Holidays Books

It's a history book and a cookbook all in one. The biggest selling point for me is the accuracy of the recipes. Can you believe it contains a mincemeat recipe that actually contains meat! That's a rare gem these days. If you love food history as much as you do a good dish you will want to own this book.

As someone who loves to cook and is fascinated by early american history, I was extremely pleased by the content of this book. It is not merely a cookbook but a history book as well. This book can be enjoyed by children and adults equally.

Wonderful! Curtin and Oliver put together a unique collection of exquisite and easy to follow recipes. The history behind the national holiday is also explained with interesting details and complements nicely the culinary section. Whether the reader wants to learn more about the tradition or wants to impress friends and family at the dinner table, this is the book to read!
Giving Thanks. A book to have and a book to give!

A fantastic book to read! The recipes we tried were outstanding-easy to read directions & the history behind each dish was a treat to read. I am looking forward to using these recipes at our Thanksgiving this year.

This is a fun book. The book has great trivia and history, and a great variety of the old traditional recipes. But along with that, are the recipes created by the different cultures of our "Melting Pot", who adapted their own wonderful tastes and flavors to their Thanksgiving celebration. This year, my family is going use only recipes in this cookbook to make a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

Gordon's despriptions vividly depict emotion, and she writes like no one else.

Her narrator, Willie, is burdened with the weight of parental expectations. "You would be so good at the violin if you practiced," his mother says. "Your teacher says you have potential."

Willie is the kind of kid who hides in the outfield, hoping no one hits the ball his way. His own expectation: I will screw up.

I loved this book. It's full of big ideas -- how families fall apart and come together again, how art and music are essential, even a touch of political activism. This book also holds a quiet wisdom. You find your passion, then let's see about potential. In the end, it shows children they can be important, too.

I'm looking forward to the sequel.

This story is about a boy who has a boring life, and he has nothing to do this summer. His Aunt Bridget calls and wants him to come stay the summer with her in the city of Gloria. He goes and meets a lot of new friends, and plays on a baseball team at the Gill park. Willy the boy really likes the park. After a few days of being there Otto Pettingill says hes going to sell the park. Willy helps save the park and otto dies a few days later.
HE leaves the park to willy.

The Gorillas of Gill Park was a really good book. It was about a boy named Willy, who over the summer went to visit his Aunt Bridget in Gloria. His parents were reluctant, but Willy had nothing better to do, so they let him go. Willy's aunt makes costumes for people, and her current assisgnment is to make 30 gorilla costumes. Aunt Bridget's apartment is across the street from Gill Park. In the park there is a mysterious music maker. Willy can hear this music in his room. The next day, Willy goes to the park and meets some kids who play baseball. Well, these kids need one more player,so Willy agrees to play. Willy has a great adventure with baseball, those 30 gorilla suits,and finding out who the mysterious music maker is. So come along for the ride!!

Ah, eccentric old millionaires. Where would children's literature be without their kindly loopy presence? Why we wouldn't have brilliant books like, "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin or "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", by E.L. Konigsburg, that's for sure. If children's books have taught us anything, it's that millionaires are often kindly (unless they're villainous developers) and that they like to set up elaborate games and clues for their child friends. "The Gorillas of Gill Park" features a slightly different kind of millionaire. He has all the usual characteristics: A home full of objects he collects, odd habits, a love of art, etc. He doesn't set up an elaborate game in this particular book (though its sequel is another matter entirely). Instead, it is through his kindly intervention that our hero is able to do a public service to the community and learn how to be his own separate person. There are many things to love about "The Gorillas of Gill Park". I just wish there had been more gorillas.

Willy Wilson doesn't think he has much of a personality. But getting shipped off to spend the summer with his eccentric costume-making Aunt Bridget might change all of that. When he comes to live with her in the large city of Gloria and right across the street from the fabulous Gill Park, Willy finds all kinds of new and exciting things about this home away from home. The park constantly pumps out wonderful music via its eccentric millionaire musician owner Otto Pettingill. It's filled with alternative baseball player kids, one of whom recruits Willy to be a first baseman right off the bat. There's Lisle, the odd little orphan who belongs to Otto and constantly does her own thing. There's also the fact that Aunt Bridget is now making gorilla costumes this summer, so the apartment is full of black fluff. Unfortunately, just as Willy starts getting comfortable with his new home, tragedy strikes. Otto Pettingill is going to sell off the park to a man who wants to turn it into a shopping mall. Lisle is being adopted by parents who don't fit her personality in the least. And Otto Pettingill himself has disappeared entirely. It's up to Willy now to save the park, save Lisle, and find the mysterious Mr. P before it's all too too late.

The writing in this book starts out a little slow, but eventually you get into it. What Ms. Gordon does particularly well is conjure up rather disgusting but effective descriptions. Lisle is reported to wear a cap of a particular color. "It might have been red once, or orange, it was hard to tell - now it was sort of the color of tonsils". It's almost a pity that a color picture of that same cap appears on the book's cover. Kids will undoubtedly check and double check it for an idea of tonsil colorations. It would have been nice if that could have been left entirely to their own imaginations. The story plays out at a fast clip, balancing the big story (the imminent destruction of the park) with the subplots (most centering around Willy's work on the baseball team). When the park plot wraps up a good 50+ pages before the end of the book, the story stalls out a little. You feel like you've experienced the climax and that the end should be a lot sooner than it is.

And look, if the word "Gorillas" appears in your book's title and you sport a picture of one on your cover, title page, and bookflaps, people are gonna want gorillas. Lots of `em. And unfortunately Amy Gordon is skimpy with the gorillaness of it all. Towards the end of the tale the gorillas finally play a little more into the plot, but not enough to justify their absence beforehand. There were other small problems with the story as well. For one thing, the book is entirely reliant on the reader wanting Lisle not to return to the uptight guardians millionaire Otto Pettingill inadvertently placed her with. The problem is that while our hero, Willy Wilson, is enamored of the wild child, the reader can't see her good points. She's the kind of child hero who when she's been repeatedly saved and helped by kind-hearted Willy, still hasn't the slightest problem with calling him a coward when he doesn't want to play his violin for her. She's charmless, is the problem. A nasty, mean, runty little thing without a speck of manners or pleasantness in her body. She's smart, sure, but not the kind of person you particularly feel like rooting for. She's been kidnapped by Pettingill's representative? Hooray! Throw away the key, so say I.

Of course, there's a lot to enjoy about this book. Each chapter begins with a picture of a person who appears in that chapter with a quote or sentence from that person that explains something especially important about their personality. The drawings of each character are credited in tiny tiny type to one Mr. Matthew Cordell. They're simple little pictures, rather sweet and simplistic. Mr. Cordell has done a nice little job (and I'm not just saying that because he's married to a school librarian). The characters in the tale aren't exactly three-dimensional (the plant guy speaks entirely in plant-like metaphors, the French woman with a Miss Piggyesque accent, etc.) but there are some surprising moments. I liked the bad-guy vegan or the fact that a little old lady could be a xenophobic moron. There's not a whole lotta depth to the book, but at least it's still a lot of fun.

It needs more gorillas though. A lot more. One can only pray that the sequel, "The Return to Gill Park" will contain some increased primate appearances. Altogether this is a good book for kids already into baseball in some way, shape, or form. It requires a knowledge of the game but still has enough action and adventure (not to mention a very realistic conjuring up of a truly fictional town) to justify its existence on bookshelves everywhere. Not the first book I'd think to recommend, but a nice read all the same.

I picked up this book not expecting to finish it due to the fact that I never have the time to read. I soon found myself caught among the memorable characters and the storyline. I could not put this book down!

From Willy first going around Gill Park to the teary ending....

this book is fantastic!

Originally, Greenwich Village was settled by the rich and merchant class of lower Manhattan as an escape from the recurring ravages of yellow fever and cholera. For this reason Greenwich Village was, essentially, never really mapped out; never really settled in accordance to any public plan. Perhaps this haphazard beginning is what gave the area its combined refined yet anarchic flavor that exists until this day.

And this was also the reason for the area becoming attractive to free-thinkers and artists, which is the focus of the valuable book, "Greenwich Village: A Guide to America's Legendary Left Bank" by Judith Stonehill. Complete with maps, illustrations and a walking tour of the four sections which make up Greenwich Village, the guide reveals the extraordinary number of famous artists, writers, performers, etc who made the place their homes. Artist Edward Hopper, poet Walt Whitman, playwright Eugene O'Neill, and novelist Willa Cather, are just a few of the famous names who lived and created work here. But more important, as the subtitle to this guide suggests, they created something uniquely American.

"Greenwich Village: A Guide to America's Legendary Left Bank" is a great book for people who will visit the village, and is great for New Yorkers, themselves, to learn about this neighborhood that they thought they knew so well.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points

This book is a beautiful and well written guide to my favorite area of New York. An excellent read for anyone who enjoys the village.

I am giving it to everyone I know as a Christmas present. Since I grew up in the village, it is a joy to be able to share the rich history of my hometown.

Having planned a trip to NYC for the first time, I wanted to use a different guidebook that would give me a historical perspective with walking tours. I found it in this beautiful book. It made my trip to NYC a most memorable one. I highly recommend this book to anyone travelling to NY who wishes to learn more about this great city's history.

I couldn't stop reading this book! It's funny, smart, full of surprises and as beautiful as any book I've seen this year. It's like a box of candy -- almost impossible to put down, easy to pick up again, and delicious wherever your fingers happen to land.

Brian Butko has done it again! His insights and knowledge of this subject will make you feel like you are travelling with him as he goes from state to state, exploring all the different paths and alignments that were designated as the Lincoln Highway over the years. Pointing out sights, roadside attractions and businesses along the way. I personally have travelled some of the eastern portion of this historic road without knowing it at the time.

This book is an excellent reference for the entire Lincoln Highway. Some of the state-specific books may have more detail, but none are easier to follow. It is very well written- flows easily, lots of good pictures. I wish we had this one when we traveled part of it.

Ever wonder what it would have been like to have driven across the country in the early part of the 20th Century, before roads were regularly paved or well-marked? You can get a glimpse of what early travelers faced on the first transcontinental highway by reading Greetings From The Lincoln Highway by Brian Butko.

The book starts off by telling the history of the Lincoln Highway, from its inception and promotion by Carl Fisher and Henry Joy to its eventual replacement by numbered Federal highways. Most of the remainder of the book describes the route of the old highway going west from New York City to its end in San Francisco. The route is described in great detail, enough for one to use it in driving it today. Throughout the text, there are excerpts from the journals and letters of early travelers of the highway. We drivers of today can be glad we don't have to put up with the conditions they faced.

If you are a fan of the historic roadways; if you want ideas for future vacations; if you want to experience life off of the Interstates -- this book is for you.

Think Route 66 is America's oldest or first coast-to-coast road? Well, it gets more publicity, but Route 66 wasn't the first: the Lincoln Highway predates it by a dozen years, runs a third longer, and travels coast to coast. Greetings From The Lincoln Highway: America's First Coast-to-Coast Road provides a lively highway history, packing in the maps which depict the original highway and its changes from state to state, the color photos of local color and highway scenery, and of course the all-important history of the highway's past. From vintage posters and ads to restored old stations and services, Butko' Greetings From The Lincoln Highway follows the highway across the country and provides a very colorful, compelling story in the process.

Here it is. If you're looking for a terrific guide to places and people along the Lincoln Highway, past and present, you can't find a better guide than this book. Plenty of images, maps, postcards, and other memorabilia place this resource among the very best of roadside guides. Use it for historical research. Use it for trip planning. Use it for armchair tourism. Either way, you'll be glad you bought this book.

This book is fabulous. I work as a travel nurse and recently spent 6 1/2 months in Maine. I had never been there before and spent several hours at the bookstore going through various Maine travel books before settling on this one. I certainly made the right choice. It was a wonderful resource. I spent hours reviewing the information in this book over the course of my time in Maine. I plan to go back to Maine next summer and will take my book right back with me. The information on shops, restaurants and points of interest was valuable and very accurate.

I've spent time at the book stores recently researching books for my upcoming trip to Maine. My wife and I plan to spend 4 nights and 5 days there and wanted plenty to see and do where we wouldn't necessarily meet thousands of other travelers since I'm not too much into the whole crowd experience. Brandes' book is so well researched that you can't go wrong with it!

While other typical books that are similar, such as Fodors and Frommers, have quite a bit of information in its own right, I think that this particular Moon Handbook is better equipped to give better detail of interest whether site seeing, dining, entertainment, lodging, etc.

I recently completed a Web site for a bed and breakfast located in Machiasport (down east) and had to do quite a bit of research on the area to enhance their site. My research was conducted primarily via the internet over the course of a few days. I'm glad to say that after I received my book and compared information, everything I could find on the Web in and around Machiasport was already included in sufficient detail in this book! I would have saved myself a few days of searching.

If you want to tour Maine or already live there but need to places to explore, the second edition Moon Handbook on Maine is the way to go.

When I vote with 4 stars, that means the product was excellent. When I vote with 5 stars, it goes beyond excellence in my view and is considered best in class. This book is "THE" authoritive book on touring Maine. Excellent purchase!

First of all, I have to mention that I live in Maine. And I can tell you from experience that the beauty of Kathleen Brandes' book lies in the sheer span of coverage, which is considerable, matched with a propensity for detail, which is astounding! Even the "Native" Mainers will find much to enjoy in this book. This is a rich, dense, and completely user-friendly volume, folks!
I'll give you an example. I'm a photographer based in the Bangor area. I bought this book for my personal library which aids me in seeking out photographic areas of interest. Last week I traveled to Lubec, Maine - and I used this handbook for lodging and dining info. I located the Eastland Motel in Lubec based on this handbook, and met the proprietor - Lee Aragon - who cheerfully provided suggestions for exploration in the Lubec-Eastport-Campobello region. I mentioned to Lee that I had read about her in The Maine Handbook...and that she was correctly described by Kathleen Brandes as a "Lubec booster". Lee was tickled pink by this, and by extension, I was able to get some nice local insights that I would never have known about otherwise.
Paging through this Maine Handbook, you get the feeling that Kathleen Brandes is a scholar of "All Things Maine", and she is enjoying every minute of it. And who can blame her? Maine truly is.....well.....the way life should be.
Buy the book, come to Maine....and if you already live here, buy the book anyway! It has become something of a "state bible" for me. Can't image traveling without it.
And there is something in this book for everyone. Kathleen has you covered, whether you are single, married with children, an armchair traveler or someone who simply wishes to know more about the Pine Tree State. Longtime locals and prospective tourists alike would do well to mine this gem of a book. I have two dog-eared copies....one for home, and one for my car - enough said.

This book has become an invaluable source! I've now travelled to Maine twice and brought the book both times. Brandes provides a wealth of information, especially for those things off the beaten path. The book includes very helpful maps - on my last trip I left my Maine atlas at home and found the maps included in the book to be quite helpful. The spine on my book is really starting to see some wear - I enjoy reading it even when I'm not travelling. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are planning to travel to the northern, less populated regions of Maine.

I LOVED this book. My family and I travel Maine each year and this book is THE guide (along with the Maine Atlas). It has helped us refine our experience in Maine to a very satisfying level.

The guide to natural sites/walks/boating is still wonderful.

However, if you've been to Maine before, you know that businesses come and go with alarming rapidity. This is especially true in the Eastern Coast. Most of the restaurants listed in the guide are long gone or under different managements, so don't count on finding a place to eat based on this guide.

Full of exciting tales of the road and the adventures that food can bring to the journey. This book is an absolute must! What is travel without food? Each story in this exceptional selection brings to the reader an intriguing fascination with the world and all it has to offer. Culture after culture you will be astounded by the discoveries each traveler brings to the table. This book is truly a treat for the hungry traveler and by books end, you will be satisfyingly full and content! Buy it and feast your way through the world with each turn of the page.

If you love food and travel, and who doesn't, you'll enjoy this book. I loved the compilation of stories, and how they illustrate how food adds to the experience of different places and different people. Just one warning: it will make you want to go someplace...and eat.

I love this book. I often pick up books from the Travelers Tales series and this one delivered even better than most! The articles were varied and delicious - it made me hungry to travel to far off places with these women and share a meal!

I loved the stories in Lisa Bach's book. Evocative passages that will have you reaching for your travel agent's number to experience it yourself...Or be an armchair traveler & chef, while your travel the globe, kitchen by kitchen, food stand to food stand.

This is such a wonderful book! I stumbled upon it at the bookstore and thought it had just the perfect concept. Food and travel--what else do you need? The selections here are amazing, and each piece really delivers. This is a must-have for any lover of food and adventure. Remember it the next time you need that special and unique gift for someone.

A must if you plan on going to any of the historical areas of the Holy Land. Much superior to any of the "name" travel guides, incredible detail and historical perspective.

Great description of both the sights and the surroundings of all of the different areas of the Holy Land. Provides background to understand the significance, as well as other importance in other times.

Very informative with good descriptions. The language is a little difficult to interpret at times and I wish there was a little more history with each site, but overall a great guide.

This book is filled with the knowledge of vast experience and travel. If you want a book that doesn't just give the religiously naive and superstitious what they want to hear (like so many do), then this is your book. Excellent in several ways.

Recommended to me by an archaeolgist long active in Israel, I found this book quite helpful in appreciating a number of sites (and sights) I recently visited (and saw) in the Holy Land. For folks who are looking to learn more about various ancient sites than the typical tour guide can offer, this will be well worth its price. In addition to its being informative, I found the personality of its author evident and engaging.

We live approx. 3 hours from KC and like to visit about once a year. This book is packed with useful information. It's a great buy even if you plan on visiting KC only once.

I am a resident of the area and was impressed with the ideas given to have a vacation without leaving the city.

THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO KANSAS CITY is a wonderful book. It tells you where the best neighborhoods are on both the Missouri and Kansas sides; the best school districts; the best health care; and virtually everything you need to know about this area. Of course, it could talk about the shopping malls in more depth, like some other books in this series, and some radio station listings are inaccurate as to category and should be taken like the humor in AMERICAN WEDDING, SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS, HARVARD MAN, DRIVE ME CRAZY, 13 GOING ON 30, PRETTY WOMAN, MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, FRIENDS, DATE MOVIE, and/or the two GARFIELD movies featuring Jennifer Love Hewitt (for example, KRBZ belongs in the Rock/Rhythm/Soul category, not the Contemporary category, while KLZR is not even a Kansas City station but is based in Lawrence and belongs in the Contemporary category, not Rock/Rhythm/Soul, as does KFME, which is now KCJK, and moreover, KNRX is now KMJK- an adult urban contemporary station- and is located about 45 minutes away, in Lexington, MO), as should the listing of Countryside as a separate city (it merged with Mission in 2003), but overall, if you're interested in different metro areas, you'll crave this book.

When I read this book I felt like Katie was personally showing me KC. It was like she was holding my hand as we explored the neighborhoods and hot spots.

As a local, who takes the city for granted and continually revisits the old haunts, I am enormously grateful for this comprehensive insight into what MY city has to offer.
Katie has sparked the "adventurous" in me and now I am ready to hit the road. This is a book meant for every local's library not to mention all visitors to the city. Most of us are unaware of the myrid options that Kansas City offers. This guide gives us the opportunity to explore and enjoy everything that is available. We are also prepared when, when they come, to enlighten visitors as to everything that Kansas City is about.
Thank you Katie for making all of us who have the book "insiders." The book is a must.

I am traveling to Ireland soon, and found myself in need of a Rough Guide-- because no one else does it better. So far its been instrumental in planning my trip: from arrival in the Southern port cities to a trip around the Ring of Kerry to our planned stay in Dublin, its the starting point in accounting for lodging, restaurants, and activities. No guide can encapsulate the entire country they're "guiding" you through, but the very best give you a great sense of where and how to begin engaging with the country or countries in question and the Rough Guide typically does this with aplomb. I'm also headed to Britain on this trip too, and trust-- I've got the Rough Guide for Britain, too. Laurence West

This is the first Rough Guide I've purchased, and I'll be looking for more in the series. I like the way the guide is structured, by county and town/smaller area, with attractions described in detail enough for a reader to decide whether or not to see them.

I used this book for a 10-day driving trip around Ireland with my mom. My mom had brought Frommer's and Fodor's guide books, and we kept coming back to the Rough Guide. I'd used my first Rough Guide in Ecuador and loved it. What I love is that they cover everything, not just the tourist traps that the "mainstream" guide books do. The book's recommendations are right on and they have information on even the most out-of-the-way places. The book's best suggestion was climbing Mount Errigal - quite a hike, but so worth it.

Even the maps in the book are excellent. We ended up using the Rough Guide maps combined with a tourist map we got at the aiport for a large-scale view of the country. The Michelin driving map we brought ended up being too complicated to use.

After several great experiences with them, Rough Guides are now my guide book of choice. You won't be disappointed with this one!

I was weaned on the Blue Guides when I first did international travel. I loved the detail about towns and historic sites in those guides along with the suggested tours. The Rough Guide lived up to this standard for me. It provided a good level of detail to enjoy our touring with an organzization of the information that made sense.

This was the 3rd "Rough Guide" I've used, and in my opinion they are the best resources for travel to new countries. They not only cover the "standard" areas and sites in detail - including a good range of lodging and dining options - but also take you off the beaten track, exposing nice gems not covered in other books.

If you like to really EXPLORE a country, rather than find the next good shopping area or find the most economical place to sleep, this book and ALL of the "Rough Guides" are for you!

This is our standard Bar and Bat Mitzvah gift, which has come in handy this year since one of our children is at the age where there is a simcha every weekend. It is accessible for the kids at this age, and will offer more as they keep it on the bookshelf for adulthood. The production values are nice, and the whole thing neither looks nor sounds (in tone) "too heavy," though in fact the book is thorough and serious. It also works for recipients of all points along the continuum of observance.

A very interesting to study Gods appointed Holidays and festivels. Good book for understanding to be read by Christians, Jews and anyone who walks as a Son of God in the steps of Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah

I like this book. I use this book. I find that it written very matter-of-factly, with little room for interpretation, so it feels sort of un-Jewish in that aspect to me. But, as long as that is in mind, it does offer a lot of good jumping-off points and good ideas and good references.

As a non-Jew, I found this book very informative, not only about Jewish holidays per se, but also aspects of Jewish history and trends in Jewish thinking. What's more, this book has helpful appendices, including a glossary of Hebrew terms. Interestingly, the author of this book does not feel the need to dispense with BC and AD in favor of BCE and CE.

This book provides information on such things as the Passover Seder meal. We learn that celebration of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) had a late start owing to the onetime association of New Year celebrations with pagan festivities. The book raises the question of the origins of Hanukah (to what extent a successful military revolt and to what extent a rejection of Hellenizing tendencies), and whether or not this relatively minor holiday has assumed the status of a Jewish answer to Christmas.

History is seen as cyclic and linear, in effect combined into a spiral. Thus, each year's observance should see a person on a higher plane of spirituality than the last such observance.

Theological questions are raised in this book. For instance, at Rosh Hashanah, there is the custom of throwing bread crumbs into a body of water to symbolize the fact that God drowns our sins in the deepest sea. Some rabbis raised concern that people may misuse this ritual as an actual removal of sin in place of genuine repentance (p. 102). (This recounts the fear among Christians of "easy believism".)

New Jewish observances are also discussed, including Yom Ha-Shoah. Some traditional rabbis oppose this holiday. Various Jews believe that the Holocaust represents a defining moment in Jewish history; others feel that it really isn't that different from past persecutions of Jews, or of common inexplicable tragedies such as the death of one's child. Some Jews even feel that the glorification of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is a tacit acknowledgement of the need to answer the accusations of "Jewish passivity". Yom Ha-Shoah may include silence (a fasting from words rather than fasting from eating), to symbolize the silence of man and the silence of God during the Holocaust.

this is a wonderful book. I cannot reccoment it enough to add to your collections of books. A must purchase to review the Jewish holidays. With lovable excerts on how to build a Sukkah and other important observations can be found in the text. Historical importance is detailed in each chapter for each holiday. Also present are wonderfulo pieces of artwork and commentaries.