Robertson Books

Those who live on the North Shore of Massachusetts may know Argilla Road, the Goodale property, Hog Island, the town of Ipswich, and even "greenheads." They may even be fortunate enough to remember Kitty Crockett Robertson, her local newspaper columns, radio essays, and even The Orchard: A Memoir, the inspiring book about her attempt to save the family's apple orchard during the Great Depression. But this collection of essays is much more than "just" a story about a specific person or a specific place. Passionately committed to living life to the fullest, Kitty turns her memories into universal moments--from her tearful parting with her grandmother at age eight, and her conversations with her imaginary companion ("Mr. Patterson"), to her almost fatal science experiment with a borrowed key and a kite during a thunderstorm.

Telling about her life from 1901 to 1979, Kitty contrasts her staid existence as a school child living on Marlborough St., Boston, to her free and often wild life during school vacations and summers with her grandmother and family on Argilla Road, Ipswich, the place that was always Kitty Robertson's "home." Published in the Ipswich Chronicle between 1951 and 1979, and collected by Kitty and her daughter Betsy Robertson Cramer, these essays were prepared for publication by her daughter following Kitty's death just a few hours after writing her last column in 1979.

Thirty years have now elapsed since then, but Kitty's essays about life in Ipswich are still memorable--and important--not because they make us nostalgic about the past, but because they celebrate life's great joys--family, the freedom to be who you are, and the understanding of nature and one's connections to it--joys which sensitive people have shared for centuries.

Loosely organized by seasons, the essays are also loosely organized by time, and as Kitty's life stories show her growing up and eventually discovering that she is as old as her grandmother was when her grandmother died, the reader also sees that Kitty is still as determined as ever to let no moment ever be wasted. She describes sailing Ipswich Bay alone and rowing to Crane Beach and beyond (as in the wonderful cover photo), well into her seventies, while observing the changes of scenery and nature--the loss of big, old trees, the growth of new ones in what had been pastures, the disappearance of the harbor seals, the effects of DDT on the clam flats, and the vanishing eel grass from the marshes. Though she relishes her life and her experiences, she also describes how hard life could be and how those hardships molded character. By sharing her exuberant life from 1901 to the 1970s, Kitty Robertson enables us all to recognize and treasure similar moments in our own lives, and to stop and appreciate our own place in the grand scheme of things. n Mary Whipple

This just-published collection of essays is by the same author as The Orchard, A MemoirThe Orchard: A Memoir

A year or so after my mother's death, I collected some of her newspaper columns about growing up in Ipswich and Boston. This book is the result. The first edition was sold out quite quickly; I tried once again a POD with a spiral binding. Now the technology has improved. I scanned the spiral bound copy, correcting (I hope!) all the typos and Dog Ear Publishing has produced a readable attractive copy.

I can't really give a review of Measuring Time, that will be up to others, but I have heard quite a few times how much pleasure these impressions, these essays have given. I look forward to comments.
Betsy
(I have to give a rating --- and, of course, having put in many many hours of time over many years, I think it is worth five stars!)

Tough to tender Georgie Anderson is today's woman. Vulnerable and courageous, she faces life with fun and fury. Women and men will delight in her refreshing approach to mystery and intrigue.

Tough to tender Georgie Anderson is today's woman. Vulnerable and courageous, she faces life with fun and fury. Women and men will delight in her refreshing approach to mystery and intrigue.

These books are not really meant to go together. When she was sixteen years old, Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career, A NOVEL, but was plagued for years by people who believed that this book was an autobiography. Some people continued to insist it was, or even misrepresent it as such even after being personally informed by Miles Franklin that the book was a novel. Finally, Miles Franklin withdrew My Brilliant Career from publication, and in the fifties, wrote My Career Goes Bung as a response to those who continued to believe that My Brilliant Career was an autobiography. My Career Goes Bung is a parody of the literary world, not a sequel to My Brilliant Career, and frankly, if you read it immediately after, it will probably spoil the magic of My Brilliant Career for you.

That said, here is my review of My Brilliant Career:

The is a beautiful and startling book. Written by Miles Franklin in 1901, when she was just sixteen, it is the story of a young girl, Sybylla Melvyn, trying to live her own life in Possum Gully, Australia. She doesn't want to marry, and repeat her mother's life. She'd like to travel, but she has no money. She's bright, but her prospects for college are non-existent. More than anything, she would like to be an artist, but not because she has a passion for any particular artistic expression; she just likes her imagined idea of an artist's lifestyle.

She has a brief respite when she goes to live with her grandmother, and meets Harold Beecham, who becomes her best friend. She also gets to know her Aunt Helen, "neither maid, nor widow, nor wife," who cautions her of the dangers of marrying for love. Sybylla wonders why she should marry at all. If she had a fortune, she declares, she would give it gladly to someone she loved, but "the word wife finished [her] up."

Life has tougher things in store for Sybylla, but she is a survivor, and she begins to write. She masters metaphor: "If the souls of our lives were voiced in music, there are some that none but a great organ could express, others the clash of a full orchestra, a few...the...exquisite sadness of a violin..., and mine could be told with a couple of nails in a rusty tin pot."

Maybe she writes because of what she knows, or maybe she has insight because she writes, but Sybylla, from Possum Gully, to genteel Caddagat and Five-Bob Downs, to the muddy M'Swat farm, and back to Possum Gully, knows classism, demagoguery, democracy, socialism, feminism, and cynicism.

Sybylla is a joy to know. I can't recommend this book more.

It's hard to believe that this novel was written by a young woman in her teens. it's even harder to believe that it was written in the late nineteenth century. So much for Victorian attitudes... Sybylla rages against her parents, shuns marriage in favor of a career, sees classism and injustice as it truly is, and at one point questions the exuistence of God. The result is an entertaining story. Sybylla is a worthy literary sister to Anne of Green Gables, or the March sisters. The story has a little less of the innocence to it, but all of the charm. The description of 1890's Australia are vivid, as are all the people Sybylla meets (and those great Australian geographic names.)

Try and find a copy of this book... and then demand it go back into print! You won't regret reading this, and you'll enjoy it wholeheartedly. (Beware, My career Goes Bung is not a "true" sequel, and can easily be skipped without missing anything.)

This is a great read whether you grew up in the 50's or 60's or not. This was one of the first books I read growing up; and I was able to buy a copy a sometime ago and read it to my sons when they were younger. They really enjoyed the book too. Invisible ink secret messages, homing pigeons, suspicious characters and a little bit of history too. An easy read that is not too long. Takes place during a time when life for young teens was a lot simpler. This book was not available at the library and was out of print. Highly recommended.

The book is an intriguing mystery which starts as two teenage boys are fishing and enjoying life in northeastern New Jersey of the 1950's. The Mystery of Burnt Hill is relaxing yet suspenseful.

Rent the series to learn about this author's experience in WWII. He died in 1961 after venturing out into the ocean, never to be seen again.

I have just finished reading this book and think it is a great source of information. It is a great source for shark attacks and sharks themselves. It is a very good book especially for people living in California, it obtains lots of information on our local species of sharks. Great Book!!!

I have been familiar with Mr. Cohen's various books on Indian Law, just didn't have the opportunity to own them. I feel very fortunate. As usual, they don't disappoint.
Thank You.
Marty Dorsey

Felix Cohen was a leading creator of the Indian New Deal and a champion of American Indian rights, so there's no better author than he to cover On the Drafting of Tribal Constitutions, reflecting his practical guidelines created in 1934 for tribal constitutional development. The entire work has been edited by David E. Wilkins, includes an essay that describes its origins and background, and is presented with a key to understanding Indigenous autonomy and self-governance efforts: perfect for college-level collections on Native American or American legal history.

This is truly a good read. Mark is a fabulous story teller and the effect of his research makes you feel as if you were there when the story unfolds. This book is definitely a page turner. If you like stories about the importance of great friends, you'll love Page Street.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BOOK! THE WAY MARK BOSKOVICH WROTE THIS BOOK REALLY MAKES YOU FEEL AS IF YOU REALLY KNOW ALL THE CHARACTERS. ALSO, HE JUST DOESN'T FOCUS ON ONE STORYLINE- THE BOOK COVERS MANY STORIES OF DIFFERENT PERSONS AND CULTURES. THIS BOOK TOUCHED ME- AND I HAVEN'T READ MANY BOOKS LIKE THAT. I FOUND MYSELF READING THIS BOOK BETWEEN STOPLIGHTS ON THE WAY TO AND FROM WORK! THIS DESERVES MORE THAN 5 STARS! I LOOK FORWARD TO ANOTHER BOOK FROM MR. BOSCOVICH SOON ( I HOPE)!!!

Fifteen stories of fantasy and horror from one of the greatest storytellers and literary stylists of all time - Algernon Blackwood. Unified by the theme of the Elementals of Nature, these stories "are the quintessence of some of the most inspired creativity you will find anywhere in the world of supernatural fiction," as Mike Ashley notes in his introduction. Take a walk through the garden... - from book's back cover

Well, maybe. Anyway, it's undeniable that "Pan's Garden" contains some of Algernon Blackwood's greatest tales: 15 tales in all, including 3 novellas. It has been argued (probably correctly) that Blackwood's most original contribution to the supernatural tale was his emphasis on the outdoors and the forces of Nature. These forces inspire many different emotions - terror, beauty, mystery, but above all, awe. Nowhere is Blackwood's treatment of the hidden side of Nature more powerful than in "Pan's Garden". All possible kudos to Stark House Press for putting this masterpiece back in print!

Contained in this volume:

The Man Whom the Trees Loved
The South Wind
The Sea Fit
The Attic
The Heath Fire
The Messenger
The Glamour of the Snow
The Return
Sand
The Transfer
Clairvoyance
The Golden Fly
Special Delivery
The Destruction of Smith
The Temptation of the Clay

Humor has moved to tv/movies. There are very few really funny writers around. Robertson Davies is a gem, all the rarer for being in such sparse company. This book has at least two or three laughs per page. It is a compendium of miscelleanous writing by one Samuel Marchbanks (Davies' alter ego) who keeps diaries and writes columns. I find myself giggling on my way to work on the subway as I race through these short aphoristic pieces. Highly recommend for any scrooges who refer to babies in terms appropriate for judging a ham and can stand dogs only in newspaper reports about their valorous deeds.

Samuel Marchbanks is a grouchy old newspaperman who struggles with his coal furnace, garden, and neighbours in an attempt to live life as he feels is proper. He is witty, open-minded, well-read, and likes to shock his acquaintances.

The Diary is a record of his day-to-day life over a year, with several amusing plot-lines running through it. The Table Talk is just that--a collection of Marchbanks' favourite prandial conversations (or monologues as the case may be). The Miscellanea are letters and various papers, as well as an interview of Marchbanks by Davies.

This is an extremely funny collection of fiction. Although knowledge of early twentieth-century Canadian life helps, it's not necessary.

I wouldn't have thought it possible to laugh out loud while simultaneously horrified to relive some of the most bizarre quotes actually uttered in public. Stone's illustrations, revealing more subtle yet brilliant detail upon each viewing, underscore the surreal nature of Pat Robertson's belief systems, our country's fascination with public figures, and our bewilderment at other nations' perceptions of American culture. This seemingly whimsical book is a rare gem, more insightful than its dog-eared coloring-book appearance would suggest.

The second laugh-out-loud-for-its-satire coloring book from Garrett County Press-- the first was devoted to the current President Bush although he makes a cameo appearance here as a "friend of Pat" or FOP--is devoted to the Reverend Pat Robertson-- and his other friends, consisting of Ann Coulter, Jerry Falwell, Daniel Henninger, Bill O'Reilly and Barbara Bush. The format is the same as in the previous publication. The artist-- in this instance-- Kevin Stone-- illustrates some of Mr. Robertson's most ridiculous public statements with appropriate drawings suitable for "Prayolas." Also included are an essay by Mackie Blanton and "Notes on the Quotes" that list both the dates and occasions of the stupid statements. The outside back cover includes a "Pat Robertson paper doll," along with a space suit (for Robertson to wear after the Millennnium comes), and a coat and tie, boxer shorts but no pants! Additionally Cobb County, Georgia Board of Education's statement approved on March 28, 2002 on the teaching of evolution in public schools rounds out this circus act.

Although it is difficult to select the Robertson quotation most offensive as the entire field is ripe for harvesting, his outrageous statement of August 22, 2005 is certainly in the running: "If he [Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Then there is "Dr. Robertson's" opinion that about 75 to 80 percent of the illnesses in the United States are psychosomatic." Apparently he is not an emergency room physician. He isn't very effective as a weather forecaster either: "If I heard the Lord right (but you didn't, Pat) about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms. There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the pacific Northwest." (January 22, 1995.) Robertson's most chilling statement (January 14, 1991), however, is his diatribe against other church folks who don't sing in his choir: "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist." That comment is just plain scary. Of the opinions spewed out by Friends Of Pat, Falwell's on Teletubbies, the color purple and triangles is the silliest; but Barbara Bush's (March 18, 2003) is the saddest: "But why should we hear about body bags and deaths . . . Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant. So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

As you can imagine, the artist has his work cut out for him if he is to illustrate such drivel; but he does it admirably. My favorite drawing is of Robertson, Jesus (in a tux) and Satan at a roulette wheel to illustrate "I heard Satan say, 'Jesus is playing you for a sucker, Robertson.'"

With the roasting of George and Pat, surely the skewering of Cheney cannot be far behind.