp in the soaring White Mountains (called "the Alps of America" back then) to the renowned MacDowell Art Colony in the west that inspired writers and artists from Thornton Wilder to Maxfield Parrish to Leonard Bernstein, and continues to offer a sanctuary for creative minds. I learned that New Hampshire was the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain. (Rhode Island makes this claim, but New Hampshire was first by five months), and the significance of the OLD FARMER'S ALMANAC and YANKEE magazines, the Mount Washington Weather Station, Portsmouth harbor and the difference between lakes, kettles, potholes and basins. I met the first Granite State inhabitants, the Penacook Confederacy. Or were they predated by even earlier inhabitants who left their mark on Mystery Hill in Salem, a 4,000-year-old rock formation nicknamed "America' Stonehendge." Each historic entry, art commentary, poetic observation made me excited about my adopted home, a place I had previously thought boring and lackluster. This book makes me want to pack my bag and visit every section of my state. A fantastic reference book and escape into the grandeur of the Granite State.

My wife and I recently decided to drive through New England, mainly visiting Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. On a friend's advice, I bought the Scheller's Best Vermont Driving Guide and after reading that, went out and bought this guide to New Hampshire. Both of these books are absolutely terrific, giving you information about places that is just about impossible to find anyplace else. There are lots of interesting tidbits that made our trip a lot more fun, and the books have a nice sense of humor, unlike a lot of dry guidebooks. We did two of the recommended drives in each state and found them very rewarding. Using the guide books, we were able to discover little hidden places like small museums and other attractions that we never could have found on our own--and we met some really great people along the way, too. If you're planning to drive through VT or NH I highly recommend both of these books.

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!

Although I have long enjoyed Rebecca Rule's newspaper column on New Hampshire writers, I had never read any of her fiction (having somehow missed "Wood Heat" in 1992 and the hardcover printing of this collection, 1995). My loss. Rule's incisive, earthy prose captures the spirit and daily grind of small-town rural life with affection and humor, devoid of sentimentality.

Her characters are mostly natives who go back at least a couple of generations. They hunt, trap and fish, attend library committee and selectmen's meetings, bring up kids and fight with their spouses, usually about money. These are regular people. There are no drunkards, wife beaters or down-and-outs. When couples wrangle, you feel for both of them. Piercingly, you feel the anxiety of their children.

Many of Rule's characters strike an instant chord of recognition. The sour-tempered, know-it-all naysayer, Mort Wallace, who's got nothing better to do but waste everyone else's time cranking away at every public meeting. In "Yankee Curse" Mort absorbs the unspoken but imaginative curses of his neighbor Miranda Coffey who knits her way through a School District Meeting: "May your neighbors steal from your wood pile, Mort Wallace." "May a rat die between the studs of your bedroom wall." Or the grouchy lakefront neighbor who guards her turf by making her newcomer neighbors miserable in "The Best Revenge." There's more than one in every town.

Some stories are delightfully lighthearted. "Lindy Lowe at Bat," one of the few stories told in the third person, is a warmhearted tale of Little League baseball, the adult undercurrents on the sidelines, and a girl's determination. Dryly humorous, "The Widow and the Trapper," narrated by the flinty trapper, follows the surprising journey of a blossoming relationship, set against a background of trout, loons and human coexistence with nature.

But the most gripping stories are those dealing with family tensions and troubles. And the most gripping of those are the ones narrated by children. The troubles of their parents loom large and scary. Within the framework of rescuing a small cat from a tall tree in "Three," Rule evokes a time of grief, calamity, and anxiety for the future, culminating in a moment when a child puts herself in danger because bad things come in three and the thought of "the third bad thing" happening to her mother is unbearable.

Adults are often scary to the children who love and depend upon them. In "Walking the Trapline," the father is a man (like many of the men in these stories) who does what he wants and abides no backtalk from anyone. Though the narrator's younger brother is expected to learn about the trapline from age 9, less is expected of her. "He allowed me to come along when the weather was fine and the dishes done." The story, following a long, cold day on the trapline, focuses on the shifting family dynamics as the children band together for comfort and companionship, but defect into small betrayals in competition for their father's approval.

A day's fishing with her crusty grandfather is fraught with anxiety for the narrator of "Peach Baby Food Sandwiches" who awaits lunchtime with dread. Though the old man had consulted her about the peach baby food sandwich, his diatribe concerning her usual diet made it clear the consultation was rhetorical only. "I said no more on the subject but watched in quiet horror as he laid out sandwich makings on the scrubbed-pine table." The story is laugh-out-loud funny, but her fear and dread of an adult's explosive anger is palpable.

Rule's stories are beautifully crafted. Her situations are recognizable, often ordinary. A man whose family has been living in a cellar hole for four years buys a boat, "though he knew Phoebe had the money spent, though he knew she'd pop a gasket when she found out (maybe even because he knew)." A woman who decides to run for selectman, against her husband's wishes. A woman coping with a miscarriage by walking in the woods, in the footsteps of her dead great-grandmother.

The core of the characters' inner lives, expectations and background emerge seamlessly from the setting and situation. Each story is a small gem, a complete world in microcosm. These are classic stories, full of New England flavor, wit and subtlety.