Small-town life and the seven seas
352706
An amazing novel, that combines tragedy and comedy, myth and realism, the childhood novel and the great love story, a small, incredibly Danish society, and the dream of the adventures of the wide world... A beautiful story, beautifully written, even in translation. Despite the complex structure and "difficult" language, it is hard not to get caught by Ib Michael's writing - This is, in my opinion, his best book so far.
4929268
T.R. Pearson has captured the essence of small town life in this wonderful book, "A Short History of a Small Place." This book is not your traditional story with a plot that makes twists and turns but moves along as the pages continue. This is a portrait of a small town. The stories center around a prominent woman who is a bit of a recluse, and all of the characters that we meet have their stories somehow connect to this woman. The book rambles through the people of this small North Carolina town's life, and weaves a wonderful and always entertaining peek at life in a small town. The narrator of this book is a teen-aged boy, and the author makes good use of the device "momma says" or "daddy says" to explain concepts which may not be familiar to the reader. This book is a delight to read and sometimes found me bursting out in laughter. I hope that you enjoy this title as much as I did. Happy reading.
3098278
Great insight into life in a small Alaska town.  Sometimes funny, serious, and always about the caring among family, friends, and neighbors.  Would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy interactions between small town residents, animals, the unexpected, life and death.  Not.only is the book a great read, but is sometimes thought provoking.
1739167
Seaweed and a farting whale aren't the only things that smell along this fictional stretch of Oregon coast. A big-talking land developer named Vince Grabowski has exploited the bucolic town of Devil's Harbor, where major excitement is the annual whirligig festival.

When Grabowski is found floating face down in Neptune's Grotto, reporter Molly Donovan tells Sgt. Greg Erdmann he can just copy the phone book for his list of suspects.

That's our introduction to a parade of characters who hate the deceased but are beholden to or dependent upon him in some way. On their own time they struggle with various stages of love or lust, and live for the day they can get out of town for good.

My favorite character is teen-aged Jennifer, the only untarnished person in town. Holding down a job means she can get her shoes out of layaway. She wants only to be crowned Miss Whirligig and pick up the scholarship check. She pictures herself wearing a sparkly crown on her head, a gracious smile on her lips, as she rides in the parade and waves to adoring crowds.

Another favorite is Henri, as gay and sprightly as they come. A retired ice hockey star from Canada, he's also tough as the proverbial boot. He runs the Gilded Puffin Gift and Gun Shoppe.

Then there's the mayor, a fish market owner running desperately for Congress. Behind his back his wife carried on a hot and heavy affair with the late unlamented Grabowski. Not to be overlooked are Claire, Grabowski's widow, who's searching for his will and secret bank accounts, and Icky, owner of the Sweete Temptations Ice Creame Shoppe, who hums Mozart, quotes Keats and Shelley and cultivates a marijuana plantation on a secluded hillside.

By the time I met all the characters I knew so much about Devil's Harbor it seemed like my old hometown. The characters leap from the pages and make me laugh. Molly, the only character written in first person, serves as a kind of narrator, tying things together.

The chink in Molly's armor is her father's well being. After a heart attack, and with commercial fishing drying up, he now takes his boat out for tourists who want to fish. When he's framed for Grabowski's murder, Molly throws caution to the wind, confronts the killer during the Whirligig Festival and ends up staring at the business end of a gun.

The murderer here has all the "L" motives --  love, lucre, lust, and loathing  -- but so do most of the other characters, so I was surprised when the murderer was revealed. A twist at the end involves a character who showed up at the festival disguised as The Masked Monster.

Rose and Nettleton are a husband and wife team, writing together and separately. Their HARD KARMA SHUFFLE (2003), with characters who escaped the `60s, is one of my favorite books. The authors' web site is at [...].
1931106
This is a beautiful snapshot of life at the Jersey shore seen through the eyes of a 12 year old. The small town dramatics of Little League rivalry take place as the violence and upheaval of the late 1960s swirl unnoticed somewhere else.  Its the kind of sweet nostalgia, like a dripping soft-serve ice cream cone on a muggy August night, which will be immediately recognized by anyone who spent warm months at a Jersey beach town, and remembered with a smile.  As we grow up, and life becomes messy, and choices become harder, its good to remember those days when simple things made us really happy.
568560
I enjoyed this book, it has a great ending. Smaller towns do have friendliness and concern for each other. I would recommend this book.
702749
The author does a wonderful job with the vivid descriptions of the little town! Such a great read! An adventure!
1405060
I enjoyed reading through this book with its short descriptions of small towns. I'm familiar with some of the towns, so it was fun to read about those and see what the authors found to be most significant. It's interesting to read about many others, too, and learn about these unique spots in MN.
2795313
I loved this book.  Small towns are really great, but one has to have lived in one to really appreciate them.  I felt completely at home in this book.
916603
An interesting look at life on the Cornish Coast of England.  The lives of  people in areas other than London, were lives to just survive each day.  Many of the people watched the sea for fish and the ship wrecks that might provide money for them to live on.  Some of the people also turned to smuggling spirits to sell to the more affluent people or to the Inns around their counties.  This story is of a young girl caught up in her own father's treachery.  Sold as an indentured servant by her father, to the man holding his debt papers.
1980606
I bought this book in a Nicaraguan bookstore having just returned from my fourth or fifth visit to the Mosquito Coast. It is a delightful collection of well written short stories that I assume are based on real recollections. A great introduction to this little known people and area of the world.
4101769
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Penelope-Down-East-Cruising-Adventures-in-an-Engineless-Catboat-Along-the-World-s-Most-Beautiful-Coast/dp/1621240185/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Penelope Down East: Cruising Adventures in an Engineless Catboat Along the World's Most Beautiful Coast</a>

In a world where the pursuit of pleasure is so often frantic, expensive, and unsuccessful, it is good to encounter a man who knows what he likes and is content with it. Bill Cheney is such a man, and what he likes is cruising the waters of downeast Maine in a small and far from luxurious vessel.  After reading his occasional pieces for some years in little boating magazines, I was delighted when he gathered them into a volume under the title Penelope Down East, published by Breakaway Books, who also brought us the late, lamented Robb Whites pungent reflections. Penelope is a 22-foot Marshall catboat. Cheney acquired her in 1998 when she was more than 30 years old, and one of his first decisions was to remove the diesel engine and cruise the old-fashioned way. His book presents some of the the consequent adventuresand pleasuresof engineless cruising on the downeast coast with its big tides, frequent fog, and irresistible beauty. After more than six decades of sailing he is up to the challenges, and his long experience as freelance writer and professional photographer bring many felicities to the narrative.  Bill Cheney knows what he likes (and doesnt) and shares it with gusto in this delightful book.
2497273
If you live in a rural Japanese fishing village, then the Ocean is everything.  Absolutely everything you have, your possessions, your very life, is pulled from its churning depths.  You worship it like a god, and ask its blessing and fear its retribution.  Your skill in managing its mysteries determines your status, who you can marry, how many children you can have, everything.

"Shipwrecks" is an account of this lifestyle, in a tiny village which owes its existence from the whims of the sea.  The story follows the life of a young boy 9-year old boy, Isaku, who must take on the responsibilities of providing for mother and siblings, after his father sells himself into indentured servitude to save his starving family.  Struggling to be a man, he learns to read the ocean, to know when the fish will come and how to harvest them.  He watches the salt pots that burn on the beach, providing an additional source of income for the village.  He dreams of the arrival of Ofunesan, shipwrecked vessels filled with exotic goods that occasionally come near the village, lured by the lights of the burning salt pots.  The shipwrecks are harvested in the same manner as all things the ocean brings, without worrying about the morality of it all.  Things die so that other things may life.

This is not a dramatic book.  There are no great life changes, no sweeping events.  Good things happen, and the people are happy.  Bad things happen, and the people are sad.  But they accept both as what life has to offer.  There is no outrage at the ocean when it brings devastation, just the knowledge that this too shall pass, and the survivors will rebuild, and the hope that next time the ocean will deliver a bounty.  When the book ends, there is no climax, because you know that life in the village will continue on much as it always has, and we were just offered a brief glimpse.
161711
Ms. Etchison writes wonderful stories of life in small towns. This story, set in a place most of us like to visit, where the people are good, honest folk, is a pleasure to read. It's short and you want more, but the ending is satisfying. The characters are so well written you think you know them. Thanks for a sweet reading experience.
3479572
This is a book that can be read in small portions as each entry is an essay about an aspect of rural living.  More Scenes from a Rural Life is well written and Klinkenborg recognizes many of the minute details of country life.  However, Klinkenborg writes as though he is a city person observing these things about a way of life that is not native to him.  These are still enjoyable, quiet essays to read, but for a more true-to-life look at country living,  I suggest Michael Perry's work.
1694766
Wonderful account of women's lives on a tiny rugged Nova Scotia coastal region far from big cities. Set in the early 20th century, with WWl and other historical events tied in,  it is full of wonderf fully-fleshed out characters. Loved it.
3388775
I have lived in Emerald Isle on the Crystal Coast for 20 years. Have been the Mayor of Emerald Isle for the past 12 years. David's description of the area is very accurate. There are a ton of things to do and when groups visit, everybody can find something of interest. People that live in Emerald Isle or visit Emerald Isle joke about not telling others so that it won't lose it's small town feel. Actually there is plenty of room for more people especially in the spring and fall. Always great to see new faces.