Book of the Week #53

Digby Finds a Friend by K.D. Wurtz; illustrated by Tracey D. Carrier. (Gettysburg, PA: Bear & Company, 2002)

A story in the Digby in Disguise series, this picture book is the story of how Digby uses disguises and make-believe to make a new friend and learns that what he needed all along was what he had to begin with, himself.

Author K.D. Wurtz is the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Writers' Project and Tracey D. Carrier lives in Bedford and has exhibited her work at the McGowan Fine Art gallery.

Book of the Week #52

On That Night by Elizabeth Yates; illustrated by James Barkley (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1969)

This Christmas parable is the tale of a night that brings to pass one of the legends of Christmas Eve: on that night lost things are found again.

New Hampshire author Elizabeth Yates (December 6, 1905 - July 29, 2001) is best known for her Newbery medal winning novel Amos Fortune, Free Man. Yates wrote more than 50 other books during her lifetime, including an autobiographical trilogy.

Book of the Week #51

Saturday Beans & Sunday Suppers: Kitchen Stories from Mary's Farm by Edie Clark (Peterborough, NH: Powersbridge Press, 2007)

Edie Clark's essays chronicle New England life from the vantage point of Mary's Farm. This collection spans the decades since the 1960s and focuses on food and drink. It includes recipes. I particularly liked the essay called "Bread, rising" and the accompanying recipe for Christmas Braid.

I was reminded of this book this week as it was on the non-fiction best-seller list that is included in the Village Bookstore's email newsletter. It is a wonderful New Hampshire bestseller list. Even if you never go to Littleton, it is worth signing up for the email newsletter just to get the bestseller lists.

Book of the Week #50

We Went to War: New Hampshire Remembers by Meg Heckman and Mike Pride. (Concord, NH: Monitor Publishing Company, 2008).

I heard about this book on NHPR recently and thought it sounded like good book to be a book of the week, but then other books presented themselves and I forgot about this one. This morning I got an email from Gibsons Bookstore announcing that the authors would be at the store on December 11 and I remembered that I wanted to feature this book. I love it when bookstores email me so I know what's going on!

There will also be an event with the authors TONIGHT (12/9/08) at 7pm at the Tracy Memorial Library.

In 2007-08, Heckman and Pride interviewed men and women from New Hampshire who remember how World War II transformed—and often threatened—their lives. We Went to War collects their stories with maps and graphics by Monitor artist Charlotte Thibault and portraits by Monitor photojournalist Ken Williams.

Book of the Week #49

Hidden History of New Hampshire by D. Quincy Whitney (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008)

What do the Library of Congress, Boston's First Church of Christ Scientist, and the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel have in common? According to "Pioneer Granite Quarriers build the Library of Congress," one of the essays in this fascinating book, they were all built with granite quarried from Concord, NH.

D. Quincy Whitney, a New Hampshire resident and former feature writer for the Boston Globe New Hampshire Weekly, has written brief essays about many aspects of our state's history including libraries, the arts, industry, government and politics, recreation, and the natural landscape.

Book of the Week #48

Live Free and Eat Pie! A Storyteller's Guide to New Hampshire by Rebecca Rule (Yarmouth, Maine: Islandport Press, 2008)

This book was in a pile of copy cataloging I was working on today, and it struck me as the perfect book for the week of Thanksgiving. Stories, laughing, and pie seem like a perfect Thanksgiving combo.

When I checked out the publisher's website I discovered Travels With Becky -- Rebecca Rule's blog. I also discovered that she will be reading tonight at 7pm at the River Run Bookstore. If the rain prevents you from hearing her tonight, she has several other events coming up which are listed on the blog as well.

Book of the Week #47

My Antonia by Willa Cather (first published in 1918).

"I first heard of Ántonia on what seemed to me an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America. I was ten years old then; I had lost both my father and mother within a year, and my Virginia relatives were
sending me out to my grandparents, who lived in Nebraska. I travelled in the care of a mountain boy, Jake Marpole, one of the 'hands' on my father's old farm under the Blue Ridge, who was now going West to work for my grandfather. Jake's
experience of the world was not much wider than mine. He had never been in a railway train until the morning when we set out together to try our fortunes in a new world."

Thus begins this novel, thought by many to be Cather's best -- about the life of a spirited girl, the daughter of Bohemian immigrants, growing up on the Nebraska prairie in the 1800s.


What does this have to do with New Hampshire?

According to a letter Cather wrote June 9, 1943 to Harrison T. Blaine, she wrote much of this novel in a tent that had been pitched in a field between High Mowing (owned by Blaine's mother at the time the of the letter) and Stony Brook Farm. Cather was staying at the Shattuck Inn in Jaffrey, NH at the time. According to the Willa Cather Archive, this letter is owned by the Jaffrey Public Library.

Book of the Week #46

The Many Roads to Paradise by Dianalee Velie. (Middleborough, MA: Rock Village Publishing, 2006)

I came across this volume by poet and Newbury, NH resident Dianalee Velie at the recent New England Library Association conference. This is the third published collection of peotry by Ms. Velie and includes, among many others, the poem "The Eighth Day" which I especially liked.

Here are the first few lines:

So after God rested,
He got out His checklist,
looked at His creation
and laughed.
Revision would be a challenge.

Book of the Week #45

The Innocent Victim: A Franco-American Civil War Novel by Adélard Lambert ; translated by Margaret S. Langford in collaboration with Claire Quintal (Bennington, Vt.: Images from the Past, 2008)




Originally published in 1936 as a serialization in the Ottowa newspaper Le Droit this is the story of a French Canadian couple separated by the Civil War. The story begins in 1899 with the discovery of a skeleton beneath a Manchester, NH building. Margaret S. Langford, a professor of French at Keene State College translated the novel into English.



In his foreword Robert Perreault suggests that this novel might find readers among "lovers of historical fiction or of mysteries, students of Québécois or immigrant history, Civil War enthusiasts, New Englanders, Franco-Americans, residents of Manchester or of Lowell -- where more of the action takes place -- and anyone seeking a few hours of literary enjoyment." (p. xvi)



In addition to the novel, this volume includes information on the author; the real-life mystery of the discovery of the skeleton; and a bibliography and resource lists on Franco-American history and literature.



Thanks to Images from the Past publisher Tordis Ilg Isselhardt for providing me with a copy of this book!

Book of the week #44

Ghost Hunters of New England by Alan Brown (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2008).

In the introduction to this book Alan Brown makes the case that New England is America's most haunted region, partly due to its age. He also cites the history of the region -- including the Salem witch trials and the spiritualist movement that developed in New England in the 1850s -- and the rich literary heritage focused on the supernatural to support his claim that New England is particularly haunted.

There are organizations in each of the six New England states -- including NH Paranormal and Granite State Paranormal --that investigate reports of the paranormal. Brown talked to members of these groups and this book presents the stories of the people, including teachers, doctors, accountants, housewives, and law enforcement personnel, who devote their free time to hunting ghosts in New England.

Thanks to the UPNE rep at the NELA conference who pointed me toward this book.

Book of the Week #43

Ecology and Management of the North American Moose compiled and edited by Albert W. Franzmann and Charles C. Schwartz. (Washington, DC: Wildlife Management Institute, 1997)

"The moose is a Creature, not only proper, but is thought peculiar, to North America, and one of the Noblest Creatures of the Forest."
-- Paul Dudley, 1721

As it is currently moose season here in New Hampshire this book seems like the perfect choice for this week. Originally published in 1997 by the Wildlife Management Institute, this volume is a collection of articles about the Moose -- how they live, where they live, what they do, their diet and biology, and their relationship with people. The book includes an extensive bibliography and lots of pictures. A new edition was recently published by University Press of Colorado. The original edition is pictured here as it is the one the NH State Library has.

Book of the Week #42

Rules by Cynthia Lord (New York: Scholastic Press, 2006).

As I am getting ready to go to the CHILIS conference tomorrow it seemed appropriate to choose a book for young people this week. Cynthia Lord grew up in New Hampshire and her novel Rules won The Great Stone Face Award this past year, as well as being a 2007 Newbery Honor Book, and receiving many other honors. Ms. Lord will be the luncheon speaker for the New England Roundtable of Teen and Children's Librarians on Monday, October 20, at the New England Library Association Conference in Manchester, NH.

From the publisher's description of Rules:

"In her debut novel Rules, twelve-year-old Catherine just
wants a normal life, which is near impossible with a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. Filled with humor and warmth, Rules takes a candid and sensitive look at feeling different and finding acceptance--beyond the rules."

Book of the Week #41

The Count of Concord: A Novel by Nicholas Delbanco (Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2008)

This novel depicts the curious tale of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford who "was—as Nicholas Delbanco writes—'world famous in his lifetime,' yet now he has been 'almost wholly forgotten.' Like Delbanco himself, Sally Ormsby Thompson Robinson—the narrator of this novel and the Count’s fictional, last-surviving relative—is “haunted” by one of history’s most fascinating and remarkable figures. On par with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Count Rumford was, among many other things, a politician, a spy, a philanthropist, and above all, a scientist. Based on countless historical documents, including letters and essays by Thompson himself, The Count of Concord brings to life the remarkable career of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford." (quoted from book jacket)

Book of the Week #40

Harriet Wilson's New England: Race, Writing, and Region. Edited by JerriAnne Boggis, Eve Allegra Raimon, and Barbara A. White. (University of New Hampshire Press, 2007)



Harriet Wilson, a daughter of Milford, NH, was the first African American woman to publish a novel in the United States.



In the foreword to this volume, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explains:

"Wilson's novel ... showed us that slavery and racism existed in New England, just a short journey from Boston and Concord, those hotbeds of Abolition and freethinking that have long been considered the foundation of the American literary tradition. Our Nig turned my understanding of New England on its head.
Harriet Wilson's New England: Race, Writing, and Region is a major contribution to the scholarship on Harriet Wilson and Our Nig. JerriAnne Boggis, Eve Allegra Raimon, and Barbara A. White, the volume's editors, have assembled a collection that represents the tremendous industry that has spung up around Wilson over the past two decades and also points toward new directions of inquiry and exploration for future scholars.
Part I, 'New Hampshire's 'Shadows': Context and History,' recreates, as no other volume has, the world a black woman in mid-nineteenth-century New Hampshire would have experienced." (p. ix-x)

Book of the Week #39

Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry by Donald Hall (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)

Donald Hall, in addition to being a great poet, is a wonderful storyteller and this latest volume illustrates that. In this book Hall tells stories of his childhood, his education, why V-J Day has a special significance for him, the role of books in his life, about being an Academic Poet, and many more great stories that he unearthed in the boxes brought back from his Mother's house after her death.

Book of the Week #38

The Comfort of Our Kind: A Novel by Tom Stoner. (Thomas Dunne Books, 2008)

Texas author Tom Stoner has set his first novel in Franklin Notch, New Hampshire. It is the quirky story of a family caught in a battle between good and evil.

"I'm from a family of characters. My father, when he was young, was Wes the Cartoon man, a regionally famous host of a kiddie TV show. These days he is notorious for inventing bad history. My brother, Reggie, was the sports
announcer on a Nashua TV station. Last year after he was fired, he fell apart, moved to Orlando, and now he is famous for living undetected in Cinderella's Castle for eight months.
My sister, Veronica, is unhappy, has always been unhappy. Burdened by her strangled blend of doubt and fear, she is America's most misanthropic nurse.
Our mother sees things before they happen. When she was young, she was Sister Donica Lenore, the nun who made a bargain with God." (Comfort of Our Kind, p. 5)

Book of the Week #37

This Desired Place by Julia Older (Hancock, NH: Appledore Books, 2007)

This is the second book in Julia Older's Shoals trilogy and it was the 2007 gold medal finalist for Best Northeast Regional Fiction by the Independent Publisher Book Awards. It is also featured on the Reading Group Choices book discussion site. Julia Older is the author of 25 books and counting, and has been featured in the NH Poets Showcase. She lives in southern New Hampshire.

In this novel "Thom Taylor is cast onto the lawless Isles of Shoals at the gateway to the New World. Bawdy butcher Babb and his saucy Barbadoes serving wench quickly teach him the ropes of turning cod into cash. They are but a few of the real-life characters that help and hinder the fictive narrator of this sweeping 17th century saga." (quoted from jacket copy) The first book in the trilogy, Island Queen would be a great companion to last week's "Book of the Week"

"As I rowed back to Star Island I thought how each of the islands fostered salient traits much like people whose dispositions resemble their physical features. The way Church Island stuck into the Atlantic Ocean somehow made it more of a third party; whereas Star and Appledore, facing each other, shared pleasantries across the channel. Star had the practical advantage with its forts, though the garrison had but two rusty cannon." (p. 153)

Book of the Week #36

Ribbon Treasures from Celia's Garden by Faye Labanaris (American Quilter's Society, 2008)


This seemed like the perfect book for me to choose this week. With Labor Day, the traditional end of summer, just past a way to "garden" through the coming winter seems called for and this is a quilt-y week for me as I get ready to go on quilt retreat this weekend.


Faye Labanaris, a New Hampshire author and quilting teacher, has once again been inspired by the beauty of Celia Thaxter's Island Garden and has created a beautiful book that shows you how to create flowers from ribbon. The book begins with Celia Thaxter's story and includes quotes from Celia's work throughout. Detailed color photos walk you through creating the flowers and historical photos related to Celia Thaxter are also included.

Book of the Week #35

Mountain Peril: A White Mountains Mystery by Tom Eslick. (NY: Viking, 2005)


Tom Eslick teaches at Proctor Academy and is the author of the White Mountains Mystery series. This is the latest tale of Will Buchanan's adventures in the beautiful, and treacherous, White Mountains.

"It was a little after three o'clock on a hot August afternoon when the woman descended from Slide Peak and took the Glen Boulder Trail back to Pickham Notch. There hadn't been much of a view off Boot Spur because of a guazy haze
caused by high humidity.

Heading down the Glen Boulder Trail was relatively easy, and she made good time catching up to the Direttissima Trail, which runs parallel to the highway and directly to Pinkham. She kicked it into high gear over the rolling terrain when her attention was drawn to a rustling at the side of the trail.

She heard a muffled scream. Then she saw him. He stepped out onto the trail holding a long knife, his shirt coverd with blood. She gasped. His head snapped up." (p. 1)

Book of the Week #34

Shadow of Death: A Brady Coyne Novel by William G. Tapply. (NY: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003)


William G. Tapply, a resident of Hancock, NH brings Boston based attorney Brady Coyne to New Hampshire to figure out what happened to a P.I. who ended up dead while looking into a domestic issue at Coyne's request.

"The village of Southwick appeared without warning. One minute I was driving alongside trout streams and past meadows and through forests, and the next minute I found myself in what I guessed was the heart of the village, such as it was.

Southwick was as Ellen remembered it -- tiny and quiet and postcard-pretty -- and once again I was struck by the many different worlds that lay within a two-hour drive of my townhouse on Beacon Hill in the heart of the city." (p. 89)