Northwest Books

This book is definitely going to hold a place of honor on my bookshelf! I have always been interested in holistic/naturopathic remedies and this reference is excellent in identifying and describing native natural remedies in Alaska. While I have several North American medicinal plant and herb references, the climate in AK really does have an impact on the appearance and uses of many plants. Additionally, there are some plants growing there that, to the best of my knowledge, either don't grow anywhere else or aren't used medicinally anywhere else. Having native information about the plants and their uses is invaluable!

A fantastic informational book about the madicinal plants that this state
has to offer. Learn a lot about the wild plants and their uses or ones that you should stay away from. Would recommend this book and the seller
from whom I purchased it from, booksurf11.
Paula

Divided by plant - includes a line drawing (full page), plant description, distribution, constituents, medicinal, culinary and other uses. Many of the medicinal uses are taken from the traditions of the Alaskan Natives and work very well... I have personally used my copy of this book for many years with great results

Everyone in the part of AK that I live in part of the year harvests their necessities. This is one of them.

I love all of Ann Lovejoy's books for her straight forward style of writing and gardening and the photography is always wonderful too. I checked this book out several times (after long waiting lists) from the library and finally decided i didn't want to share it anymore! If you live in our amazing Pac.N.W. and love to garden, this is the only book you really need.

I usually do not buy what I call "How To" books as I can skim what I want in the book store. I purchased this book as a skim read too, hoping only to get some good info for my PNW area.
Once I started the book though, I couldn't put it down. It was a great read and full on information. There was no dryness or boredom at all. Ann is great at entertaining you while educating you and keeping you interested. One of those teachers that makes you enjoy the class.
I would recommend having your highlighter ready. I did highlight certain things I came across that I wanted to be able to flip to easy.
I definetly recommend this book to any gardener beginner and already educated. It is full of ggod information on how to make your garden grow and work for you.

I've read several general gardening books, and this one is by far the best. I love it for all the same reasons as the other reviewer (Valerie Adolph)gave. Every gardener should read and own this book.

I always look forward to a new gardening book from Ann Lovejoy and this one did not disappoint. Beautifully illustrated with Janet Loughrey's color photographs, this book is full of practical ideas for creating a Northwest garden that is both beautiful and easy to care for.

The writer's mantra "Natural, sustainable, organic" pervades the whole book - fourteen densely packed chapters covering topics from "Sustainable Garden Design" to selecting different types of plants. In the chapter on garden design she outlines what she considers to be the ten issues of good garden design. They are good, basic common sense, but so easy to ignore or forget. In just a couple of pages the writer addresses them briefly but vividly, then goes on to suggest how you might start your garden planning from an assessment of your garden's assets and liabilities.

One of Ann Lovejoy's strengths is her knowledge of and commitment to all aspects of sustainable natural gardening. She presents this thoroughly without being wordy (quite a trick in itself) and points out that natural gardening - working with nature - is far easier and more satisfying than trying to control nature.

In the chapters on plant selection the reader is guided in the choice of trees, shrubs, perennials etc that are not just pretty, or fashionable this year, but that will really work well in a specific place in your garden. Careful plant choices mean a minimum of stress for the plant and a minimum of effort for the gardener.

This writer's particular talent is her ability to combine practicality with vision. Her books, while primarily written for the gardener in the Pacific Northwest, contain much that is of value to gardeners elsewhere.

I been looking for a whille for a great Antarctica book.
this is by far the best.
wall to wall photos topics on everything explorations,wildlife,marine life, you name it.
spectacular coffee table book dont miss.

it even covers the artic "north pole" also

This is a beautifully produced and wonderfully comprehensive book. If you want a book which concentrates on wildlife then look elsewhere (eg Antarctic Wildlife by H Shirihai) - better still get both as complementary to each other!
The layout and structure is well conceived, the maps are clear, the photos are always good and often magnificent, the writing is aimed at intelligent readers, the index is good and above all the coverage is all-embracing within its subject. There is a nice section on Antarctic related Web links but, a minor criticism, no Bibliography. As the title indicates it is 90+% about the Antarctic with the Arctic as an "add-on". I was at first a bit negative about the inclusion of the Arctic but have come to the view that it is useful as a comparator - but you wouldn't buy this book for its Arctic content.

I recently took a cruise to Antarctica and this book was in the ship's library. This is an excellent book on Antarctica and the pictures are fabulous! This makes a great coffe-table book!

I am an Earth Science teacher and I have done research in Antarctica. The book has many wonderful photos and highly informative text about the geologic, oceanographic, atmospheric and biologic features of the polar regions. I recommend this book for anyone interested in these areas, especially teachers.

This book is confusing to me all I get about the book is that, The boys Mom died and his Dad lives kinda far away, and the Dad sends him letters and the boy snifs them.His leg also got crushed by a rock. I recomend this book.

Life has been difficult for Jamie Park since his mother died. While he finds some level of comfort running on his track team, the absence of his workaholic scientist father only makes life more complicated. Then one day Aunt Louise, a relative whom Jamie has never heard of, invites him to spend the entire summer with her in her isolated mountain home in the Pacific Northwest. Jamie accepts the offer, and his adventure of a lifetime officially begins.

Upon his arrival, he quickly finds out that life is going to be quite different. Louise's dwelling place is a one-room cabin with no plumbing or electricity. Despite this, Jamie excitedly listens to his aunt's nature and survival lessons. A number of peculiar events soon transpire, causing Jamie to be conscientious of an alliance he feels with a neighboring wolf pack. He then learns the truth behind the visit and a major secret about his family. Will Jamie return home, or will he stay with his aunt?

If I were Jamie, I would have decided to come home because I would have missed my family and friends. If you enjoy reading books with animals and a plot containing elements of mystery, be sure to read BLUE WOLF to find out what happens to Jamie and his family.

--- Reviewed by Ashley Hartlaub

The newest great book is blue wolf. It is an interesting story of magic and mystery. This may be one of Catherine Creedon's best books yet.

By Jake

Amazing book.....and about the lovliest author you can find...she was my school librarian in 7th grade and i got to read and edit the book sometimes. The suspense is perfect and the predictibality (is that a word?) is at the right level. You don't know whats gonna happen next, but she doesnt confuse you with too many surprises. great, cant wait to read the next two in the trilogy!

If you have looked for great muffin, coffee cake, cobbler recipes, this book has them. I'm pretty picky about recipes but I have found some great ones in here. I made the blueberry coffee cake and it was so easy and delicious. The banana bread was great and I can't wait to try others. I'm going to check out her other one!

This cookbook is awesome! I have had it for about 8 years now and have tried quite a few of the recipes and have yet to find one I haven't loved. The recipes are easy to follow and contain ingredients that are usually in my kitchen already or are easy to find at the grocery store. Although everything I've sampled is super-good, my favorites are "Yogurt Coconut Coffee Cake" and "French Breakfast Puffs". Several of the recipes call for 'melted butter or margarine', but I found I can substitute healthier canola oil and the recipes come out great! I highly recommended this cookbook!

So far all the recipes I have tried have been a huge success. The organization is simple, as are most of the recipes, so it is fairly easy to turn out a tasy breakfast with little effort. Like another reader, I am looking forward to checking out the author's other B&B cookbook for more great recipes! Make sure to check out the apple cider syrup in this one, it smells fabulous and tastes even better!

Carol Frieberg continues to find the most delicious, and easy to prepare, breakfasts in town. There are so many good recipes, this book makes it easy to celebrate the morning! I cannot wait until Carol's next B&B adventure.

We purchased this book during a visit to the most beautiful of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State, Orcas Island. The food reminds me so much about what I love about Orcas Island. Fresh, natural, organic foods prepared simply to create an elegant evening for any home. You will love this book. Every recipe is a supreme delight!

Christina opened her restaurant on beautiful Orcas Island over 25 years ago and it's still a restaurant we recommend to visitors as a must. Before it was fashionable she began her restaurant committed to fresh local ingredients and seasonal recipes. We love her cookbook because it's designed that way with pages dedicated to tomatoes, apples or oysters and we love her stories about growing up in the Northwest and how that shaped her vision of food. The best thing is the percentage of recipes we'd make again - always our judge of a great cookbook. We love her crab fondue, her steamed clams with thyme and lemon vodka, her picnic chicken liver terrine, roasted vegetable salad with tomato caper vinegrette, hot and sour fish soup... and there's lots more. Makes your mouth water doesn't it!!!!!!

My wife and I enjoyed a night full of incredible food and music at Christina's on the evening of our wedding. The reception was attended by friends who took planes, trains, and ferries from as far away as Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Ann Arbor... everyone fell in love with Christina's food, Bruce's smile, and Christopher's Hot Monks. A perfect night to a perfect wedding day. Christina's cookbook is a wonderful reminder of the unique flavors and fresh tastes that has always distinguished her restaurant as simply the best!

As customers who have already enjoyed Christina's restaurant--which, as expats visiting from France, my family and I stumbled into 20 years ago--we may be biased. But this is more than a compendium of the wonderful cuisine we have enjoyed there, more than the sum of welcome and ambiance (and WHAT a view from the deck overlooking the waters of Eastsound!). Christina knows how to write as well as to cook. The little essays about discovering food as she grew up in the Pacific Northwest bring the recipes to life. They also provide a capsule history of a generation: from the wheat fields of eastern Washington to the burgeoning restaurants of Portland, Oregon, to the lovely little island north of Seattle (Orcas) that is home to the gem she created as a single mom a couple of decades ago. Read the book. Go to the restaurant. Live some history!

Definitely, Linda Leigh Paul should be very proud of her work....It really captures the spirit of Northwest design...When one asks, "Why hire an Architect",,,all one needs to do is show this book,,,it tells all....Again, a job well done!!!

I was surprized by the quality of the works presented but more particularly the idea of "the architecture of adventure". The premise of this book is "right on." These get-aways are not just comfortable, but expose their owner's attitudes on being at home in nature.

This is a beautiful book full of beautiful houses in beautiful places. There is a wide range of projects and styles, illustrating the quality of design in the Pacific Northwest region. An attractive book in its own right, this would be a great resource for anybody thinking of building a vacation house.

From the Seattle AIA Reviewer, Peter Sackett:

Trying to convince a reader that architecture is
good by telling them it's good is an exercise in
futility. In Coastal Retreats: The Pacific Northwest
and the Architecture of Adventure (Universe,
2002) author Linda Leigh Paul understands the
burden of her responsibility as a writer. Her
contributions reflect what images, on their own,
cannot. Coastal Retreats offers a broad
photographic sampling of Northwest vacation
homes designed over the last half-century with
editorial work that provides context for their
creation, including anecdotes from both owner and
architect, taking the architecture out of the
showroom and into the lives of the people who use
it.

A couple of years ago I ranted for eight hundred
words or so in the pages of Arcade about a
newly-published monographic account on the work
of architect Roland Terry. My beef wasn't that the
architect's work wasn't up to snuff, rather that the
book's author had done little to flatter the
architecture nor contribute a compelling narrative to
describe its significance. To judge from the editorial
content, he seemed less than convinced that
Terry's work could stand on its own without
bolstering it with sentences of fawning admiration
to make projects appear buoyant on the page.

Paul, instead, takes the trouble to tell stories
behind the homes' creation using relaxed, informal
language to describe the likes and dislikes of
clients as well as quirks of the landscape that
provide a setting for enjoyment of their
investment. The approach is both entertaining and
instructive. She includes the following in a chapter
on "Decatur Island Haven" by George Suyama
Architects:

"In the mid-1990s, while flying over the San Juan
Islands, designer Christian Grevstad's instincts led
him to alert his pilot that they were off course and
lost. As the pilot corrected the flight path, Grevstad
glanced down at a flowering meadow sitting atop a high
bluff. Below him lay the site he had envisioned for his
ideal island getaway. He headed for Seattle, where he
did the necessary footwork, and found that the price
was right."

Grevstad may enjoy a vexingly privileged lifestyle,
but it makes for a cool story.

This story will move the hardest of hearts. It has humor,will make you mad as hell, and bring tears to your eyes. It is written as if you are right beside the characters as the story is unfolding. I met the author, Sammy Weygand, in a shop in heart of Claremore, Oklahoma. He is very colorful character in his own right. I hope to see more books by him in the future.

Dennis Sweet

"Color Blind" is the story of Eli Jones, a black man who is a farmer during the Great Depression in Rual Oklahoma. Eli does not have any incentive for getting up in the morning since his wife and young son died of illness. All this changes when Eli finds a basket with a white baby inside late one night. He takes on the task of raising the youngster when no one else claims him. Tobey, as the boy is called, brings Eli a sense of companionship, happiness, and love. Eli and Tobey remain loyal to each other throughout the years dispite all the prejudice others display toward them. Sammy Weygand's "Color Blind" is definitely a book you will read time and time again for generations to come.

This is a "MUST READ" book. I highly encourage everyone to read this book, even if you are a non-reader. This book totally surprised me, as I was not expecting all the emotions that it touched in me. I felt as if I personally knew these characters. Mr. Weygand writes in a unique way compared to the way most writers of today write. He writes his story in ways that you will personally get to know these people. I will always remember them and the book. I hope to read more from this author. I would like to see more on this endearing family.

Color Blind is a story that will touch hearts and warm souls. This book tells a story in an original perspective, one where a black man in a desperate moment after the loss of his wife and child, finds a baby on his doorstep. The baby happens to be a white baby in a small Oklahoma town in the 1930s. Unable to find the parents and with the support of the sheriff, this man raises the child as his own. The story tells the trials and tribulations of raising a child during that period of time and how the color of skin played a part in the lives of these two people and how love overcame it all. It is refreshing to read a book that can strike so many emotions as it is read. This book is a must for readers that are looking for a special story.

I'm giving it the Heaven of stars!
It's a true gift for readers of all ages.

Impeccably written in a beautiful and poetic prose this lovely book with it's purity and charm, will appeal to everyone.
Dakar, a noble and courageous wolf who is ready to lay down his life to protect his pack from illegal poachers, and his unexpected and unusual friends will be loved by all.
This delightful story, teaching the readers about wolves, their relationship within the pack and interaction with each other and with humans, will keep them in suspense until the end.

When a harsh reality of life weighs me down this refreshing and endearing book serves as a wonderful escape, bringing me back to my childhood again.

Dakar and his author are gaining the popularity they so rightly deserve and it's my hope that this book as well as the other two written by the author will soon be translated into many languages and enjoyed by kids around the world.

While trying to protect his family, a young cub is injured and separated from his pack. The fearful cub has no idea he's embarking on the journey of a lifetime. Thus, is the tale of "Dakar a Wolf' s Adventure" by Louis Dorfman. Author Louis Dorfman is a well-known animal behaviorist, who wrote this book out of a desire to help people "see the world through an animal's eyes." And, indeed he does in this magnificent novel for readers of any age.

In Dakar, the author creates an impressionable and courageous character, whose emotions embody the very essence of humanity. Readers will laugh and cry, while loving this young cub, as he selflessly risks all to save the ones he loves. The author takes us on an epic quest filled with wonders and discoveries.

Readers will quickly identify with Dakar's feelings, during his trek of personal growth and enlightenment. Furthermore, Dakar encounters other creatures who assist him along the way, allowing him to let go of his stereotypes. Louis Dorfman impeccably provides readers with his perception of universal emotions among all creatures great and small.

This story weaves in elements of Indian lore, mystical occurrences, Candian vistas, and a great deal of information about wolves and how they react to events. It is uniquely told from the point of view of the wolf, giving it a view into how a wolf might think.

DAKAR, A WOLF'S ADVENTURE is guaranteed to capture the heart and attention of readers. Although this book is for young adults, I found it to be a compelling, thought-provoking novel for any age. This story is both creative and heart warming.

Dakar is the young male offspring of Torga, the wolf pack leader. His father taught him many things about survival. But life or death decisions must be made when four hunters try to kill the pack. Dakar is forced to learn survival when he is separated from his family. Unexplainable events occur which take Dakar on a journey of discovery with a wise and mysterious raven.

Many life lessons can be derived from this story. Readers, young and old, will feel the adversity of a wolf's life as they are forced to endure in the wild. Their survival depends on weather, humans, and availability of food. Dakar's survival also depends on his capacity to learn trust. The author's vast knowledge of wildlife, Indian traditins, and the Canadian mountains add to the realism of a story told from a wolf's perspective. I highly recommend this book for wildlife activists as well as anyone else that might have a soft spot in their heart for animals. It is well written and captivating. But most of all, it challenges the reader to view life from an animal's eyes. A very powerful concept.

I like trying out new authors and was delighted with Mary Baxter's second novel, "Dearly Departed" following her first work, "Erasing Mrs. Loomis." The turn to mystery writing seems a natural for Mrs. Baxter as search for a murderer is accomplished with good conversation, well-delineated characters and a surprise twist in the plot. I look forward to the author's next work. Harriet Davidson
Fort Gratiot, MI

Mary Baxter is exceptionally gifted at character development. Her plot has interesting and surprising twists and turns, leaving the reader wanting more.

A great new novelist.

A wonderful story with down-to-earth (not so young anymore) people and a great story line. The characters are believable and fleshed out so that you feel it's something that could happen. I loved it!

Mary Baxter's second book is as good as her first, Erasing Mrs. Loomis. The story revolves around the death of a bank president. The police call it suicide, but the widow can't accept that, and when a bag of money is found in his tennis locker, she realizes that something is amiss.

Mary has developed a good, believable plot with likeable characters, except for one bad guy, of course. The story moves along at a fast pace; once I began reading, I did not want to stop.

I highly recommend Dearly Departed. It is written well, with excellent sentence structure; it does not have the grammatical errors that are found so often in today's novels.