This book reminds all of us who live in the Finger Lks, how beautiful this area is, and how lucky we are to live here. GREAT JOB KRIS!

I live in the Finger Lakes area (Elmira) and I have either driven, hiked, or bicycled around all the lakes and sailed across several. This is a wonderful piece of work and all scenes are easily recognized. A great compilation.

As a previous resident of the Finger Lakes area, I can personally vouch for the beauty of the area. Mr. Reynolds has captured it as well as any human being can capture the glory of nature's beauty. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a taste for looking at beautiful places, beautifully photographed. Mr. Reynolds has presented an excellent talent with this beautiful book. I look forward to his next effort.

Not just a great collector's item, but a well written story that one can't put down. The pictures draw you in and the writing makes you want more from this author. Their is too little written on this region that boasts a terrific rail history. There's something indescribable that keeps you pulling the book out and looking at it again and again.

Some well needed LVRR material from upstate New York. The pictures of the branch line action are GREAT.I keep on going back for more!!! I would like to see another come out with more photos of the upstate region.

Ellen Tifft deftly paints a story of the past, of a time when carnival sideshows traveled the country, when carved wooden horses seemed to come to life on carousels, and when simple things like truth and honor and love were still important. Tifft masterfully weaves together two stories of love: one is the tale of a young sideshow dancer named Zelma who somehow manages to find the keeper of her heart even though fate seems to have other plans, and the second is the Indian myth of two doomed lovers forever associated with the bottomless Aldridge Lake. But the true beauty of the novel is the fact that Tifft has the commendable ability to take the reader to a deeper level of involvement with the characters, beyond that of mere observers of the central love stories. She allows the reader a unique and uninhibited look into the very essence of her soul, and the experience proves to be both exhilirating and cleansing. The further one delves into the lives of the characters of Tifft's novel, the more real they seem and, despite the difficulties they endure, the more at peace the reader feels. Mrs. Tifft's poetic powers are obvious, and the imagery she employs lends an almost magical element to her prose, sweeping the reader up in a tale of love and sacrifice and courage. Zelma is no cardboard character, she is full of innocence and desire and verve. She is a dreamer whose naive actions lead to consequences which appear to wipe out any chance of her realizing her dreams, which would smother the passion and exuberance of most, yet she somehow manages to persevere. Zelma is a wonderful example of the modern literary hero, as she encounters various faces of evil and despair without losing her sense of intergrity and hope. Mrs. Tifft offers the reader a remarkable ride on a carousel of the imagination which is sure to haunt and to please.

Ellen Tifft, lifelong resident of Elmira, New York, has published poetry and short fiction in a variety of literary magazines, including The New Yorker and Poetry, for the past forty some years. Moon, Moon, Tell Me True is her first published novel, but it reads like something she's been preparing for all her life. Set in Annovia, a fictionalized Elmira, from 1947 to 1956, the novel's heroine is 19 yr old Zelma Prokova, daughter of Gene Tunney Prokov and his wife Peg. Gene and Peg are the stick man and fat woman of a traveling sideshow that spends five months on the road and six months in Annovia. Zelma has been performing since she was five and is a regular dancer in the "girly show," but she dreams of performing for much larger audiences than the side show world brings in. All of this sounds realistic, but Tifft is a home grown magic realist. Her characters, from Mister and Al, the side show's Indian fortune teller and hermaphrodite, to Raymond-Guy, the itinerant, foreign-born sidewalk chalk painting artist, who sweeps Zelma off her feet, inhabit a world in which the villainous Dwain Slocum, sideshow manager, attempts the rape and even murder of our heroine Zelma. Zelma dances herself into mystical trances, falls in love, gives birth on a river barge, and is almost lured into death by drowning in the lake at Aldridge Park. And all of this Tifft achieves through a language, half dialect, half poetry that captures the offhand way people talk better than anything I've ever read. But you really have to read this unique novel for yourself. It will take you on a journey through mythic realms to a resolution as satisfying as the end of The Tempest or The Magic Flute.

I found this book to be a great way to learn about public hiking trails in CNY area. It has many details about access, estimated time, and conditions on the trails. One particularly useful feature is that it has a copy of a topographic map of the area with the trail clearly marked. Has a map showing the relative positions of each trail across the region with the table of contents. I like this book because it gives me ideas about new places to explore with lots of specific information.

Finally, I found it. I moved to the Finger Lakes area (Rochester, NY) in 1996 and every time I visited a local book store I looked for some kind of travel guide for the area and I could never find one that wasn't hiking or cycling related. When I saw this one, I had to buy it and I don't regret it. It came very handy for the summer so far. It includes some of the history of each of the finger lakes and its towns. It also includes places to see and visit, where to stay and where to eat. A very good section is the one that lists all the area festivals and the dates when they usually occur. The list can help you plan ahead, either to visit when the festivals are taking place or to avoid them. Another part of the book that is very helpful is the maps section. It has maps for the different finger lakes areas, w/ main roads, etc. And if you want to know about the area wineries, it has a whole chapter on wineries. I have found that this book can be used by a local as well as tourist to the Finger Lakes area, it is very complete.

I found Dr. von Engeln's text to be incredibly informative on this enigmatic subject. Thousands of people visit the Finger Lakes region annually for it's beautiful lakes and abundant wineries, but few know how the region came to be. Dr. von Engeln has filled that gap nicely.

Terri Windling's Fairy Tale Series never disappoints. Author Frost here creates a vivid and accurate, if bleakly creepy milieu for his take on Bluebeard. The millennial fervor of mid-19th century America is fascinating in itself and Frost elucidates as he entertains. His characterizations are apt, although I was at first discomifited by his descriptions of the sexual de-flowering of his three protagonists; eventually, it all fits and is entirely appropriate. The story of Bluebeard has always been an ugly for me and it's no less so in this re-telling. Some very engaging and aptly retro prose.

My understanding and practice of landscaping is limited to the home and garden variety. Even at this level of home maintenance my skills and interests are limited. And I should be vacationing at a national park, say, the Grand Canyon or Yosemite, I would be as Moses standing on Pisgah taking in the general effect of the scenery from a distance. It comes as an entirely new revelation then, for one to be connected to or be part of a landscape takes more than Scott's fertilizers for the lawn, bordered fences, or sightseeing the Yosemite Valley.

After accepting a teaching position at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the author and her poet husband make their home in the Finger Lakes Region at upstate New York. There, the author begins her interrogative journey on this vast landscape of terra incognita and eventually finding herself (and does her family) to belong to the land(scape) and not merely as a transient trampling through it with indifference.

The book is repleted with historical anecdotes, myths, and local interests. It's is not a technical tome about geography, history, and anthropology of the Finger Lakes. Rather, this is the author's journal of how she strives to be with the land upon she dwells. As the author discovers, the landscape is the embodied lessons of the past for the present, and instructions for the future. The scenery of a place is only a prop. Without a landscape there can be no scenery. And that what makes this book rare and instructive.

Deborah Hall's work has filled a void in my understanding of our culture. I now think more about the history, the town, and the neigbhorood (including neighbors) where I live. Perhaps too, I will come to know the land where I stand, and not just my own lawn.

What a wonderful cookbook! We got it as a gift from parents who make regular trips to wine country in New York and have been delighted with it ever since.

Recipes are clearly laid out and the "degree of difficulty" ratings are accurate (unlike lots of cookbooks that seem to assume the reader is already a master chef!) "Grapevine" also does an excellent job of indicating which items can be made ahead of time and frozen (or refrigerated) and which need to be prepared immediately before. There's a good blend of recipes that can be made from stuff that we all have in our kitchens and those that require a special trip to the grocery store. The sample menues in front of the book are also a hoot and are a real help in putting together meals for two or for a party. Our favorites include the Glen Iris Spinach Salad, the Spinach Squares, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and the Heath Bar Crunch Cake!

This book does a wonderfull job of displaying many of the sights and hidden treasures of the oft overlooked finger lakes region. Many of the photos include bits of history and indian lore from long ago. The photos do not disappoint, and display the 4 seasons in all their glory. Summer sunsets are mixed with lush green spring scenes, and of course fall is represented with all it's brilliant color. Mr McCarthy's book does not forget winter as do many pictorials of the area. Instead, snowy Christmas scenes are shown along with bleak, cold January images that will have the reader craving a hot bowl of soup and a warm fire. Despite the bleak Upstate winters, Mr McCarthy finds images of beauty in the ice and snow that are hard to forget. The stars of the book... the Finger Lakes are each represented along with a brief description of their size and length. I find this to be a excellent gift to give to visitors or friends who have left the area. I have one one my coffee table and it is the first thing visitors pick up when they come in. Since the Finger Lakes encompass such a large area, many locals will remark that they have never been to the places pictured in the book, though they live only a short drive away. This would make a good gift for those who have the urge to explore the area.

I was overwhelmed with joy and melancholy when I cracked open this beautiful book. I am a former resident of Central New York (having lived near Conesus, Otisco and Skaneatles Lakes, and enjyoing trips with my father on Cayuga Lake, where he kept a 24 foot cabin cruiser for 5 years). Not only are the McCarthys skilled photographers, but the area itself is worthy of such a compendium. I particularly appreciated John McCarthy's descriptions of set-ups and time of day for particular shots, as well as the commentary regarding the history of the area. I've ordered several more copies for old friends who love the area as much as I do, and new friends who will once they take a look.

This is an absolutely beautiful pictorial book of our region. We gave these as thank you gifts to 16 speakers (10 were from other states) who spoke at a special anniversary conference we held this month. Since this conference is always in December, we wanted to showcase our area in all of the seasons. This book was very well received.