Maine Books

Outdoor types will love this guide to walking America's most dramatic coast, from southern Maine to the Canadian border. Different walks in many localities and lots of how-to-get-there information and concise trail descriptions get you started and home again safely. Highly recommended.

Hiking enthusiasts visiting Cape Cod will definitely want to take this book along. On my last trip to the Cape I sampled several of the hikes in this volume and found them all to be wonderful. The book's detailed descriptions and clear maps of dozens of hikes of varying length and character make it easy to find the kind of places you want and navigate them easily. Don't leave home without it!

From the book's dustjacket:

Dr. Hasenfus, an alumnus of Boston College, class of 1922, has long been a summer resident of Maine, first visiting Blue Hill when he was a lad of nine. For 35 years he has been a summer resident of Maine. His love for this great state is well revealed in this local color story that in its simple and quiet way, pays a sterling tribute to the state and its interesting people.

This is no thrilling story of unusual events and spectacular deeds. Life in Maine is not normally of that type. Maine summer residents come to Northern New England for peace and contentment. They love the pounding of the waves on the rocky shores, the cry of the sea gulls, the aromatic odor of the pine forests, the beautiful salt rivers, the inland lakes, and the sparkling blue bays. Dr. Hasenfus has well brought these things to us in this simple story of family life on the rockbound coast of Maine.
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From the author's Foreword:

"...[This] is the simple story of 'Everyman' and of his quiet summer-time life in Maine amid its beautiful islands, its interesting people, its wooded inlets, and its sandy beaches. Although it tells the story of life in one small, unpublicized seaside village, this life can be multiplied a thousand-fold by those who visit Maine, for the town or two that are featured here are essentially the same as the other villages, towns, and counties that follow the coast from southern Kittery to easterly Eastport. ..."

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Illustrated with black & white photographs. Drawings throughout the text, plus drawn maps of Sagadahoc County, Casco and Sheerscot Bays inside the front and back covers.

This is a delightful story which our children have enjoyed listening to and hearing of the life of this unusual charming type of bird.

A very brief journal of Dow's first wedding anniversary in 1932 as she and her husband take a trip to a remote lake in upstate Maine. Her sheer joy and appreciatation for the quiet, natural world around her make this a delightful read. She uses all her senses to describe the wilderness around her, and have no doubt, you will want to be at that lake immediately to experience the same beauty she witnesses. A wonderful book.

This cookbook has a variety of recipes that I haven't seen served at Moody's, however, they are wonderful. I especially like the Sweet and Sour Chicken and Enchiladas Supreme. It is a great buy and offers a variety of recipes which allow you to cook from scratch while living on a budget.

This guide has a lot of info presented very concisely and clearly. Includes: camping info, hike descriptions, suggested snowshoe and ski routes, and close-up maps of many of the most popular hiking trails. Also includes a large fold-out map of entire White Mountains region on waterproof, unrippable stock. Lots of illustrations, and an attractive and useful design.

I found that this book is quite under-rated by local booksellers. This is an excellent book for a casual White Mtns hiker who wants an abridged guide to the more popular day trails, with concise and clear information about each (including trail times, estimated difficulty, and short description of each). This is the guidebook that I use most often for day hikes; and in a lot of cases I find this map more useful than the AMC map series. For example, the colors are much more clear, and numerous scenic points are marked, although water sources are not.

The epitome of the kind of book I look for in my travels, "White Rock Ways" has everything one can imagine occurring as a part of life in a small town-or a small island-in Maine.

Set in the 1960s, though I had a hard time coming up with anything but images of folk from a decade long before, such was the ambiance of the characters, the stories of life in the community of White Rock unfold.

Through a narrative rich in Maine dialect and phraseology, we discover the ways of the locals and learn to care for them as we become involved in the comings and goings of their daily lives.

There is a tendency to sum each other up in one-word adjectives; for instance, Clara and Levi Weymouth, introduced early in the story and most consistently present throughout, are known as the "near Weymouths", which sometimes bothers Levi, who thinks it "fine to be `near', but not so fine to be `tight as the bark to a tree'."

When a neighbor's closed summer home has some suspicious activity taking place around it, Levi discovers a couple of intruding, though apparently harmless, neighborhood boys. He brings them back to his own house to report them to the authorities and makes them sit on the "funeral couch", made up of leftover coffin lining material Clara purchased from the local funeral director; an example of her reputation of being near, not to mention giving the boys the heebie jeebies as added, though unintended, punishment.

One woman, Meg, "from away" laments the fact that the villagers don't seem to read. It is not long before she comes to realize that "Rockahs ahn't readahs", as her husband puts it, but they are eager listeners. Meg, having plenty of opportunity to narrate her stories to islanders, finds parallels between village life and the lives of characters from some of her favorite books by authors such as Shakespeare and Sherwood Anderson. She learns that while White Rock dwellers may not read much literature, they "certainly lived it."

There is suspicion of child molestation by a teacher. Intrigue comes to town in the form of a tragic "fancy woman." Long memories of small town folk is proven when a sheriff's deputy is asked about a knee injury from a childhood incident as though it was just weeks ago he was injured. Secrets are revealed of the old doctor who would find interesting areas of women's bodies requiring examination-no matter of what ailment she complained upon arrival in his office. Mystery comes in the form of a Spanish man who shows up in the local cemetery. Lessons in preparing brown bread and salting cod also bring us directly into their realm.

One of my favorite traits of Mainers is the very fine thread used to tie people together who are "almost" related. It so happens that a distant relation of those from whom the author of this book purchased her own home some years ago owns the cottage in which I presently live. Makes me wonder if the author will allow me to claim her as a relation because of this thread, thereby allowing me a bit of leeway given the fact that I am "from away."

In addition, of course, there are the stories surrounding the white rock, which gives the island its name. You will have to read the book to learn of these.

If you love Maine humor you will love this book.Steve Bither and The Wicked Good Men excel at Maine humor.You may have to be from Maine or be very familiar with it to fully understand this.

This great 96-page book with 100 photos including the covers, starts with a tribute to the author/photographer Bill Silliker, Jr. Unfortunately, Bill passed away suddenly on October 13th, 2003 from an apparent heart attack while leading a photography group in Baxter State Park, Maine. The tribute includes memorials by several of Maine's Environmental leaders including Buzz Caverly, Director of Baxter State Park (one of Bills's favorite haunts). Buzz writes, "Bill's dedication and personal interest - as demonstrated in his photography, his writings, and his publications - have inspired all of us as we share the natural beauties of Maine."

Bill's last book Wild Maine is limited to the state's birds and mammals by design. He explains in his introduction "to be more productive, wildlife photographers need to focus - literally - on once species at a time." Further he explains the purpose of this book is to relay some of the "enchanting encounters" he has had with the wild inhabitations of Maine's north woods. "The stories of those experience and a look at the animal species that provided them are what Wild Maine is all about," writes Bill. "Perhaps through these words and images, the beauty and fascination of "what's still out there" will color your dreams as they have mine."

This is an inspirational book for anyone who is interested in wildlife photography and will inspire you to get out into the field and create some of your own enchanting encounters. It has both great photos and great stories.