Maine Books

I love to snowshoe, so I got this book in anticipation of a snowy Maine winter. It has some wonderful ideas of places to go for a satisfying snowshoe treck! It gives good directions, has topo maps, and also gives tips on the level of difficulty. It tells you the scenic highlights of each trail, whetting your appetite for each & every one. There aren't enough weekends in a Maine winter to try them all! It even offers info on nearby motels and grocery stores (so you can pack a lunch). Looks like it offers a lot of information for the cross-country skiier, too. I've snowshoed for years, but this offers a multitude of new ideas of wonderful places to go. Now I can't wait for the first "heavy dumper."

When I first received the spiral bound book I must say I thought I was going to be disapointed. But once I started delving into the contents of the book I was more than happy that I had made the purchase. Coleman uses this book as an opertunity to offer updated information and further detail on winter harvesting for market with very specific varieties for each vegetable, methods and timelines for production and well outlined information on marketing and cold weather covers and high and low tunnels. I highly recommend this book as a permanent reference on every serious gardener's and small farmer's bookshelf.

A real "Down East" book about a real Down East fisherman, his life, trials, and stories. Reads great and I found it hard to put down. Being from Maine it reminded me of my childhood lobstering with my great grandfather and my great uncle. The memories just kept streaming in and this book is a keeper!

I purchased a copy of this book at the local library sale. I found Jennie and Alick great characters, and wondered at their circumstances. It is a great story of love, mystery and people coming to a new country. The pride of becoming Americans and their children born on American soil. Glad to know that there is more to this story than just the one book

This book is beautifully written and describes parts of island life from a summer resident's point of view, in addition to the deep feelings caused by the loss of a son who is now buried on the island and has, thus, become part of the island's history. Amazingly, there is nothing sentimental about this book; just heartfelt. Highly recommended to anyone who shares an interest in Maine's island heritage, or summer residents' place in it, or how one family has coped with their personal loss and incorporated it into Maine island culture. Thank you for sharing these very personal feelings and stories with a larger audience.

"Magnum opus" is a Latin phrase which translates to "great work," and in my mind this is Stephen King's greatest effort. I have read and enjoyed nearly everything he has written, but nothing had the long-term, disquieting effect on me that "It" did and continues to do.

What makes this book so great? I'm glad you asked. Allow me to break the answer down into categories:

1. Sheer terror - King has written many scary books, as well as many books that aren't scary but have chilling moments. From early on until near the end, this book preys upon my mind with fears both natural and supernatural. The school bullies gave me a shiver with their unreasoning hatred and pursuit of the protagonists. The monster terrified me with its many shapes and voices, and its appearance as a clown was the coup de grace. I have never liked clowns, and now they cause a shiver to run down my spine whenever I see them. Thanks, Steve. The tacit acceptance of the status quo by Derry's adults may be the most frightening element of all. If a child can't depend on the adults to keep him/her safe, on whom can he/she depend? Brrr. I read this book when I was 27 and lived alone in an apartment. Every night, when I went to bed, I had to close the door to my walk-in closet. That darkened maw was simply too much for me after reading this book.

2. The accuracy of the portrayal of the children - kids are vulgar, joyous and cruel, and King not only knows it but did an amazing job of displaying those qualities to us. The bullies were able to remain mostly under the notice of adults, and thereby wreak havoc on their victims. The kids, with their occasionally adult perceptions and humor, were a mystery even to their own parents. Friends mock each other, support each other and love each other. They exhibit abject cowardice and transcendent bravery. All of this is commonplace in the world of children, which we as adults rarely see and almost never recall accurately. King wove this tale with almost no false notes. I reread it occasionally and the quality of the storytelling never fails to impress me.

3. Quality of language - this is an underrated skill of Mr. King. His use of language is almost always apropos, often beautiful and verging on the poetic. He is a master of coining a word or phrase when needed and his use of poetic devices only adds to the reading experience. This is true of all of his work. His sense of the real and the ridiculous are also fantastic. At one point the fearsome clown, after chasing one of the protagonists, begins dancing and informs her that he (the clown) has come to Earth to "...learn to do the Peppermint Twist." Right in the middle of this very tense sequence, I had to laugh aloud.

If you have not read this book, I can't recommend it highly enough. If they gave me more stars, I would post all of them. King will be remembered historically as a better writer than his contemporaries thought, and this will be viewed as not only one of his masterpieces but as one of this period's masterpieces. Buy it, check it out, whatever, but ENJOY IT.

When I was younger I saw It the movie and I thought it was terrifying. It gives no justice to how scary this book is or how good it is for that matter. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend it!

This might have been the best Stephen King could have ever written, unfortunately it went awful at the end. I gave it three stars because the first 500 pages were good, but it starts to be boring at page 600. I think it could have been better if it had been only 600 or 700 pages long. I am sure many fans will read or have read this book and most of them gave it 5 stars which absolutely it does not deserve. I have only read like 22 books by Stephen King and I can say that It is not the best I have read from him.

When I went to the checkout counter to buy this book, the clerk said, "Oh, this book is great up until the last 70 or so pages." I kinda agree; the ending is a little out there, but everything that led up to it is great.

This is my second attempt in reading a Stephen King's creation. The length is intimating at first, and many had complained about the unnecessary details King included. But I have to say that all 1000+ pages are needed to tell this massive story, from character developments to plot advancement.

"It" contains genre of horror, action-thriller, romance and explores the themes of human relationship, the power of youth, and the strength of cooperation (and many, many more).

"It" is separated into two plots. The first plot is when the Losers (Bill, Beverly, Richie, Ben, Stan, Eddie, and Mike) first come together in 1958 and discover the ugly side of Derry. The Losers each confront Pennywise (the clown, otherwise known as It) and face their individual fear. Besides the horror lurking under the ground of Derry, the plot also focuses on the relationship between the Losers and the bully group (Henry, Belch, Victor). The second plot takes place approximately 30 years after the first plot, when the Losers join together again (except for one member) to defeat Pennywise once and for all.

"It" not only explores good vs. evil, but also the struggle of growing up and the conflict of being a grownup. There are many disturbing scenes in the book, from sexual themes to gory murders. The book is very dark as a whole, with occasional comic reliefs. The book does get very descriptive and sometimes boring to get through, and it is true that the climax does not begin until the last 200 pages, but "It" is a very good read and the characters are well portrayed and memorable.

I would suggest this book to any King's fan, and people who are looking to read an outstanding descriptive horror novel. But those who get easily offended by non-conventional sexual contents, you might not want to pick this up. However, "It" is an outstanding novel, and proves that Stephen King is indeed an icon of the twentieth century. Good luck entering a circus after reading this book, because you will get chills from the floating balloons!

With the amount of vampire media currently flooding the market, I found it refreshing to pick up Salem's Lot. It is not a perfect book, as it's one of King's earliest, (his second? I believe) but it still packed a punch.

The writing style is interesting and like many things about this book, faintly reminiscent of Dracula. I found it an easy read and one of the things I like about King's style is his frank way of writing. It is slow in some places and moves quicker in others, but overall I felt gripped from the opening scene and couldn't put the book down. There were plenty of parts that got my heart racing, sitting up in my seat and hoping the creaking on the stairs was just one of the cats.

It describes small town life as it is and it's interesting to read as death spreads along all the intertwined threads of a small town. One of the most frightening things about this book is that it could conceivably happen. There are plenty of small towns in the country, and if a vampire were to inhabit one of them, I don't know that anyone would notice for a long time.

A lot of the ideas in this book are ones that repeat themselves often in King's writing, like the precocious young boy, the writer protagonist, the haunted house, and of course, the Maine setting. (Write what you know, right?)

There are a lot of similarities to Dracula, and King never makes a point to disguise that fact. I would recommend reading that before reading Salem's Lot, so that you don't miss the "inside jokes." At some points I wish he had been more original in his ideas, but all the same I found it to be an excellent book with all the creepiness one should expect, both supernatural and mundane. Evil in all its forms is presented in this book, from child abuse, alcoholism, adultery, and vampires in their truest, most wicked form. These are vampires as they should be: evil at its truest form. (No glittering, sparkling, or dazzling.)

As for the "Illustrated edition," It is worth noting that there are not a lot of illustrations actually in the book. I enjoyed this copy because of all the extras, the two short stories, an introduction, an afterword, and deleted scenes, but anyone buying the book for the pictures should just get the paperback.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great book from beginning to end. Another one of Stephen Kings books that I could not put down. From the beginning it got me interested enough so that I needed to read as much as I could at each sitting.

Ben Mears spent part of his youth in the small Maine town of Salem's Lot and has returned for the purpose of writing a book and laying some ghosts to rest. But instead of confronting childhood fears and conquering them, he faces something a lot more solid and dangerous in the form of vampires. Ben can scarcely believe what is happening, and telling the authorities would be more likely to land him in an asylum than it would be to get any real help. So Mr. Mears and a small group of acquaintances do their best to handle the problem themselves.

Salem's Lot is Stephen King's second book and one of the things that I found impressive is how much he had grown in his ability to tell a story after publishing Carrie (not that Carrie was bad by any means). He does a good job of populating the town, giving the various characters distinct personalities, and investing the reader in what happens to them. Some people have complained that the pace is too slow, but if you're a regular King reader then you know that he always spends more time fleshing out characters than a typical horror novel would offer. The tension definitely ratchets up in the second half of the book and is mostly sustained until the end.

The one thing I would change in this novel is that there are probably a few too many passages speculating on the nature of evil and other philosophical questions. While it's interesting up to a point, there was one section in the last third of the book when it really interrupted the buildup to the climax without adding much at all. This certainly didn't ruin the book for me, but a bit of judicious editing would not have hurt it either.

Salem's Lot is an easy novel to recommend. The characters are interesting, the story grabbed me, and it was an enjoyable read all the way around. If you're looking for non-stop suspense and thrills you may be disappointed but that would be true of most of King's books. For everyone else, it will be one of the more enjoyable vampire novels you're likely to read.

In King's 1999 prologue to the Signet edition of the book he remarks that the book is "dated." I agree with that. When you read it, you can tell that is was written in the early 1970s. However, I found that is what made this book so special. It is a timeless story of a small New England town under siege with the townspeople living their daily lives afraid of the boogey man, be it the Vietnam War, new residents, etc. This book is scary, well paced, and a beautiful adaptation of Dracula in the 20th century.

Salem's Lot started out slow, and took about half the book to get the plot going, but that is common among King books (which I had only read 6).
After that, I was so into it that I could barely sit still with excitement.
This book truly scared me!!

One of my favorite things about John Irving is his character development. His accomplishments in delving deep into the souls of his creations and slowly letting them emerge onto the pages keeps the reader captivated through the novel. The plots are bizarre, yet real, and the characters become fixtures in the reader's mind long after the book is finished. Superb work!

I must admit that the book just was not good enough to hold my interest. I am an avid reader who is interesed in many sorts of books, and while the book deals with issues that may be hard for some readers (abortion and adoption), the amount of charecters and Irving's constant backflashes and side stories really did me in. I wished it could have been better, but for people who really like a challenge, you should definately dive right in.

Maybe it's the fact that it was my first book by John Irving, but I truly loved The World According to Garp, and I have not been able to find that feeling in any of the books that followed in my list. I liked A Widow for One Year (guess what, my second...), I didn't care much for The Fourth Hand, which I found lame. I liked this one, which I have not really read, but listened to in the truly splendid reading by G Gardner. But I never cared too much for Homer Wells, another main character of Irving's to whom things just seem to happen. I don't know how else to put it, but I could not help imagining Homer in this book as a never-smiling character that lets his life decide for him. Indeed, I am not sure I recall instances where Homes laughs or even just smiles.

The book is, also, endless. I liked the first part better, but the second part, which tells the story of Homer as an adult, felt overlong. Irving writes really really well, but there are too many well written but uneventful pages here.

I found the "message" of the book about abortion well delivered, but I doubt it will change anybody's mind on the matter. It will most likely shock some and sound perfectly reasonable to others.

Overall, I am happy I purchased this audio book (again a VERY good reading), but (unlike for Garp) it's unlikely that I will reach for it again. I was sort of happy when I got to the end and could move to another listening.

I generally read the book after I have seen the film. I do this so I am not disappointed in the film/screenplay. Generally the book proves to be much more entertaining than the movie. The movie was fantastic, the book a delight to read.

This book is a wonderful read; engaging and well written. What is remarkable about it is that the writer is able to depict men so well; how they think, how they behave. All the motivations and emotions are covered with each male character which was especially appealing to me because I actually believe that after reading this book not only had I felt a sense of accomplishment in reading such a wonderful story, but I had a sense that I understood men better, too. Highly recommended.

The book was sent to me way before the expected time and I really appreciated that.

This was on my son's wish list for X-mas. He was very happy when he recieved it!Thanks.

...If you have one good friend you're luckier."

I loved most of this book. There are a lot of quotes i can relate to and a lot of the emotions the characters go through i have gone through myself. SE Hinton is my absolute favorite young adult writer of all time. Its not quite as good as The Outsiders but i don't think any book could have topped that. I enjoyed reading the book and it gives you a new perspective on things.

My only problem with it (the reason i didn't give it 5 stars) was i didn't understand the ending. I have a vague idea but i don't know why Bryan did what he did.

I think it's a good short read obviously for young adults, but really for anyone who likes a good story.

The main character in my story is a 16 year old boy named Bryon. The other main character in the story is 15 year old boy named Mark but there are other character such as M&M and Cathy. The setting takes place in the 70's. Mark's parents are dead they killed each other. Bryon dad left him and only his mom takes care of him and Mark. Bryon's mom has a thing for taking in strays but she dose not mind. The problem later on in the story is that Cathy's brother goes missing and their best friend gets shot and to top it off Byron mom dose not have enough money to pay her hospital medical bill. Later on Byron gets a job at the grocer y store to help and Mark dose something but he brings home to much money for one night. Later on they found M&M and he took a drug that mad him crazy. Towards the end of the story Byron found out that Mark was selling the same kind of drug that M&M took, and he called the police they took away Mark and the last words he uttered to Mark was `why you doing this to me buddy'.

That Was Then This Is Now

Bryon is a strong, 16 year old teenager in the book That Was Then This Is Now by S.E. Hinton. Bryon has a very special talent which is hustling people in pool. He has been doing this since he was 12 years old. Bryon lives with his mom in a little town in Oklahoma. His best friend Mark is living with him.
There's a reason why Mark is living with him. That reason is that his parents died when he was nine. Mark's parents were drunk and they were arguing that night. His dad got mad at his mom. Then his dad shot his mom and she fell to the ground. Then his mom shot his dad back. They both bled to death. Then Mark went to live with Byron and his mom.
Byron and Mark have been friends since they were very young. They grew up together in the same little town. Byron says there like brothers. Byron is big, tall, and strong. Mark is short and strong. They like to get in fights a lot. Mark hot wires cars to get around town. He has done that since he was twelve.
But they also have a problem. As they grow up they are growing apart from each other. Bryon starts going out with Cathy. Mark starts to get jealous of Cathy because Bryon is spending more time with Cathy. Then Mark starts acting a little weird and Byron notices it. He starts to look a little different. Then his attitude was changing about everything. He starts to talk back to Bryon and he has never done that before. Then Byron figures out why he is acting strange. Mark has a big secret. But you have to read the book to find out what it is.
If you like books about love, growing up, and a little action then this book is for you. This book is very interesting. I think it was very interesting when they protect their friend M&M from the guys who jumped him. I think the author wrote this book so kids won't get in gangs. They won't get a bad life or future. If you read the back it makes you want to read it. I wanted to know what kept them apart so I read the book at home for an hour each day until I got to the end. I was amazed by the ending. The book has 159 pages in all. Its reading level is 4.6.

Love these authors together, always a great little read that will keep you going back for more. Still have to say the Pendergast novels are the very best...so more of them if you please! You'll enjoy it...take it to the beach or on an airplane...you won't be bored.

It was a great premise. Good characters and an easy to read style that kept me turning the pages. However, I kept waiting for the book to really start. I was expecting something spectacular to come with the turn of the next page. As the amount of pages left began to dwindle it became apparent that it would never come. There was a twist to the story. One in which I saw coming well before it was revealed.

After reading The Relic and Brimstone (both books by Preston and Child and with the fictionilized character Pendergast) I decided to read something different. Believe me, this is probably one of the best books I have ever read. A true adventure. You will not be able to put it down until you have finished reading.

I've always been a fan of Preston and Child. This book is no exception. The best "water based" thrillers I've ever read. Charcter development is unsurpassed. Four months after reading this I still vividly remember the characters and thier lives. The creepy island is extremely interesting and the twist at the end is great. With that said, its not their best novel but probably top five.

I have read Preston and Child books since discovering them last year. All the books are great and thrilling. I was a little concerned because many of the ones I'd happened to read all involved monsters that emitted strange scents. I'd begun to wonder if the duo was stuck in a rut. Well, I didn't have to worry, because Riptide is a whole different ballgame, yet equally as thrilling. The reader is hooked into the storyline on the first page, because yes, of course we all want to know what happens to Malin's brother. And yet, we are not bored with the convoluted way the author takes us to that answer. Kudos to Preston and Child for producing yet another excellent thriller.