This book was very entertaining, the author was very well informed on the area. the tale told was amusing.

"Old Sam's Thunder" is a wonderful story which becomes a real page-turner, and it is filled with wonderful New England characters. This book is a wonderful read, and is a worthy sequel to "Big Fish."

of Mr and Mrs. Small, the prosecutor and the defense attorney as well as the cottage(or what was left of it). I found myself very disappointed that the author did not include these photographs and because of this I felt the book was incomplete. The story itself was very well written from beginning to end. A very unusual true crime tale. Next time, please use photos to augment a fine story.

This book is a captivating non-fiction that reveals a chilling ghost story that really happened to a young family of four in the 1950's. The book turns into a suspenseful murder mystery as it traces back in time to discover what really happened on the "haunted" property in 1916. The courtroom drama that follows is both riveting and interesting from an historical perspective. But what makes this well written tale so intriguing is that it is a true story.

Thanks so much for publishing this book. I am a decendent of Chase Whitcher and had heard stories about Cousin Sarah. What a joy to pass this on to my children. This book is well written and helps children learn how wild animals can be a friend in time of need. This gutsy little girls meets a bear in the woods. She is lost cold and knows that she needs shelter. The "big dog" comes to her rescue. Great reading for a group of children. Goes well with another book about Sarah Whitcher, "The Bear That Heard Crying" by Natalie Kinsey Warmock and Helen Kinsey.

Sarah's story was the tool we used to show our family how God is real and cares for each of us. Although the recommmended age is 7-9 we read a chapter to the whole family for part of our Bible story. Even my husband was captivated. We had a hard time closing the book after each chapter. Young readers can read with confidence, and little listeners are pulled into the wonderful dialogue and see the care the family characters have for each other. Our family loved this story. We do have a loving Father who cares for us and shows us time and again through many different lives just how much.

This book describes in great detail the lives of German POW's living in a New Hampshire POW camp in the 1940's. It is well-documented, with interviews with former guards and work-crew formen. The former prisoners, guards and foremen have met for reunions at the site of the camp.

I lived in the area and remember the POW camp.

Koop's chronicle gives us a picture of an oasis of amity in a world torn by war, in the unlikely location of a prisoner-of-war camp in the tiny town of Stark, New Hampshire, several miles north of Lancaster and Berlin. We see German captives being pleasantly surprised by the humane treatment of the American guards, who observed the letter and the spirit of the Geneva Convention, and we see the Americans learning that not all Germans were enthusiasts of Hitler's fanatical National Socialism -- far from it! There are disputes about the 'pulpwood quota' (German prisoners in Stark assisted the locals in their efforts at paper production) which led to a five-day strike, but also led to deeper understanding about the dignity of the captive workers. There are amusing tales of attempted escapes -- the most successful being that of a colourful character named Franz Bacher, a youthful Austrian artist who made it to New York City. There is an illuminating glimpse into the generosity of the townspeople of Stark toward the prisoners of war, from an enemy nation but sharing a common humanity. There are tales of collaboration at arduous tasks, and there is a record of the small acts of charity and levity which transfigured a potentially painful experience into the basis of camaderie and a future peace.

One need not be a historian, or an ardent reader of history to appreciate Allen Koop's handsomely written book; one need only be a human being, possessed of sufficient imagination to place oneself in the shoes of a stranger in a strange land.

I used this guide while mountain biking in the White Mountains. It provides very detailed descriptions of a variety of off road trails and logging roads, as well as many road rides. The ratings help to determine whether you can handle the conditions of each ride, and the very complete directions minimize the loss of time searching for trail heads. A very well written guide that is small enough to be taken along in a shirt pocket.

1.From Marty's descriptions of routes I could visualize the roads he was describing. I've hiked the Whites for years and was familiar with many of the roads but never cycled on them. 2.I planned a week tour in the Whites before getting Marty's guide. Many of the loops covered the same roads I planned on using. The basic route was Marty's triple notch century with lots of loops. Marty's rides were an excellent check on my routes and improved my routes. 3.Marty's descriptions are filled with yellow from my highlighter as I took advantage of his experience with cycling in the Whites. His book was a great resource in planning my routes.

With The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving wrote one of his best books and one of my personal favorites. Although in every book several themes return (we already read about rape, wrestling and Vienna in The World According to Garp and the transsexuals from this book can also be found in A Son Of The Circus and the bears... well, you got the point now, I suppose), every work of John Irving is original, surrealistic and moving.

John Irving writes about people. And whether he writes about Owen Meany, Dhar or The Watermethod Man, he writes about life. All his characters are in a way eccentric and bizarre, but always understandable and just normal people. Irving describes their lives, their thoughts, their emotions and so tries to find the meaning and purpose of our own lives. Irving's books are in that way portraits, but not just portraits. It are portraits of colorful people, absurd, but still in a way being like us. We can see ourselves in the eyes of Irving's main characters. And that's, beside his wonderful writing style and humor, what I like about Irving and especially about "The Hotel New Hampshire" that's a fresh and imaginative dive in Irving's world and really worth reading!

With The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving wrote one of his best books and one of my personal favorites. Although in every book several themes return (we already read about rape, wrestling and Vienna in The World According to Garp and the transsexuals from this book can also be found in A Son Of The Circus and the bears... well, you got the point now, I suppose), every work of John Irving is original, surrealistic and moving.

John Irving writes about people. And whether he writes about Owen Meany, Dhar or The Watermethod Man, he writes about life. All his characters are in a way eccentric and bizarre, but always understandable and just normal people. Irving describes their lives, their thoughts, their emotions and so tries to find the meaning and purpose of our own lives.

Irving's books are in that way portraits, but not just portraits. It are portraits of colorful people, absurd, but still in a way being like us. We can see ourselves in the eyes of Irving's main characters. And that's, beside his wonderful writing style and humor, what I like about Irving and especially about "The Hotel New Hampshire", a fresh and imaginative dive in the wonderful world of John Irving.

First of all, I would like to express my outrage at the reader who was disappointed that Irving's books are formulaic. Sure, he does reiterate himself somewhat in his novels, but what author doesn't? The "one-liners" that emerge from the stories will stay with me for the rest of my life. Especially that wonderful line from The Hotel New Hampshire, "Keep Passing the Open Windows." I have read all of Irving's works, and although I hold a great deal of admiration for each one, The Hotel New Hampshire is definitely my favorite. Irving simply developed his characters better in this book than any of his others. The story in this book- though obviously borrowing some of the antidotes in Garp- is original and amusing. The best thing about this book is that it is funny. Sure, all of his books are, BUT this is the funniest. My only critique is that Irving did not develop Lilly as much as he could have. Regardless, I loved this book, and I highly recommend it to anyone in need of a good laugh and a wonderful story.

The "New York Times" review by brooks Atkinson of of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" in 1938 called it "a hauntingly beautiful play." The play is considered a classic portrayal of small-town American life, set in the town of Grover's Corner, New Hampshire. We follow the lives of George Gibbs, a doctor's son, and Emily Webb, the daughter of the newspaper editor, through their courtship, marriage, and Emily's death in childbirth. However, the style of "Our Town" is sometimes considered more striking than the substance because of its lack of props and scenery. The play features a narrator, the Stage Manager, who sits at the side of the unadorned stage and explains the action to the audience.

It is hard to believe that Wilder's nonrealistic stagecraft was a subject of concern to anyone then or now; I would have thought Shakespeare put that concern to rest in the prologue to "Henry V." I would have said Wilder was simply finding a way to make the setting and scenery irrelevant to his story he was trying to tell, although I also suspect he was trying to set up the impact of the end of the play which takes place in the town's graveyard as Emily and the other characters describe the peace of life after death.

Wilder's makes it clear he is trying to convey the simple sanctity of everyday life, a theme that is certainly found in Wilder's novel "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" (1927), which looked at the lives of five persons who died in the collapse of a bridge in Peru in the 18th century. The key exchange comes between Emily, who asks "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every minute?" "No," the Stage Manager responds, "The saints and poets, maybe--they do some." Obviously that is the lesson Wilder wants to impart to his audiences and the big question today is whether the frantic change in the pace of life we see a century later has made Wilder's point incomprehensible to most American audience.

"Our Town" is an important American drama, not because it was considered innovative or because it won the Pulitzer Prize, but because it represents the last gasp of American lyricism in the 20th century. World War I transmuted the Realists into the Modernists, writers like Hemingway and Steinbeck, whose response to the horrors of modern warfare was to elevate the subjects of literature to loftier grounds. In a world where men die or are maimed for life by poisonous gas, bombs dropped from airplanes, or machine guns, a new significance of meaning needs to be created. By such standards "Our Town" pales in comparison to the works of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller. But if you put Wilder's play in historical and cultural perspective, then I think its greatness remains assured.

... I have recently begun spending time rereading literature that I first read when in school.

The question that I posed to myself was whether the "classics" that I had to read in High School or College still met the test of time.

I am very pleased that my rereading of Our Town not only met, but exceeded my expectations and memory. In my opinion, plays are the most unread form of literature in America. We are fed a diet of fiction and history, even poetry is more often read and studied than plays.

After rereading Our Town it is easy to understand why Wilder won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. Short, only 112 pages, spartan in its set design it left all for the imagination.
This is a play that can be read in a short period of time, and while it seems so simple and easy in Act I, by the end the true depth of meaning has hit the reader.

All of the action takes place in the matter of 12 years, almost a generation, and the changes that have taken place in those mere 112 pages have brought us to character involvement, life, birth, death and deeper meanings of why we are here on Earth.

Our Town means so much more to me than it did when in school, most likely because I, like the play, have aged and not am at a period of my own life where I can look back and see similar fact patterns. Add to that the maturity of age and Our Town is Still a Classic, a play to be read in school, performed on stage and reread every now and then as we age. In doing that we are able to better understand the characters, the emotions and the fact that there is no set or scenery in our mind and can envision the play however and on whatever level the reader so desires.

Through the use of small town characters and the element of simplicity, Thornton Wilder creates universal themes about the cycle of life that reign eternal even today. The play Our Town tells the story of two simple families, the Gibbs and the Webbs, living in the town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. In three acts, Wider journeys through the cycle of life, from the birth of a new life, all way up to the inevitable. Throughout the play, the reader experiences the great milestones in life that they can relate to, such as new life, first love, long lasting love and the effect of death. The last act holds a special significance. In the last act, Wilder uses the theme of death to show the reader how humans fail to "realize life while they live it." Our Town's simplicity also helps it appeal to a multitude of audiences, whether young or old, past or present. From the characters, to the diction, to the set design, Wilder simplifies everything to help the reader better relate to the story. When writing the dialect for the play, Wilder uses typical country vernacular and has the Stage Manager speak directly to the audience, which makes the reader feel apart of the story. Wilder's sets, or lack there of, allow the reader to use their imagination, but not focus so much on scenery that they miss the message. All in all, Our Town by Thornton Wilder is an exceptional play. With this play, Thornton Wilder tries to get us in general not to live life in a blur and to stop and smell the roses. Anyone can appreciate the contents and themes in this play, no mater what age, race, or gender. It is ideal for easy reading and will leave you with a newfound respect for life.

The basic premise is interesting. The intricacy of the insurance world is explained quite well and John's life is boring. However the problem comes in the third act when Max, John and the new girl with many names are trapped in a town that is evil. Nice twist, an almost unexpected road leading to this final showdown. But here;s the problem Ellen Snyder (assistant manager at the Pasadena branch office of McLaren Life and Casualty, pays out a 12 million dollar death benefit to an imposter and then disappears, company red flags go up all over)a pivotal character dead before any other characters get to interact with her. John only reflects on his brief affair. I felt a little cheated when her body is found, quite impossibly, in a field. She's instrumental to the case yes but also to the who tableau of the crime and hence the book. The replacement girl is suppose to be this genius interesting thing but she comes in as a pale substitute.
Security consultant, Max Stillman, is called in to clean up the mess. Grabbing data analyst, John Walker, from McLaren's San Francisco headquarters to assist him, because he knew Ellen intimately, the two set off across the country, tracking Ellen and the money. Stillman's convinced she's guilty of insurance fraud. Walker is sure she's innocent and sticks with Stillman and the case to protect and defend her. But what these two find, at the end of the road, shocks and surprises even Max Stillman, and he's seen it all. However at a certain point the obvious becomes apparent and the three of them trapped in this town that kills for cash is played well but never pays off.
What hurts the book is that we're total outsiders to this town and its residents so they're all violent zombies attacking the heroes. There is no connection to the villains, they're just a mass facelss mob. If Ellen had been one of them then we could see some motivation see some betrayal, some game played. I love Thomas Perry's work but no one is close to getting into the scrapes that Jane Whitefield does and gets out of.
Max Stillman is good, not a Jane but good. John just gets to be a newbie and the chickie who loves computers is just there as a sex convenience and DC-esque Oracle.

A nice ride but don't expect the bells and whistles and porterhous you get with 4 out of 5 of teh Jane Whitefield books. This is a departure when instead there should have been some kind of combo action. Jane trying to hide Ellen as Max.John and towns[people close in all for different reasons. Now that wou;d've been interesting.

A page turner? Ehhhh, a finisher. You're 100 pages in, might as well finish it.

Death Benefits by Thomas Perry Random House 2001

While I am more familiar with Perry's Jane Whitfield series, which by the way are excellent, this mystery is rich in excitement, detail and well-developed characters.

A scam has been perpetuated against the McClaren Insurance company and Max Stillman, an insurance investigator, picks John Walker to help him because John had been very close to Ellen Snyder, a woman who has also disappeared. In their search for Ellen and some leads about the missing 10 million they encounter several bad guys and get roughed up and a computer specialist who can seemingly get into any data base. When a hurricane hits Florida, John is not only caught in the midst of it but uncovers a thread of the scam they are investigating. Several clever deductions lead John Max and Mary Catherine Casey ( John's new girl friend) to a small New Hampshire town that proves to be the base of a much larger scam than they started with.

The last 100 pages of the mystery are a real screamer and will keep you reading late into the night as John, Max and Mary struggle to save their lives and return with the story.

Once again Thomas Perry has not disappointed me. The only tiny point of criticism is that John's relationship with Max seems much too unlikely. He follows Max with too obligingly. Never-the-less and excellent read.

When Ellen Snyder, assistant manager at the Pasadena branch office of McLaren Life and Casualty, pays out a 12 million dollar death benefit to an imposter and then disappears, company red flags go up all over and security consultant, Max Stillman, is called in to clean up the mess. Grabbing data analyst, John Walker, from McLaren's San Fransisco headquarters to assist him, because he knew Ellen intimately, the two set off across the country, tracking Ellen and the money. Stillman's convinced she's guilty of insurance fraud. Walker is sure she's innocent and sticks with Stillman and the case to protect and defend her. But what these two find, at the end of the road, shocks and surprises even Max Stillman, and he's seen it all..... Thomas Perry has written a well-paced, page turner that pulls you into the story from page one and takes you on a roller coaster ride full of plot twists and turns, suspense and thrills that don't let up until the last page of the book. His writing is sharp and spare with great, down to earth, witty dialogue and his cast of well drawn characters are original and engaging. With action packed, riveting scenes and a superb, compelling story line, Death Benefits is an entertaining novel that's hard to put down!

Okay, I realize I might be over-emphatic on exactly how much I love this book but I LOVE THIS BOOK. If you ever feel the need to read a novel depicting life in a certain lifestyle,(especially if that craving reaches to college kids in the mood), then this is the book for you. I've now read it at least twenty times, and each time I can't help but get sucked into the characters and their lifestyle. The author uses a unique method of "showing the world through their eyes" to develop the characters and allow the reader to fully understand exactly what each character is thinking at any particular time. The description provided of the plot does not do it justice. This is more than just a book about three college kids, it's about a whole generation, and how anything can be different if you look at it from the right angle. No surface characters here, this novel brings you to the heart of the matter, and once there, you never want it to end. If you like Irvine Welsh, you'll love Bret Easton Ellis.

After seeing the film version of "American Psycho" I was compelled to read the book. I became almost obsessed with AP--a funny, frightening, daring book. Since then I've been meaning to get my hands on more of Ellis's work. I was trying to decide between this and anotehr Ellis book, and since I'm in college myself decided to go with Rules of Attraction. A great, fun, interesting, thought provoking book. Now, I believe AP was probably Ellis's masterpiece, but Rules was very much the college, early 20's version of the world Patrick Bateman lived in.
The character I felt most for was Paul, who seemed the most genuine of the three main characters. Sean was frustrating and entertaining. Lauren was an interesting character, but her obsession with Victor became somewhat tedious at times.
However, the book was great, and oddly enough I hadnt' realized that Sean was the infamous Patrick's brother till the end. Sean was so different from Patrick (well, for one he wasn't psychotic) it never occured to me until he mentioned Patrick. And I did get a quick smile out of the brief appearance by Patrick--acting sane, oddly enough. I may have to go back and read Sean's appearance in AP.
A good book I read in 2 days! Not as "funny" as AP, but very good nonetheless!

IT'S 1985, FALL, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Lauren's a pretty, virgin-type, yet she's not as chaste as she seems. Born with good looks and great money, Lauren is focused on what major she should choose and why the heck her boyfriend, Victor, won't call her--even if he's in Europe. Lauren's ex Paul's bi--sensitive, lovable, and sensible getting over his lost love, Mitchell--while looking at Sean. Semi-junkie and alcholic Sean's no one's ex, but sure would love to be with Lauren, who's like an angel to Sean, even though he does everyone he basically wants--which is almost half the school.

I found this book so funny and so interesting and so realistic. It's like something I would love to read. I read Bret Easton Ellis's first book, Less Than Zero, and fell in love with it. Then I picked up The Rules of Attraction, 'cause I heard it was an OK movie and I hadn't seen it, so I decided to read it. It's amazing how someone can make a love triangle at an unconvential college seem so tasty and real. I wonder what his secret is.

Anyway, get this book! It's amazing, raw, different, smart, realistic, fresh, and edgy.

from a huge fan--have read most of her books over the past ten years. This one lacks the passion and compelling characters of her other books. Try other Barbara Delinsky books instead.

This is only the second book I've read by Barbara Delinsky, the first being Three Wishes, and I definitely enjoyed this one more than the other. The setting is a beautiful town in New Hampshire called Lake Henry, where the residents are very protective of their own. Lily Blake was born in Lake Henry but left to pursue some career dreams. She has a wonderful life in Boston as a teacher and a part-time job in an exclusive private dinner club playing the piano and singing. She also has a close friend, Fran Rosetti, who has just been elevated to Cardinal in the Catholic church. Of course, now that Lily's life is almost perfect, something has to come around to destroy it. That something is Terry Sullivan, a journalist, who prints a damaging story of the relationship between Lily and the new Cardinal. The story is untrue but the damage has been done and Lily returns in shame to her hometown.

The good news is that Lily finds strength and support from her former neighbors. She also rekindles a friendship with John Kipling, who has also returned home to Lake Henry and is now the editor of the local newspaper. Together, they forge a bond and find out that there is strength in numbers. Was this another Thorn Birds? Definitely not....just a good, well-written, enjoyable book.

I've never read a book by Barbara Delinsky I haven't enjoyed. So why did it take me nearly two years from the time I bought LAKE NEWS to read it? I'm not sure, but I am sorry I didn't read it sooner. This is a fabulous story and very timely.

Lily Blake has had a longterm friendship with Father Francis Rosetti. When he is elevated to Cardinal, an unscrupulous newspaper reporter, in his attempt to dig up some dirt, accuses Lily and Father Rosetti of having an affair. This results in a media frenzy, Lily losing her jobs (music teacher and a singer/piano player at a private club) and having to flee her Boston home.

Unable to afford an attorney to help clear her name, she seeks refuge in her hometown of Lake Henry, New Hampshire. Although she hides out at first, Lake Henry takes care of their own. Befriending her is John Kipling, the editor of the local newspaper, THE LAKE NEWS.

John has always wanted to write a book and with the news of Lily's alleged affair he feels he has the perfect subject. When he discovers her pleas of innocence, he decides the theme of her story can be the misuse of power by the press and paparazzi (which at one point in the story are called "princess murderers). But as he gets to know Lily and begins to fall in love with her, it's clear that his goals have to be something a bit different. He attempts to exonerate Lily by discovering what made the reporter want to exact revenge on Lily and/or Father Fran in the first place.

This is a compelling read, absolutely unputdownable. I was up until nearly 3 AM in the morning finishing it. Delinsky is a wonderful writer and storyteller! Both John and Lily have issues with their parents to deal with in an attempt to get to know themselves better. There's a wonderful little secondary romance between Lily's younger sister and a writer who is also attempting to write a book on the brouhaha. I also loved the way Lily dealt with her 10-year-old niece, Hannah, an awkward child who just needs some extra TLC.

And how, do you ask, do you follow-up such a wonderful read? By reading another Barbara Delinsky book, of course! I'm off to grab THE VINEYARD off my TBR pile!

Maudeen Wachsmith, Charter Member Reviewers International Organization (RIO)