Rhode Island Books

My father is an excellent author.

The true beauty of life is the way if ebbs and flows like a river, a tiny pebble in its path can take the water on a new glorious course and where it goes no one knows. In her sixth novel Ann Hood displays her magic touch for creating people and places that haunt the reader for a long time. I have noticed the melancholic tone in her books, the sad pangs and situations where people are hurt emotionally make up big chunks of her books but she doesn't forget to write in some hard earned salvation to their problems, that is also why I enjoy her novels.

The polluted town of East Essex, Rhode Island is a place that Josie Jericho Hunter calls home. A mother of two, teenage Maggie and young Kate, wife to a mall store manager Will, she cannot imagine her life in any other place, no matter how much more exotic. She lives near a polluter river by a soap making factory and her days pass by as she business herself cutting out the latest recipes for enchiladas from cooking magazines, tends to her children's finicky wants, plays the doting wife and mother, and visits her parents house that is near by. With her father's recent Alzheimer's and her mothers plans to sell her childhood home Josie is thrown in for a loop. Her comfort zone is being stripped away to expose an empty vacant lot that she will have to cushion and fill up on her own in order to fill the growing gap in her heart. Unexpectedly her sister Michaela returns home from the other coast, the hippy child with long hair and mismatched clothing, she brings back bitter memories of Josie's childhood as the usually independent sister is back with her secrets and no one knows why but they know that sometimes is brewing under her cool demeanor.

Josie starts to forget what makes her happy. She is lost in the world of pleasing others, trying to satisfy her husband and his wondering eyes, she slowly loses her magic over him when she gets mugged and no one believes her. Changed and saddened she forgets to pick up her kids form work, to cook dinner, she wonders around the town unable to help anyone and especially herself. Josie must also face the fact that her husband might no longer love her and what it means to her and her family. The ordeals she went though were an intense experience especially with her children involved. As past family secret are slowly starting to spill up, the water from the river starts rising above the banks and floods the city over. Together the family must gather the courage to help the flood victims and to patch up their own problems and for once to realize that people are more similar than different.

This book was so much more, the people and things going on made my head spin and made for an incredibly fast read, I couldn't tear myself away and read this in two sittings but few loose ends were untied and I wished that certain characters had more of a resolution. This said I am extremely pleased for having found this book as it was an enriching experience, an Ann Hood experience as I call it as she satisfies my blue tooth for heart churning tales.

- Kasia S.

This is a excellent book. Bought after recently buying a kayak. New to kayaking. The book made me want to go to the local lake right then and there. Very descriptive of ponds and lakes with maps. Wish it had a few more entrys. Although I do agree with the authors selection process.

There are now more than 13,00 miles of open rail-trails across the country. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is an organization of more than 100,000 members and a leading advocate for trail and greenway 'recycling' of obsolete railroad corridors and rights of way. The official guidebook of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, "Rail-Trails: New England" is a thoroughly 'user friendly' guide to railroad related trails in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Profusely illustrated with maps, as well as black-and-white photographs, "Rail-Trails: New England" is the perfect planning guide for biking or hiking along pathways created from unused railroad corridors that have been converted to recreational use by the public. some rail-trails are paved and run through scenic parts of New England townships, others are unpaved paths through scenic countrysides. Enhanced with detailed maps for every rail-trail (plus driving directions to trailheads), "Rail-Trails: New England" also features icons indicating each trail's use, along with succinct descriptions written by truly knowledgeable and articulate rail-trail experts. If you are planning to avail yourself of the recreational and exercise opportunities of rail-trails anywhere in the New England region, then begin with a careful browse through the pages of "Rail-Trails: New England"!

It is not often that a reader can find an interesting historical novel that focuses on the everyday lives of women and what thay had to go through. This author has taken an actual woman from her family tree and worked her into a fascinating and detailed story of what her life might really have been like in the 1600's. BLS covers everything a woman really must go through in dealing with her family, her religion and her heart, without being full of sappy romance or made-up action. Gives a reader insight to a woman's trials as a wife and mother in the turbulent years surrounding the founding of Rhode Island as a religiously free state.

A well-written book that doesn't talk down to its readers. Ms. Hallinan's prose flows well; she knows her subject, too, and that's a very big plus.

I always think of Rhode Island as the first of the second-generation of American colonies. Every American history textbook dutifully explains about the first permanent establishments in the United States at Jamestown, Virginia and Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay. As often as not, the history books will also explain how Roger Williams, who immigrated with his family to Massachusetts Bay fled from the colony five years later when facing deportation for his views. Williams founded a settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay and named it Providence. Eventually with the settlement of Portsmouth founded by Anne Hutchinson's group and William Coddington's group at Newport there was the creation of another English colony in New England. However, the lesson that the Puritans, who fled religious persecution in England, failed to practice what they preached in the New World was rather obvious and made an impression as did the unique identity of Rhode Island in colonial history.

Andrew A. Kling's book on "Rhode Island" for "The Thirteen Colonies" series is another outstanding look at one of the "lesser" colonies that get brief mention in your standard American history textbook. The introduction establishes how "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" was founded by the desire for political and religious freedom, before providing the standard five chapters for this series: (1) Beginnings covers both the discovery of the region by European explorers as well as the native tribes who were living there when Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson established settlements; (2) A "Lively Experiment" details the various charters that governed the colony and the conflict known as King Philip's War between the settlers and the Wampanoag and Narragnsett tribes; (3) Daily Life in the Growing Colony covers how education was often linked to religious doctrine in Rhode island, seasonal chores, and the colony's role in the Triangle Trade; (4) First in Freedom: Rhode Island and the Revolution starts with the general colonial reaction to the Sugar Act and then discusses what specifically happened in the colony, such as the "Gaspee" Incident, General Nathan Greene who hailed from the colony, and the Battle of Rhode Island; and (5) To Ratify or Not to Ratify? begins with the debate over becoming a state and the changes in the Rhode Island economy.

Kling ends the book in the same spirit as it began, noting that the statue on top of the new state capitol building was the "Independent Man" representing all of the people, rather than Roger Williams, Thomas Dorr, Samuel Slater, or another major figure in the state's history. This series does an excellent job of exploring the history of each colony, working in primary and secondary source quotations, along with a time line, historic illustrations, annotated bibliographies, and an index. As always, the less you know about a particular colony from your American history textbook, the more you will pick up from these books. Of course, that seems obvious, but more importantly Kling provides a clear conception of Rhode Island as a colony distinct from all the others. For young students assigned to research Rhode Island, Roger Williams, or other subjects associated with the colony, this book is the ideal place to start.

Before you dive into the refreshing Rhode Island waters, dive into this book. It (and the other 2 equally wonderful editions) will take you to the best dive spots in the area. Written by an aray of professional divers, this book is an easy and enjoyable read. If you are interested in only particular dives, then jump to the section on that area. It's that easy!

This book is great because it contains tons of photos spanning the complete history of Crescent Park in Riverside, Rhode Island. It has become a treasured heirloom because most of my family (McCuskers, Phillips, and Martin's) grew up working at the park. Even though I wasn't around during the parks hayday, having been born in the mid-1970's, stories about the park still fascinate me to this day.

Not only did I find this book hilarious, I also was impressed with it's acuracy. I spent 35 years trying to understand the local dialect. It's not so easyto understand why Worcester is pronounced "Woostah" or how words that end with an "r" sound like an "a" and words that have no "r" at the end sound as if they do. Not to mention words with "r's" in the middle such as park pronounced "pock". Great fun reading even if you haven't been there.