Read any good books lately?

Granite State Readers Recommend is a project of the NH Center for the Book. We ask people in the Granite State to tell us (through a form on our website) about a book they have read that they think others will enjoy. There have been recent suggestions from Peterborough, Manchester, and Farmington. Check out what your neighbors are reading! What have you read lately that you think other readers would enjoy? Let us know and we will add your title to the site.

Book of the Week #30

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett with pictures by Tasha Tudor. (J.B. Lippincott, 1962)


This wonderful story, originally published in 1912, of a lonely willfull little girl and how she finds friends, health and hapiness when she comes to live in a great house on the Yorkshire moors was brought to life in 1962 with the addition of illustrations by Tasha Tudor.

In 1944 the great success of an edition of Mother Goose she had illustrated enabled Tasha Tudor to buy a New Hampshire farm and create a lifestyle rooted in the early 19th century. She lived on that farm until 1971 when she moved to a house in Vermont built by her son. Last month Tasha Tudor passed away at the age of 92.

Book of the Week #29

The Education of a Yankee: An American Memoir by Judson Hale (Harper & Row, 1987)

Judson Hale, editor-in-chief of Yankee Magazine and resident of Dublin, NH,displays his storytelling talents in this tale of his own unconventional upbringing: his parents founded an anthroposophical center in Vanceboro, Maine; founded a lumber company to support the center; and sent their son Jud to Dartmouth (from which he was expelled). He tells us the tales of how he became "a man who ain't leanin' on nothin." In other words, a Yankee.

Book of the Week #28

On the Road North of Boston: New Hampshire Taverns and Turnpikes, 1700-1900 by Donna-Belle Garvin & James L. Garvin. (University Press of New England, 1988).

Drawing on the resources of the New Hampshire Historical Society, the State Archives, and other NH institutions this volume describes -- and provides images of -- what you would have seen, eaten, and drank, and the people you might have met while travelling through our state hundreds of years ago. Extensive footnotes provide many resources for additional reading.

Book of the Week #27

Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts (Perrenial, 2005)

As the founding fathers were drafting and signing the Declaration of Independence their farms, plantations and other businesses were in many cases being run by the women in their lives. This fascinating book tells the familiar tale of our nation's founding from the women's point of view. Among the many women whose letters are included in the book is Mary Bartlett of Newton, NH.

The audiobook version of this title, which I am currently listening to is read by Cokie Roberts and is available through the NH Downloadable Audio Books Program (which my public library participates in).