Maine Books

This book helped explain how I make my life more healthy and the reasons why I should make certain changes in my diet.

Interesting book, makes alot of sense in regarding your own health. I've passed it on to several friends. Definitely worth the read.

This book explains in very easy to understand detail why the current medical system is not patient friendly. It does not know how to treat chronic illness very well if at all. Many doctors have tunnel vision and treat so many of their patients like one size fits all. I have multiple health issues that are definitely improved by a good diet and the right supplements. The nutritonal info is terrific. I knew much of the information already, but it is great to see it reinforced by these authors. A must read for anyone wanting to improve their health and wellness. The whole foods concept is what I grew up on and it is something we all need to get back to. I am on a journey to better health, and this book will definitely give me some good info to use.

I found this book to be extremely helpful. It outlines health issues in a very easy to understand way and gives great tips on tests you can ask for when you visit your doctor that will help you determine how to manage your long term health. The author makes a great case for preventing disease rather than dealing with it in crisis mode. He does a very through job explaining how all you body systems need to work together to create a healty life.

I have started following his program and have never felt better!

This book is a mixed bag. On the good side the early pages were excellent and informative. The first chapter is a health myth test. There was a lot I didn't know and I was drawn in. Then the first half goes into the health care myths and why they aren't true. Informative stuff. And it is the first book I have seen to dispense with the illusion that your doctor and health care provider are going to look out for you -- and be blunt about it.

But the second half got lazy. The authors started contradicting themselves; ie. don't diet you will lose muscle mass; but then saying a few chapters later to eat less as many studies had concluded that eating less was healthy for you. They say eat less in one sentence and then spend chapters telling you to eat more. Eat more veggies; fruit; more fish; more nuts.

They keep telling you that mainstream doctors won't listen and that mainstream doctors won't run unnecessary tests. Then they ask you to go get unnecessary (to many doctors) tests. Um right. How can I get the tests they want me to get if I have to go to my doctor to get them? So the entire basis of this book relies on a doctor being willing (and my insurance being willing) to pay for the tests that they admit doctors don't see value in at this time. They keep referring to what they do at Canyon Ranch -- well sorry we can't all be your patients.

Then they keep telling you about things that are bad for you, such as mercury poisoning, but not telling you in detail how to cure it or treat it. Well isn't that why I bought the book?

The final chapters are an ill-organized mess of saying the same thing over and over and over until you can't tell why you are doing what. I am pretty sure that *throw in everything but the kitchen sink* was what they were aiming for.

So, I am glad I purchased the book because it does have some good things in there that I didn't hear before (did you know that eating slow helps heal your stomach lining?), but I will have to go through it at few times and cut it down to the things that are most important in my life and that I can reasonably do.

This is a no nonsense easy to read book of information and great suggestions to get and stay healthy. It's a big book, but easy to read and digest a little at a time! If you want to look and feel younger, this is the book! I loved it!

I really like this doctor who wrote the book. He always has very good information. I saw this book recommended in a magazine and it is very true to what was described. I do recommend this to anyone who is getting older and is interested in keeping themself youthful. Very interesting and helpful information.

Best guidance I seen on living a healthy lifestyle for normal people. I refer to it often. I highly recommend this book.

The seller claimed this book was new. It was most certainly NOT NEW as described. I was giving this as a gift. It was read before and even had a big black marker swipe across the entire bottom. It was embarassing to give. Luckily it was my sister and I told her the seller claimed it was new. Obviously, we have a different definition of new. What a joke.

I love the info in this book. It has resulted in some lifestyle changes for me. I want to buy it for everybody in my family for Christmas.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. An excellent read for anyone interested in WW1. No point in saying more. Read it.

After reading A Storm in Flanders, I understand--for the first time--why it was called The Great War and The War to End All Wars. Though the book focuses almost exclusively on the Ypres Salient (other pertinent events are mentioned, from the impetus for the war to Verdun and the Somme), here was where the horrors of modern warfare were first unleashed: flamethrowers, machine guns, poison gas, the godawful trench. The carnage is almost unbelievable. But the book is such an important read--one must simply slog through the death and horror to try to begin to understand this conflict.

Winston Groom does a great job in writing for the layman like me; I don't read military history, as a rule. My only criticism is that all of the maps should have been grouped together for ease of reference. Instead, both endpapers are maps and there are also maps in the middle of the book. Confusing. Otherwise, a highly recommended resource to try to understand what on earth happened in Flanders fields.

Too often,I, as an American have tended to overlook the importance of WW1 and its relevance to todays world.I had often heard that WW2 was a war to determine who actually won won WW1,and also that had Woodrow wilson's 14 points been adopted as the peace settlement there might not have been a WW2 at all.The war reparations that Germany had to pay to Europe and the "War Guilt Clause" in the Treaty of Versailles,were a primary cause of Hitler coming to power.Grooms" book backs up my interpretation of WW1 and its aftermath.While not a technical book showing troop movements,supply convoys,etc.it conveys a really great overall picture of the battlefields of Flanders where millions perished and it is an impossible book to put down cause of the writers' style."You're pretty much right there in the trenches slogging through the mud,witnessing the gruesome sights,sounds, and smells and experiencing a deadly shell percussion sting or your first breath of mustard gas.if for some peculiar reason beyond human conception this war was necessary I'm awfully glad that these people, both allies and central powers ,took on their roles so generously,maybe it was their hope that another generation would not have to suffer something like this.I particularly liked the way the author strategically places WW1 poetry throughout the book,real visions of hell.Maps are simple and understandible,the pictures reinforce the writers dialogue,you're as close to Flanders as you'll ever want to be.

Technically, there were four major battles four in the four years of WWI in the area around Ypres...but in fact, except for short periods during the winter, the battle was almost continual from 1914 to 1918. Generals were constantly asking soldiers to fight for 'worthless' pieces of ground and to often fight in conditions that were remarkably like a cesspool. One of the soldiers quoted talks about the land having been 'destroyed' to such an extent that it had the consistency of quicksand and that to fall into a shellhole full of water (and whatever else) would be certain death from drowning.

Most appalling for many of the soldiers, was the visual landscape that was churned mud and body parts. Because of the constant shelling, bodies were never underground for long, and soldiers in the trenches would be subject to injuries from shrapnel, metal and flying body parts. Bones of soldiers killed earlier in the war became morbid missiles and soldiers described these as the 'revenge of the dead'.

The best estimates were that 700,000 were killed during the four years of fighting, and if you use the five or six to one ratio of injured to dead, the total casualties come to between 4 to 4.5 million. All this dead and destruction occurred in an area forty miles wide and five miles deep. Groom has included some picture from the battlefield that give a visual idea of the destruction and you have to ask yourself how anyone could be asked to fight under these conditions.

The most remarkable statistic of the battle area, was that the 'original' professional BEF (British Expeditionary Force) of 250,000, who were known as the "Old Contemptables" were wiped out by the second year of the war. The officers from England's Public (that is Private Schools for the Aristocracy) Schools that were recruited, from the British Isles "best and brightest" were also annihilated by the third year. By the fourth year of the war, conscription had emptied the cities and countryside of england and german POWs were being used to cultivate the fields; while woman and children worked round the clock making artillery shells.

The Ypres (pronounce E-pray) Salient was where the German's first tried out Chlorine, Phosgene and Mustard Gas; the use of grenades, as well as the use of flame-throwers. The first battle tanks were used in the area and the Battle of Cambrai is considered the first 'tank' battlefield with the use by the British of over 500 tanks at one time. Not only was a generation of men lost by the British at Ypres, but Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South Africa and India all contributed troops that were cut down like wheat when they went 'over the top'.

Reading down through the thoughts of the men who fought there, you wonder if the 'men in charge' really had any concern as to what the 'man in the trench' was experiencing; or even more callously, whether they cared. The discussions by the generals of 'bleeding the other side "white"' by attrition is the most startling epitaph of the battles.

I liked Groom's Civil War book, so I decided to read his book on Ypres. Groom writes well and the flow of his book is very good. This book progressed well and the four Ypres battles were covered in summary. This is more of a summary history of the battles in this region. However, this is not the authoritative book on the battle. As even Groom will admit, this book is for Americans, and not the British who fought this battle. It is a very readable, detailed book though.

Groom writes well and gives the low down on this huge battles for a tiny piece of Belgium. The flow of this book is as well as anything that Ambrose did. This is a nice read on something most Americans know little about.

Walker's novel is smart, insightful, frightening, exciting, and moving--particularly the last. I've read it three times now, and (not quite a spoiler), I sob my heart out at the end each time. I can't even describe the plot without tearing up. She has, in the character of the bus driver, created one of the most admirable heroes you'll ever get to know in a novel. One of my favorite ten mystery novels of all times.

Ok, like the title said, I don't read much. The last book I read....hmm....is "where's Waldo?" really considered a book? Anyways, I picked up this book at the library to show my daughter reading books is good. It sat on the kitchen table for weeks (had to renew it at the library!).

One day, I was home alone with the flu; decided to read this book to get my mind off my being so sick. Needless to say it sucked me in! I don't know what it was about the book. Molly Cates (the lead character) isn't a superhero with a cape, the idea of reading a book so DARK (really dark---11 children and a busdriver underground with a dying light bulb)doesn't sound EXTRAORDINARY, but I found myself engulfed in this novel.

Molly Cates--so ordinary. Because of that I found myself relating to her...a 40-something single mother of a 24 year old daughter...even though I'm only 25! A romance rekindled with her daughters dad. A wacked out psycho bible thumper holding 12 people in a buried school bus on his compound.

Chapters twisted between Molly's investigating the psycho's past, while working with Lover (a leiutenant) and his department to figure out where, why, how, etc. The kids and adult on the bus, -- telling stories, fighting, kids getting sick, passing time. Time....the book starts on day 46...the world is suppossed to end in 50. Although 46 days has passed, Mary Willis Walker fills you in on the events that lead to their captivity, up to their current situation.

Molly Cates is so NORMAL that I enjoyed reading ABOUT her---although I felt I was reading WITH heR.

Her love affair with her ex-husband is a nice side story too.
I wish I had more room to go into detail.......but then I'd end up giving up some of the thrill of the book, and THIS BOOK IS JUST TOO WONDERFUL TO SPOIL IT FOR YOU.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Buy it here, get it from the library, borrow it from a friend...just get it and read it. You won't regret it.
I just LOVE this Molly Cates character so much, and I was thrilled find out that there are 3 books starring Molly Cates. The bad thing is UNDER THE BEETLES CELLAR is number 2...so I had to go and get the first one (THE RED SCREAM). It tied up some of the questions I had (like how did she start seeing the ex-husband again?) stuff. I just finished reading THE RED SCREAM and now I have the answers. The only bad thing about reading Under the Beetles Cellar first, was that I sort of knew a major detail about The Red Scream...Molly Cate's doesn't die at the end of the first book. But, still worth every second of both books. Where's number 3!!!!!

Anyways, the book was just fantastic! I couldn't turn the pages quick enough, let alone put it down. UNDER THE BEETLES CELLAR is a better reason to destroy trees for the pages than toilet paper! Read it and you'll be SOOOO happy you didn! Enjoy it!

Now, I must go review The Red Scream!

In the past seven days, I have been priviledged to read two of the best contemporary, yet believably realistic books, I have come across as of yet in many a moon. One was Bernice McFadden's sad and beautiful The Warmest December, and also this gripping saga by Mary Willis Walker. I expect she was heavily influenced by the Waco tragedy as this was published not long afterward. We don't know much about the victims of the real tragedy, but here Walker takes and breathes amazing life into her victims, a bus driver who served in Vietnam, and 11 children who are hidden underground beneath a barn for a 50-day "earth purification" before the world ends--at least according to religious fanatical cult leader Samuel Mordecai.

This is also the story of reporter Molly Cates, an incredibly brave and determined journalist who truly cares about the victims, and all the people tied to both the predator and his prey, beginning on day 46 of the 50-day torture.

Walker has the ability to take you into a nightmarish world that's hell on the cops and feds who know Mordecai is never going to let his hostages go, and she also shows you the resilience of young children in a hopeless and frightening situation. I was extraordinarily moved by their ability to keep up a sense of humor and sheer resolve alternately with low, hopeless moments of despair, and the reluctant heroism of bus driver Walter as he kept the kids calm with his soap operatic story of the turkey vulture named Jacksonville and the armadillo named Lopez that reflected his and a friend's time in captivity back in Vietnam.

Amazingly powerful and moving, this is a story that shows both the cruelty of the human animal that man can be, and also the tireless, selfless dedication of others as the opposing force. More than that, it shows that humans can be stronger than they ever thought themselves capable in a seemingly hopeless situation. This is a truly amazing book that had me winded by the time the climax arrived, and that's a very good thing!

Walker's riveting third novel features a bus driver and 11 elementary school children abducted by an apocalyptic religious cult, resulting in a 50-day stand-off between federal agents and armed cult members.

Protagonist Molly Cates, a crime writer for a Texas magazine and the only one to ever interview the cult's charismatic leader, Samuel Mordecai, is in a race against time to discover something about Mordecai that will give the hostage negotiators some leverage before the promised apocalypse on day 50.

The novel opens on the 46th day. Walter Demming, the bus driver, a psychologically scarred Vietnam vet who has spent the last 20 years guarding his life from involvement, keeps his charges' spirits up with the continuing adventures of a vulture named Jacksonville, counterbalancing the daily harangues from the cult's leader.

Demming and the children, ranging in age from 6 to 12, are imprisoned in a derelict bus buried underground in an old barn. Worms and bugs tunnel in the earth packed against the bus' windows. One of their two bare light bulbs has just burned out. The children play tic-tac-toe on the windows and pogs in the aisles between the seats.

Fed twice a day on cereal and milk, they fantasize about food. They argue, snap at one another, burst into tears. One of the children suffers from severe asthma. The cult refuses medication and his attacks terrify everyone.

Without melodrama or mush, Walker develops a group dynamic that relies on breathing life into the individual children and especially Demming, a reluctant hero who's scared and lost and determined to do his best.

Walker alternates between scenes in the bus and efforts on the outside. The police, the FBI and the hostage negotiator have gotten nowhere with Mordecai and don't know where the children are being held. Cates, herself viscerally intimidated by her one meeting with the cult leader, delves into the odd circumstances of his birth and his harsh childhood, which clearly loom large in his religious landscape.

Cates' detective work, which involves bending more than a few of her own personal and professional rules, is absorbing and ingenious without being unbelievable. As Mordecai's pathology unfolds, we also get a portrait of Demming from his home and his two close friends.

Cates herself is a prickly but appealing character. A loner with a grown daughter, she's in love with her ex-husband (one of the cops) and driven but ambivalent about her job.

The suspense is nail-biting, but what makes this novel a stand-out is Demming and the kids. Walker gets the atmosphere of timeless boredom and fear just right, the children's voices ring true and Demming's character, revealed in accumulating flashes throughout the narrative, is utterly believable.

A scary thriller with a smashing explosive finish.

I've enjoyed all of Ms. Walker's books, but this is my favorite. In fact, this is one of my all-time favorite suspense novels, period. I love the concept, and the characterization is superb. You also might want to try The Red Scream. It's almost as good.

Anyone know if/when she has a new book coming out?

Patricia Lewin, Author of BLIND RUN, OUT OF REACH, & OUT OF TIME

John Connolly's THE KILLING KIND is the third in his series of crime novels dealing with former NYPD detective-turned PI Charlie Parker. (First was EVERY DEAD THING and second was DARK HOLLOW.) These novels are first-person tough guy narratives told from Parker's perspective, in the tradition of such hardboiled crime writers as Ross Macdonald and James Lee Burke; however, the Parker novels definitely have their own distinct twist and flavor and are not at all clichéd. Parker is a man with an extremely troubled past that includes the brutal murder of his wife and children, as well as killings committed by Parker himself as he pursued and finally caught his family's killer (chronicled in EDT.) Along the way, he's found a new love interest, psychologist Rachel Wolfe, and he's gotten lots of help from friends named Angel and Louis (a gay, interracial couple of semi-retired criminals.)

In this third installment, Parker, stilling living in Maine, is hired by a wealthy, powerful man named Jack Mercier to look into the circumstances of the alleged suicide of the daughter of a former friend. As he delves deeper into the case, Parker finds connections to a shady evangelical group called `the Fellowship,' which may also be linked to violence against abortion providers; he also discovers links to a fringe religious group known as the Aroostook Baptists who had disappeared in northern Maine decades before and whose mass grave is accidentally uncovered at the beginning of the book. Along the way, Parker crosses swords with a spider-loving killer known as Elias Pudd, and faces competition from a Jewish assassin known as the Golem. It all ends messily, which is the norm for a Connolly novel.

A supernatural element, which mostly consists of Parker seeing dead victims, is once again in the foreground. The supernatural continues to play an increasingly large role in subsequent Parker tales, too. In doing so, Connolly blends elements of horror into the hardboiled crime genre, which no doubt turns off mystery genre purists, but delights people like me who enjoy crime, horror, and originality. What's really great about Connolly's usage of the supernatural in these books, though, is that he often employs it ambiguously - for example, we're never quite sure if these visions are real or if Parker's imagining them.

As always, Connolly writes superbly, painting settings, and nailing both dialogue and Parker's internal monologue - something that's doubly impressive when you take into account the fact that Connolly's an Irishman and most of his settings and characters are American. Connolly's main characters - protagonist Parker plus sidekicks Angel and Louis - are very intriguing and well-drawn. Connolly's `good guys' have an ambiguous morality - they're not clean-cut do-gooders, just a lighter shade of gray than the truly evil people they face. I find Rachel Wolfe much less interesting. She seems like a stereotypical academic/feminist pacifist, who nags Parker about his past violent acts even though most of them were justified, who feels guilty about killing someone herself back in the first novel even though it was totally justified, and who doesn't want armed protection even when she knows dangerous people may be after her. (This latter tendency often makes her a ready-made damsel-in-distress, predictably.) Fortunately, she's not as central of a character as Parker, Angel, and Louis.

Last, Connolly knows how to make a good villain. His villains tend to be almost like comic book or James Bond bad guys (Connolly himself cites the latter as a big influence on his baddies) in that they sport physical deformities or abnormalities which mirror their internal evil - however, Connolly succeeds in avoiding the `campiness' often associated with Bond and comic villains. KILLING KIND's Pudd is a great example - he loves spiders and often uses them to kill, but he also looks and acts a bit like them, with long, hairy fingers and such. The Golem too, though less of a clear-cut `bad guy' (I often found myself rooting for him,) is also a weird-looking, disfigured character. In future Parker novels, Connolly continues to devise the types of bad guys who stand out from the herd of fictional killers.

If you like hardboiled crime novels and you're not a mystery genre purist who's going to be bothered by having some horror elements mixed in, you'll love this series - though I recommend reading them in order from EVERY DEAD THING for maximum enjoyment and understanding. I just finished reading this book for the third or fourth time, if that tells you anything about how much I like the Parker series. I'm eagerly awaiting my pre-ordered copy of Connolly's latest, THE REAPERS, which is coming out later this month, and to kill time I'm rereading all the preceding books in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I love John Connolly as an author and have purchased almost all his other books, but I guess I just don't get to excited about spiders.

I am a lover of horror films and thrilling novels, none of which have EVER given me nightmares. This book, however, honestly haunted my dreams. The incredible detail that Connolly uses puts vivid pictures in your head that last hours after putting the book down.

This was my first Connolly book, and I absolutely loved it. Although I realized after a few chapters that I was coming into the middle of an ongoing chain of books, I was easily able to grasp what was happening and didn't feel left out at all. I will certainly go back and read the stories before this one as well as the ones after!

I enjoyed this one as much as Every Dead Thing and The Book of Lost Things. There were some very powerfully graphic scenes that offered the most suspense in this Charlie Parker series. What made my copy even more exciting was that it turned out to be an autographed copy!
Since spiders do completely frighten me, this book certainly had its moments of giving me that creeping feeling and turning up the lights to make sure that spiders hadn't crawled out of fiction and into reality in my room! This one was certainly the most horrifying, at least in conjunction with my particular phobias.
I am quite anxious to read his other books!

This is the third book in Connolly's Charlie "Bird" Parker series, and it's a great read. So great, in fact, that I literally ran all over town on a stiflingly hot and humid day, trying to find another copy of it (I had given my first copy away a few years ago) so that I could immediately start it after finishing Dark Hollow.

I disagree completely with the reviewers who say it's not as good as the first two. I think it's just as good, and even better in some parts.

It picks up after the events of the second novel in the series, starting the action approximately 2 years after the murder of Parker's first wife and child. In this one, Parker is (as usual) trying to solve multiple mysteries at once. He is trying to find out what happened to Grace Peltier, a young woman who was researching a religious group that mysteriously disappeared into thin air decades earlier. He takes this job on in spite of the fact that his life has finally begun to take on some of the trappings of normalcy. He has been working cases that don't demand he find true justice for victims of violent crime, and as a result, he's pretty stable, very much removed (at least it seems so) from all the horror and blood he previously found himself mired in. He may not like some of the jobs he takes on (he feels a bit slimed by what he's asked to do, but none of it is life-threatening or illegal, and none of it involves finding justice for dead people), but he is relatively clear of horrible dreams and ghostly visitations, and he is trying to start his life over without the haunting memories of his dead wife and child foremost in his mind. Normalcy. He seems to want that more than anything.

Normalcy, at least the kind you and I might experience, is not in the cards for Parker, however. He might resist taking on the cases that bring out who he really is, but ultimately he can not refuse them.

Here, as he tries to build a relationship with Rachel Wolf AND do the job his soul craves for him, he finds himself dealing with Mr. Pudd, whose fascination with spiders is creepy at best and downright horrifying at worst. The violence in this one is particularly difficult to stomach, and at many points throughout the novel, I found myself feeling a tiny bit of the revulsion, soul-sickness, and almost-paralyzing fear that Parker was feeling in the course of his investigation.

As always, Louis and Angel are there to both cover him and provide comic relief at moments of great tension. But this time, for the first time that I can recall, part of the horror involves them directly, and Parker must not only solve the mysteries he finds but also try to save the life of one of these friends. This novel also sets up the tension that drives much of the fourth novel, The White Road, in the series when Parker, confronted with possible damage to his own spirit and sense of morality, makes a decision that creates distance between himself and the people he most trusts to help him stay alive.

While this book is funny throughout (with Parker's wit and the influence of his two "sidekicks" making even the toughest moments opportunities for humor), it is also bleak and almost unrelentingly dark.

All in all, this book is worth more than one read. I know that I like it even more the second time around.

I greatly enjoyed this book, which gave a truly unique and rare perspective into female life in early Colonial New England. Thoroughly absorbing the chapters is truly co-dependent on simultaneously reading through the footnotes at the back, so know in advance that there will be a lot of flipping back and forth, but that this will enrich and enhance the interpretation and absorbability of the diary. I love firsthand historical accounts, and now have a renewed appreciation for early colonial life, particularly that of the female voice in this era, and even moreso women in childbirth in rural Maine in the winter (!). It almost seems voyeuristic to read Martha's diary, knowing that she likely never intended for it to be read by anyone else, let alone 220+ years later, but her voice is fluid, peaceful, humble, and dutiful to her family and her society. If you enjoyed this, also rent or buy the PBS documentary video of it by the same name, which has period re-enactments, and live narration by the author as she explains the journey of putting this work together. A fabulous read, ripe for discussion particularly in examining the parallels between this life so long ago, and our own today.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwifes' Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 demonstrates that an ordinary person's life can shed light and produce a more rich historiographical picture of a time period than solely focusing on prominent figures and events of history. The main thrust of this work is to debunk previous opinions of the diary that found the work not very useful in presenting important matters of historical interest of colonial times such as historian James W. North's comment "brief and with some exceptions not of general interest" or Charles Elventon Nash's comment ""trivial and unimportant...being but a repetition of what has been recited many times" and concluded "Like many diaries of farm women, it is filled with trivia about domestic chores and pastimes." (pp. 8,9) Ulrich debunks these previous interpretations of Martha Ballard's diary by showing that the diary exposes the social history of not only women in rural colonial times but addresses the bigger picture of colonial life in general through the daily activities of herself, her family, and neighbors in the community. Ulrich compares Martha Ballard's diary with three other documents from the community and time period Martha Ballard lived in. These documents were specifically from Daniel Cony who was a medical doctor, William Howard a wealthy businessman, and Henry Sewall who was the town clerk. She uses these documents to fill in information not mentioned in Martha Ballard's diary and also as a counterbalance of the men's perspective of events in Hallowell and what they felt was important to document verses a women's perspective of what Martha Ballard thought was worth documenting in her diary. Ulrich then extrapolates from these sources an interpretive picture of colonial life. On the one hand the heavy interpretive nature of this book forces the reader to wonder if this interpretation is close to the mark of accuracy or flawed in someway. On the other hand Ulrich heavily used other documented evidence to support her interpretation which lends credibility to her interpretation. An amateur historian would have a difficult time painting this picture of colonial life; however, Ulrich seems to do this with great expertise and eloquence. The expertise and eloquence is obviously derived from her academic career which has focused on the social history of women during the United States colonial era.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's academic life has consisted of previously being a professor of American history at the University of New Hampshire and is currently a Phillips Professor of Early American history at Harvard University. Ulrich's main research area has been in the fields of early American social history, women's history, and material culture. Some of Ulrich's work in this area include Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Early New England, 1650-1750 (1982), A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (1990), In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Making of an American Myth (2001), and Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). Ulrich certainly has over twenty years of research in the area of social history in the colonial era to make her an authoritative author on the subject and this is demonstrated in her work A Midwife's Tale in which she not only used evidence from documents from that particular community in the time period, but also used her historical imagination, (sometimes used to heavily), to interpret the diary entries to give a vivid depiction of both Martha Ballard's life and colonial rural life in general.

Ulrich formatted each chapter by presenting excerpts from Martha Ballard's diary and then spent the remainder of each chapter comparing these entries with the other written accounts from that time and using an interpretive approach to decipher what the significance of Martha Ballard's entries meant with regards to the life of Martha Ballard and the community she lived in. Ulrich didn't include the entire diary of Martha Ballard in her book and selectively pulled excerpts from different parts to illustrate the different social factors playing out in the daily life of Martha and the Hallowell community, but did include other entries from the dairy within her evaluation to support her interpretation. Obviously Ulrich could not have included all the entries of Martha Ballard's diary and analyzed all sections due to the constraints a book length imposes, however, some interpretations were based on an entire reading of the diary and the reader is not privy to this broader context of information. Ulrich acknowledges this fact when she stated, "Someday the dairy may be published. What follows in no sense is a substitute for it; it is an interpretation, a kind of exegesis." (p. 34) Ulrich admittedly states this is only an interpretation in which Ulrich seems to read in between the lines and/or provides an interpretation based on what was not said verses what was explicitly said due to the fact the entries were brief, mostly lacked an opinionated tone, and were mostly matter of fact daily details. Even though the other sources of evidence backing her interpretations were thorough there is no true way to know if Ulrich's interpretations are mostly correct, somewhat correct, or completely flawed unless the reader had read the entire dairy and other documents she consulted herself. This leaves the reader to just take Ulrich's word for it that her interpretation of the diary entries are as accurate as they can be. Ulrich in some cases may have used her historical imagination a bit excessively, but overall she presents enough evidence from other sources to make her interpretation for the most part as credible as it can be and never the less very enjoyable to read.

I know this is a well respected book but in all honesty I found it to be very repetitious and boring. There are only so many times you can listen to complaints about colic and very similar sounding births before you get bored to tears. While writing the history of ordinary people is important, Ballard lived a boring and uneventful life. Unless you want to hear about the stories of dozens of births steer clear. And i'm a phd student used to dry books.

Please disregard the 2 stars in the rating. It is a 5 star book. The system automaticaly put 2 stars and would not let me change it.

I can't say enough about how wonderful this book is and how much I enjoyed reading it. This book would be a wonderful gift for anyone in the medical profession. It is a fascinating account of an amazing woman facing the challenges of life in early Maine as well as the every day facts of life necessary for survival. She contributed immensely to life itself as she was the midwife to hundreds of, if not more, women and the birth of their children.

For myself, I used it as a genealogical tool because that is the area of the country where all of my ancestors came from. It is facinating to know the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of our ancestors.

Priscilla Paul
Memphis

Interesting diary of a Maine midwife. Not the easiest read but enjoyable.

The Rejection Collection is a must for any book lover's collection. The concept of this book is particularly appealing - a glimpse into a cartoon artist's mind and into the standards of the New Yorker. By reading The Rejection Collection, you will have the rare opportunity to see into the childhood of each artist and discover the unusual, often brilliant, thinking process of the cartoonist. I guarantee that you will laugh out laud with each page. My husband and I regularly give this book as a gift - and always receive an exuberant thank you.

I love NY'er cartoons. These aren't rejects--these were too outre, too funny, too rude, smart, outrageous, on point... Just be careful to read these on or near well-upholstered surfaces. You'll hurt yourself laughing so much collapsed on a hard wood floor.

While the cartoons in this book are still New Yorker style, I found most of them not funny or to the point but besides the point - if there was any.
It became very obvious to me why these got rejected, and I strongly recommend to purchase one of the collections of cartoons that were not rejected.

Truly funny and very creative.. and I loved the "questionnaires" filled out by each cartoonist. Looking forward to all future R.C's.

Definitely funny! And while admittedly edgier than The New Yorker (language, bodily functions, gore), it's not offensive.

Even better than the cartoons are the accompanying photos of featured cartoonists and their clever responses to a (probably intentionally lame) questionnaire.

Charlie Parker a former police detective, now private investigator is hired by Rebecca Clay to make sure a recently freed convict named, Merrick, stops harassing her. Merrick's daughter (the only person in the world he ever truly loved) disappeared as he served time in prison. Before Merrick's release, Rebecca had declared her missing father, a disgraced child psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Clay, dead. Merrick is convinced Dr. Clay knows something about his daughter whereabouts and that Parker's client is lying about her father's demise. He believes Rebecca knows where Dr. Clay is hiding.

After meeting Merrick face-to-face, Parker is reminded of his own past and empathizes with the man. Parker's engrosses himself in the case believing if he can find information that can assist Merrick find his daughter; he would stop terrorizing his client. Parker soon uncovers a history of sexual violence and maltreatment to children. The thin line between normalcy and the paranormal merges as Parker crosses paths with an old adversary he had hoped never to meet again.

John Connolly takes readers on a psychological thrill ride that blends a perfect mix of mystery and the bizarre. I highly recommend The Unquiet to anyone who enjoys a good hard-boiled detective novels and the supernatural.

The Friday House
Xiii
Lost Hours

The only problem with this book is that it is about 150 pages too long.

"The Unquiet" was haunting, well written, and a bit creepy (in the best sense). Mr. Connolly always tells a good tale, and this book is no exception. His writing just seems to get better and better. Highly recommended!

I was given this book as a gift and once I did get around to reading it, well just couldn't put it down. The subject matter is one I would never have selected myself but it did weave an incredible tale. Connolly is a very skillful writer and keeps the reader turning every page. I will read another of his works. His mastery of weaving fiction and non-fiction brought so much more to this read. Living in Maine I could identify with all the locations and even remember seeing the "guesser" of the Old Orchard Beach Pier at his craft. This is a great book and nothing short of an incredible thriller.

John Connolly's recurring protagonist, Charlie Parker, is a former NYPD detective-turned Maine PI with a very troubled past, who has a penchant for getting drawn into violent cases that involve various supernatural elements. This is Connolly's seventh Parker story (counting the novella "The Reflecting Eye," which is contained in the short story collection NOCTURNES.)

In THE UNQUIET, Parker agrees to help out a lady named Rebecca Clay, who is being stalked and harassed by an ex-con. The con in question (an old hitman named Frank Merrick) is asking about the lady's father, a child psychologist who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances a while back; Ms. Clay claims to know nothing about what happened to him, but Merrick won't take `no' for an answer. What seems at first like a simple protection job soon leads Parker into the dark world of child abuse and exploitation. As always in the Parker novels, the gay odd couple of Angel (a white thief) and Louis (a black hitman) assist Parker and also provide some comic relief. The strange, disturbing character called `the Collector,' who first appeared in "The Reflecting Eye," returns in this novel, too.

Connolly, as usual, writes extremely well, combining a lyrical, literary inflection with a hardboiled/noir style, and also blending the genres of crime fiction and supernatural horror - all with plot and settings backed up by extensive research. Characterization and dialogue, which are always good in the Parker novels, are superb in this one.

I thought that the previous Parker novel, THE BLACK ANGEL, faltered a bit, but THE UNQUIET shows Connolly and Parker back in peak form, with a lean, taught narrative. The ending was great - rather low-key by Connolly standards, but perfect for the story, and with a good twist.

This is actually the least violent Parker novel so far, too, but Connolly proves he can handle more subtle storytelling just as well as he can handle shootouts and gore. Like THE BLACK ANGEL (and in contrast to the earlier books in the series, which were almost exclusively 1st-person narratives from Parker's perspective), a fair amount of this story is not told from Parker's perspective; however, I thought Connolly did a bit better with the non-Parker POV parts in this book than in ANGEL.

If you're a fan of hardboiled crime, supernatural horror, dark thrillers, or any combination thereof, or even if you're just someone who appreciates good, original writing, you'll enjoy the Parker stories. I just finished reading this book for the second or third time while waiting for my copy of Connolly's latest, THE REAPERS, to arrive; I highly recommend THE UNQUIET and the entire Parker series, though I urge anyone new to it to read the books in order - trust me, they'll make more sense and you'll get more out of them that way. Start with EVERY DEAD THING, and you may become hooked like I am.

Very good story. I enjoyed readint it. My granddaughter will hopefully enjoy it also.

This book won the Newberry Honor book for a reason. In my opinion it should have been the Winner. This is a thougthful, well written book. It is full of great characters in a thought provoking story. Seeing the story of Malaga Island and the town of Phippsburg through the wise young eyes of Turner Buckminster was brilliant. Gary Schmidt is a master at telling the story of "adolescents turning their face toward adulthood." I heard Gary say those very words last week when I heard him speak at a local community dinner. I was very moved by all he talked about. It is clear that he is a gifted storyteller on paper and in voice. Lizzie Bright tells an important story about ignorance, prejudice and growing up. As an adult who loves to read well written juvenile fiction, I am looking forward to more great books by Gary Schmidt.

I bought this book for class. It was very well written. The ending was hard to deal with, but it was excellent and a good background to the history of Malaga Island. I would suggest this for anyone who likes a good read. This also good for educators to introduce race relations in Maine.

I found this a good read, I'm sure kids will enjoy it and not see too far beyond the quick moving plot and the somewhat typical good-guys/bad guys village.

As an adult reader, I did not enjoy the very modern camera angle the author used. There were some historical inaccuracies & modern biases that stuck out. (Lobstering was not a very honored or in demand profession at that time period--lobsters were the poor man's food. As a matter of fact, it was such a looked down upon food source, they fed it to prison and asylum inmates by the boat load. Schmidt could have used that as a device to get the main character to the asylum if he had researched it a bit more. Instead, he relied on a modern perception.)

The main character's clearly an example of "what if a kid from today was back there in time."

I picked this book up from the children's section because of its setting -- a town on the Maine coast in 1912. Any sentimental notions I had of a cozy read about my home state were soon shredded. "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" tells the true story of a sad blot on Maine history -- the eviction of a 125-year-old settlement of African Americans from an island off the town of Phippsburg. The town's ship-building industry was dying and the town fathers wanted to build a resort hotel on the mainland bluff overlooking Malaga Island; the "squatters' shacks" were not deemed a suitable landscape for that development.

Thirteen-year-old Turner Buckminster is new in town, the minister's son, lonely and isolated. He finds Maine an inhospitable venue compared to his former life in Boston, until he is befriended by Lizzie Bright, granddaughter of the Malaga Island minister. Though his father, influenced by the town's hatred of the islanders, forbids it, Turner becomes close to Lizzie and continues to spend time on the island.

One of the finest sub-plots of the book is Turner's relationship with crusty old Mrs. Cobb. He is sent by his father to play hymns on her organ and read to her, as punishment. Mrs. Cobb is obsessed with her eventual death and with having someone hear and record her last words. Turner hesitates to play hymns that might feed her obsession with death, but her favorite is "I Have Some Friends Before Me Gone." Mrs. Cobb turns out to be a wonderful friend to Turner -- and to Lizzie Bright.

Gary D. Schmidt writes about the natural landscape with poetic joy. The sea breeze is woven through the story like an unnamed supporting character: "He watched the day begin to settle into sleep. It yawned out a white fog the sea breeze carried in close to shore and left hovering there." The book is full of rich imagery of the sky, the sea, the land. You can almost hear the little cat feet of the fog.

By comparison, the characterization is somewhat shallow. Aside from the redemption of Turner's father, of Mrs. Cobb, and of Turner's arch-enemy Willis Hurd, the characters show little movement throughout the book. School Library Journal pegs the book for grades 6-9. If that age group is expected to value the lyrical representation of the natural world, they might also value more differentiation and growth in the characters.

In addition, the themes of discrimination and avarice are somewhat heavy-handed in presentation. Other reviewers of this book have noted that the characters are polarized: the townspeople totally intolerant and the Malagans the archetype of innocence.

These are the reasons I've given four stars rather than five. However it's a beautifully written story and a highly appropriate recipient of the Newbery Honor Medal. I recommend it for family reading and discussion.

As the Author's Note points out, you can take a field trip past Popham Beach to Phippsburg, but you won't see any hotels overlooking the strait to Malaga Island -- they were never built.


Linda Bulger, 2008

Animals have a way of finding that void in your heart. They can teach you to love for the very first time, or to trust your heart and love again. This story does just that. It draws you in from the very first page and never lets you down. Great read.

I just loved this book! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it. My favorite character was Lloyd, of course, but everyone in it was likeable and memorable. I could wholly relate to Rocky and thought Sheehan did a marvelous job making you care about her. Don't be afraid to buy this one. It's a good entertaining read!

Within the first ten pages of this book, I knew Bob, I knew Rocky, I understood their marriage, and I felt her palpable grief at his death.

And then she got better... bit by bit.

This is a story of getting better. Rocky has a very Rocky path to health. Along the way, she and some others rescue each other. Melissa (a girl with some mental issues), Tess (a woman with some physical issues), and a dog named Lloyd are the central casting in this story, and they all tell the story, and they all heal each other.

It may seem like typical chick lit - in fact there is even an evil man in the background. But there are some great male characters here, too, not the least being Bob, mostly in memory, but the idea that good men exist is quite obvious.

I liked the way some chapters switched voice. I liked the underlying mystery, but most of all I liked the healing. A very good read.

(*)>

What a wonderful book! I couldn't put it down. The characters were constantly evolving and wonderful.

Any animal lover will completely gobble up this book, but even those not so familiar with our furry friend's charms will find nothing but gems within the 278 pages of this book.

The main character, Rocky, as she is appropriately nicknamed, is dealing with a devastating loss. Her husband dies suddenly and she takes a leave of absense from her job to move to a coastal Maine island to work as an animal control warden---a far cry from her normal career as a psychologist. It proves to be one of the best moves she has ever made. As a result, she grows both emotionally, psychologically and even spiritually due to the loving good-naturedness of a lost black lab who is suffering a loss of his own.

This beautiful creature pulls at least 10 people together and splendidly puts them exactly where they should have been a long time ago: on track.

I really wish the book had no ending as I could have continued to read it indefinitely.

I really hope Ms. Sheehan will write a sequel, it was simply that good. I literally cried and was so moved during some of its chapters and I found myself feeling so fulfilled in the end....yet wanting more information of what was to come.

Highly recommended!!!!!

My father died on February 27 2008. I'm inclined towards reading a lot of vampiric chic lit at this point in my life and just randomly picked this book up at a local bookstore. I had a doctor's appointment last week and didn't want to be reading Kim Harrison's The Outlaw Demon Wails sitting in the doctor's office (it is a very, very fun book but seemed somewhat undignified under the circumstances) so I took Lost and Found with me instead and then almost burst into tears in my gynecologist's office reading the first chapter since my own grief over my father's death is still so close to the surface.

As a dog trainer, I am extremely picky about reading anything written in a dog's voice, always holding it up to my two perfect examples of Watership Down (yeah they're bunnies but for speaking from an animal's POV it just cannot be beaten) and Donald McCaig's Eminent Dogs and Dangerous Men (about dogs in heaven.) The pieces of Lost And Found written from the dog, Loyd's, POV are honestly that good.

I finished the novel as quickly as possible so that I could give it to my mother to read but I cautioned her about the first chapter and put a bookmark at Chapter 2 for her and gave her a brief summary of the events of Chapter 1 so that she didn't wind up crying in her own doctor's office or at the pool or wherever.

Lost And Found is truly an extraordinary book. The characters are very real and well drawn (both human and canine!) and there is true growth for all of them throughout the novel. I know that it spoke to me specifically because of my recent loss and because of my lifetime obsession with dogs but both my mother and I already have people in mind to whom we want to lend or give this book.