Funny that he should mention James Herriot, which was more or less what I was hoping for. Despite a few interesting parts and parts that rang true (I'm also a doc) my overall impression was one of bordom. The book didn't have much substance or deep meaning. Sort of a vague diary which was not of general interest. (With an apology to the author's mother, whose opinion he keeps dredging up.....)

This book had me laughing out loud! signed, a former country do

Truly enjoyed this book. As a Nurse and a Vermonter I found this book to be so true of the Vermont I know and our blessed health care providers. I recommend it to anyone beginning their career in health care.

I thought this book was kinda boring. There were too many parentheses. It read kinda like someone was talking to you. I didn't really like that. The main character seemed sort of unrealistic.

Ghost story was a truly fantastic book. I would rate it at more that two stars. And I think that It is more a book for teens, than children. I usually have trouble finding a good book, but Im loved this one immediatly!!

The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.

A teenage boy asks Frank and Joe to go come to his home in Vermont to investigate a series of forest fires which he believes have been set by a zombie. Also, a circus owner asks Frank and Joe for help when his Big Top is plagued by accidents. Perhaps I expect too much from those books with titles like "Track Of The Zombie", "Night Of The Werewolf" or "The Witchmaster's Key", but rarely have the books ever lived up to such appealing titles (that is not to say that the books were bad, though). This book was mistitled because the zombie parts could have easily been eliminated without changing the plot much. The story isn't bad, it is fairly fast-paced, and has a fair amount of action, but for anyone anticipating a story about a zombie, you'll be disappointed with this one.

Well, overall this book was good. The zombie was definitely human, and it's hard to say if it seemed real or not. The other parts of the story are okay, and some are hilarious. If it had a few more funny parts, I'd think this book wasn't a mystery book at all. So it's hard to say wether I liked it or not. Especially because of the characteristics of some sort. And really, the Hardys didn't seem their best in this one. I can't believe I wasted my time on this...but it seems good...

As someone who has read and enjoyed several of Mr. Citro's previous books on Vermont and New England ghosts and unexplained phenomena, I was eagerly anticipating this latest effort. I was, however, disappointed to find that it is a very slight volume with bare thumbnail descriptions of Vermont ghostly activity, usually with only the most rudimentary description of where they occurred. As one who is becoming something of an amateur ghost-hunter, this was a let-down, as the title and description of this work would have you believe it provides directions to find these haunted locales. Sadly, it does not.

This is just the kind of travel guide I like: condensed little stories of doom and eccentricity set in the pastoral splendor and the down-home warmth that is Vermont. I don't think any other state has earned this type of tribute. Just a wonderful book.

Even for end of the day, escapism after work type reading, this novel failed to keep my attention. The structure feels as uncontrolled as the meanderings of the town drunk who stumbles into everyone's lives. The characters all seem doomed from the beginning from a combination of their own human failings and the outside forces -- poverty, family, reputation -- that work against whatever hopes they have to rise above their current squalor. When they make the effort to penetrate one another's misery and be of comfort, only fear and hostility result.

Morris' "Vanished" was one of those books that when I read it I was astonished at how the language lay over the story like clear water, no distortion at all, just magnification and clarity, like a fantastically vivid dream. I couldn't put that book down -- this one I couldn't pick up without a sigh of "Jeez, look how LONG it is...".

If you can get through the first 150 pages, you'll be happy you did. With a slow start, that's when the story really starts to pick up & you start to remember the characters, there's a lot of them! I agree with an earlier reviewer in that there were too many sub-plots & characters.
I did end up liking the book, and I was VERY close to putting it down & not finishing it. I am glad I stuck it out.
The characters are memorable. Their plights, long & hard.
You will cringe with them when things go wrong. It's a story that is so believable it feels real. I see why Oprah picked it.
Just remember, there are many books that start off slow, but they don't always have such a rewarding ending.

I had a love-hate relationship with this story as I read it. In the end, my verdict is that it was well-written with Morris' characters intricately formed. The story had me turning the next page and mulling the characters and plot over even when I wasn't reading it. This is the sign of a good book to me.
It seemed that Morris gave a generous helping of human flaws to each of her cast of characters with none playing the role of "good guy". The story demonstrates to me a truth: that no one is all bad or all good.

"Aren't those Vermonters cute ?" "Aren't I profound ?" This collections of anecdotes, snippets, and name dropping sure doesn't sound like the people of Cabot, Vt., that I know. In Tom Wolfe's 'Bonfire of the Vanities', Wolfe left out writers. Keep watch on Mamet. If this book really expresses his thoughts, he should self-ignite soon.

I spent several years in Vermont and still go back as often as I can. Mamet captures much of the simple magic about the state and its people. The chapters are disconnected fragments, but that is fine. The impressions combine to give a good picture of life in this curiously unspoiled place.
I have read 3 volumes in this National Geographic Discoveries series and have just ordered 3 more. They are short, insightful and written by some of the best writers out there. The whole series is worth a careful look. If they sold them on subscription, I would sign up. Someone good is doing the commisioning here.

I live just north of Mamet's hometown of Cabot, Vermont, and know many of the places and some of the people in the book (I've never met Mamet himself). For most of us who live in or close to the Northeast Kingdom, it is a beautiful, but gritty place to make a go of it. There is much to exult about and much to damn. Mamet's take is mostly dead on. While some of the book romanticizes life here, other passages criticize both himself (directly) and others (obliquely). I found myself agreeing with much of his analysis and many of his honest portrayals. Those inhabiting the right fringe of the political spectrum might find some of Mamet's opinions distasteful, but they have it coming.
Although the word "vide" was used too often, I like a book that stretches one's vocabulary. Keep a dictionary close by if you buy this book. I also like a book whose whole is greater than the sum of the parts and that reads, at times, like poetry. The evocative black and white photos help capture this unique vision of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. I look forward to rereading this book.

I was very disappointed with this guide. It left off many many key waters in the state. Granted what were there were indepth reports, but I was lead to believe by another review that this was a complete guide to the state. Nothing could be further from the truth. The author did not even cover major lakes like Lake Champlain, Lake Willoughby, Crystal Lake, Lake Memphremagog, Lake St. Catherine, Lake Whitingham, Sommerset Reservoir and Lake Bomoseen to name a few. I am located in the Southern part of the state and only four streams were discussed, and even the Connecticut River was not covered. If you are really looking for a general guide to the state, keep looking.

Being a Vermont resident, it's nice to have a guide that is so complete and detailed for rivers and lakes in the state. The author gives personal accounts of his experiences in different bodies of water; where the best trout or bass fishing is, what time of year to catch specific types of fish, what lures or flies to use. I found this very helpful as a resource to fishing my favorite Vermont river, the White River. There are great fishing holes in places on the river I never new existed till I read this book. This is a definite must-have for anyone interested in fishing in Vermont, whether it be flyfishing or spin-casting, I highly recommend it.

Some elements of this book capture what goes through the heads of many women. But Gabby's ceaseless complaining grows tiresome. There are a few (very few) moments of humor. The book wasn't *terrible*, it does address what some women may perceive as real problems in their life (e.g., being "invisible" when they are heavy and becoming noticeable when they've lost weight), but NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS in the book. Basically, it's Gabby talking about her neighbor, or her dirty house, or complaining about how she's too fat, the world is too polluted, and all the good men have disappeared. OK, I have days like that too, but I pull out of it and go on with my life. I think a lot of people will be able to *relate* to the book, but it's really not a book that will help you improve your state in life or understand human nature better (unless you are totally clueless about how a single woman with a weight problem WOULD feel...)

Look among recent paperbacks for Abigail Stone's Recipes from the Dump (Avon Books, 1995). Her main character, Gabby Fulbriten, speaks to us in a series of observations that are by turns droll, despairing, funny, and hopeful. Gabby is the person you might see working the supermarket cash register, with whom you might share an occasional moment of sympathy or irony. She openly longs to meet a Mr. Right, frets about her weight, laments the hurts done to the earth, needs more time. She lives in an old house by the Leadbelly, Vermont town dump.We come to know and like Gabby by way of her connections with the neighborhood, children, the earth. Much of the first-person narrative focuses on these connections, and on the daily flow of life in Gabby's world. It' s the world of a poor single mother, and includes glimpses of despair, as well as mystery and humor. In her precise and melodic voice, Stone makes of these elements a story we want to share and of Gabby, a person we want to know. The narrative's rhythm is marked by Gabby's recipes, a few of which may even be edible. Try her Recipe for a Man, or her Just Desserts; just be sure to top it off with her Life Juice. Bill Bric

I loved this book. It reflected the way I felt raising my children. Now I feel sane -- or at least sane in the same way as Gabby, the main character in the book! I hope Abigail Stone will continue to write. I'd love to read more books by her.

Ah, Cold Comfort... where to begin? Let's start with a broad statement that sums up my opinion: this is a really lousy book. Don Bredes has managed to write a novel packed with lame cliches, tediously dull prose, and a plot so stupid and convoluted one can't be bothered to care. The protagonist is so boring & flat I wished he would die at various parts of the story, just to be rid of him; his love interest is equally messed-up and I equally wished her dead. Narrative transitions tend not to be handled well, and it's often not clear what exactly is going on. This isn't due to Bredes being a "difficult" author, but rather due to neglect and poor storytelling. Basically, you could do a lot better than this book. Read at your own peril.

I had high hopes after the first few chapters that this was going to be an entertaining suspense/myestery. Sympathetic protagonist, bucolic setting, compelling drama. Sadly, my expectations were crushed as the story descended into a welter of cliches normally associated with made-for-tv movies. The story promises to be a kind of small town mystery with unique characters and memorable insights. The author regretably felt compelled to throw in an international crime syndicate, incrediable series of twists and complications that prompted more questions than answers and fnally an action climax that produced more groans than suspense. I was left with one outstanding question - who killed the editor?

i loved it thought it was great everyone should read it