Eric

It was a perfect book as I hunkered down and waited out Hurricane Irene!

A great gift for a graduate or for anyone in need of a little shot of courage.

His humor, compassion, and insight into human nature make me wish I had had him as a teacher way back when...

No question about it, though, this book is the next best thing!

So, big deal, right? But you know, the war, the the friends who got killed and the memory of that crazy time haunts me still.

Award-winning playwright, novelist, Berkshire neighbor and friend of The Bookloft Dave Rabe got drafted and did his bit with a hospital group in Vietnam. Noe that was a big deal...

In this brilliantly conceived and written novel, Rabe captures the surreal time and place that was Vietnam. And he does so with a voice of authority and authenticity.

An unlikely story of sorts, whose two hapless main characters - kids, really - are simply trying to survive this unbidden war.

SEZ IT AL RE: OUR OBSESON W/MICROMINIMAL-FAST INTERCONECTIVNES. WASIK'S BRILIANT & FUNY.

I GET IT NOW! DO YOU? I'V MUCH TO SA BUT M OUT... TTYL

One of the best things about being a bookseller is discovering talented authors who reaffirm my love of reading. How have I not known of Daniel Woodrell and his eight well-reviewed novels?

The depth of poverty and clannish nature of this Ozark community (Woodrell's home turf) is so well drawn in this stark but ultimately redemptive short novel. Despite the harshness of some of the subject matter - meth labs, poverty, violence - you'll not find a whiff of preachy tone from this author.

You will find, though, a remarkable heroine in Ree Dolly. You'll also find a slew of characters you'll not soon forget. Blond Milton, Jack Teardrop. Sweet Pea, Thump, Momsy, Hog Jaw, Peashot... They all await you...

I haven't seen it yet, but I hear the movie of the same name is getting four and five star reviews.

A consumate stylist who makes you feel as though you can smell the smoke, feel the cold.

Peace is justifiably receiving rave reveiws. Give it a look, you won't be disappointed.

But it is brilliant. A masterpiece of post-apocalyptic vision told with biblical simplicity like some old testament prophecy. N. Korea, Iran, weapons of mass destruction. But the Cold War is over, we say to ourselvs. It won't happen, will it? It can't...can it?

A great writer, writing great literature.

Part of the crown journey series, (see back cover) McKibben's personal walking odyssey from one home to another is the armchair traveller's answer to all those hikes you've long watned to take into the Adirondacks. Though McKibben is sucha a fine writer-and with a poets eye- that you'll soon be packing your pack for the real thing.

A great read!

to the printing press,

to the publisher's warehouse,

to The Bookloft,

into your hands,- lots of toiling going on to bring this book to fruition. (Not Counting Mr. McPhee's prodigious effort.)

John McPhee at his most observant and illuminating best. Very few writers could tell us about the people who haul things for us with such astuteness, wryness, and eloquence.

A writer at the peak of his form.

As Berkshire author Catherine REid writes, love them or hate them, they're here to stay, folks. These scrappy, supremely intelligent survivors truly are the stuff of mythology- and an amazing wildlife success story.

A terrific book, illuminating an often poignent.

With great anectdotes and a lively personal writing style, Gary Hirshberg shows us, trite as it sounds, that we can make a difference. Here at The Bookloft, we've already quietly implemeneted some of the Stoneyfield (and other profiled business environmental practices). Perhaps your business can as well?

Tony Horowitz's previous book, Blue Latitudes, is Eric's favorite travel book. [True]

You'll be entertained and illuminated when you read this book. [True]

Roasted Iguana is quite tasty. [Debatable]

We Americans are seriously misinformed (educated) about our own history. [Very True]

You should buy this book! [True!]

If you enjoy Bill Bryson's work, you'll love this as well (though I think Horwitz is the better writer of the two).

I know, I know, what a cliche, but I couldn't put it down.

So well written (based on extensive first person documentation) and evocative. I'll never complain about being thirsty again. Ever.

A consumate stylist who makes you feel as though you can smell the smoke, feel the cold.

Peace is justifiably receiving rave reviews.

Give it a look, you won't be disappointed.

A haunting, lyrical, sweet story of Montana lives, hard-lived, converging unwittingly at the end.

Another of those books where I find myself constantly re-reading a sentence simply to marvel at how beautifully it's written. And those beatiful sentences all add up to make Red Rover one of the best fictions I've read in a long while.

Check this book out and prepare to be inspired to go out and gather stone and start stacking.

Lew French combines the unique qrtistryof Andy Goldsworthy and the functionality of Yankees like Helen & Scott Nearing to create some truly magnificent work. And all without an ounce of mortar. This is a beautiful book - and reasonably priced.

Readers of Jim Harrison & Louise Erdrich will love this new fiction (my favorite of the year so far) by Boyden, a Canadian of mixed blood heritage. Readers of his amazing first novel, Three Day Road, will recognize characters and story lines in Through Black Spruce.

From the dangerous bush country of upper Canada to the Manhattan club scene, Boyden paints an unforgettable portrait of two broken and seemingly disparate people whose lives have been touched by loss. How they triumph over those losses is told with great empathy and a deep understanding of what it means to be an Indian - and a human - in the modern world. I loved it.

6'8" dyslexic Brandon Vanderkool has become a veritable idiot-savant of a bad guy-catching border patrol agent when his father (himself a fascinating character) boots him off the family dairy farm. What follows is a rich story of people divided; geographically, morally and politically. And Brandon, the one person who intersects them all, has the unwitting gift to bridge those gaps with brawn and grace.

Like Plain Song and Peace Like a River, and with a healthy dash of Carl Hiassen sprinkled in, Border Songs captures well a sense of place - in this case the Northwest Washington border between the U.S. and British Columbia - with perfect pitch. And what a cast of misfits! I guarantee you will long remember Brandon Vanderkool, as sweet and gentle a protaganist as ever I've discovered in a book.