By Andrea Holbrook
It's holiday gift giving time, and for those book lovers on your list, there are several options with Cape Ann ties to consider, ranging from a coffee table book of Gloucester photographs to a mystery.
Almost all are available at Dogtown Books and The Bookstore in Gloucester, as well as at Toad Hall in Rockport.
For the mystery lover
One of the newest releases is R.M. Wood's "'82 Mystery," based on a true story that occurred in Massachusetts.
"It's about two teenager girls, they're are not popular and turn to drugs, and a tragedy happens at a building where they hang out," said the Gloucester author and accountant. "One of them blames herself and she starts losing sanity. The police get involved, they bring in an investigative hypnotist to find out what went on and uncover the truth."
"There's a lot of mystery, suspense, it's anti-drug without being preachy, kinda of sad, but uplifting at end," said Wood, a former high school teacher, of the book, which is suitable for young teen-agers.
In an attempt to promote literacy and the novel, Wood has published a Web site that pays visitors to interact with it. Bloggers and visitors who leave comments, register, and sign in score points. The highest point scorer wins $82 on at midnight tonight.
Wood said a portion of all sales benefits charities; the book can be found at the local bookstores, and the Web site 82mystery.com.
Then, there is "Murder on Bearskin Neck," written by former Rockport librarian Gunilla Caulfield. Her tale of a local artist's murder and the town's reference librarian suspected of the crime employs many real Rockport locations as backdrops. A local artist has been murdered in Rockport and the town's reference librarian is quickly pegged by townspeople and police as the chief suspect in the crime.
For the history lover
Marion O'Connell Frost's "My Gloucester, Views of a Provincial" combines photos of the city with personal vignettes of life in this coastal city. The 80-year-old Frost grew up here and spent much of 2004 here taking pictures of places she haunted as child in the 1930s and '40s. Frost, who self-published the book, said it was five years in the making.
For many, the photos and text will bring back memories of people and places, while also showing that the more things, change the more they remain the same. "I know Gloucester has its problems, but it is a wonderful, beautiful place," she said.
Published by Gloucester's Brier Neck Press, "My Gloucester," a coffee-table-sized paperbook may be purchased for $20 at The Bookstore and Harbor Loop Gifts in Gloucester, and Toad Hall in Rockport.
Frost said profits from the books sold in Gloucester and Rockport will be donated to Sawyer Free Library and the City Hall Clock Tower Restoration Fund. She said the clock was important to her when she lived here, because she didn't have a watch — "I was always looking up to know the time."
Bestselling Rockport author Anita Diamant's latest book, "Day After Night," is based on the rescue of hundreds of Jewish prisoners from the Atlit internment camp outside Haifa in October 1945.
The book weaves together the stories of four young women who meet in the camp. Haunted by their memories and losses and afraid to begin to hope, the women find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a new country.
"Weller's War" is the saga of World War II written from five continents by legendary war correspondent George Weller, as edited by his son, Annisquam resident Anthony Weller. The 644-page, $30 hardcover contains once-censored and never-before-published dispatches, detailed maps and 16 pages of Weller's photographs. Weller, called "One of best war correspondents" by Walter Cronkite, won a Pulitzer Prize for his stories from the battlefields.
For the young reader
"Mother" continues the saga of the "Return of the Shielders" by A. Reid Bradshaw. The 9-year-old Gloucester author plans to finish the trilogy this spring. In this followup to "Boy," the dragon Shelk is trapped by an evil hunter who wants the dragon for himself. Shakour, to whom Shelk belongs, and his best friend Zechariah stumble on to the hunter's hideout and the adventure begins.
"Mother," published by Beauport Press of Gloucester, features short chapters and a glossary of words with which young readers may be unfamiliar. The paperback, $6.99, may be purchased through www.beauportpress.com.
"The Invasion of Sandy Bay" by Anita Sanchez is historical fiction marketed to ages 9 to 11. It tells the tale of Rockport families faced with a visit from a formidable British warship during the War of 1812.
"Roger the Rooster Leaps to the Rescue" is the latest children's book by Gloucester author and illustrator Anthea Brigham. For children ages 4 to 8, it tells the story of a rooster separated from his hens when he is sent to a petting zoo. After a fox kills one of the hens, Roger is recalled to protect his hens. Brigham's first children's book was "Henrietta, World War II Hen," based on an incident the author remembers from her childhood in England during German bombing raids in World War II. Both books are published by Whale's Jaw Publishing and sold at The Bookstore in Gloucester.
For the health care worker
"20 Years/20 Voices: Interviews with the Members of the North Shore Health Project" celebrates the Gloucester organization's 20th anniversary. Through moving personal recollections of clients, volunteers, donors and advocates, readers learn the history of the HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C epidemics locally and nationally.
The $10 paperback may be purchased through at North Shore Health Project, 67 Middle St., on it's Web site, http://www.healthproject.org/book.html, as well as at local bookstores.
For the nonfiction lover
Saskia Röell tells the story of her family coming to America in her bestseller, "A Suitcase Full of Faith." Röell, who some describe as a "modern day pilgrim," came to the United States with her husband from Holland in 2001.
With little money, no job prospects, no contacts and five kids who didn't speak a word of English, the Röells took a giant leap of faith to land in Rockport and settle in the home they bought over the phone.
Her writing is frank, provocative and full of insight. The one thread woven throughout all the anecdotes is her absolute faith that somehow the universe will take care of her and her family.
The book is available at local bookstores and amazon.com.
Elyssa East's 288-page work, "Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town," is a nonfiction book that shifts between a grisly murder, history and art, all tied to Dogtown.
The landscapes of Marsden Hartley drew East to Dogtown. As she investigates the area, East learns its history as safe place for former slaves and prostitutes to live, to the village's abandonment in the 20th century, where a sex offender murdered Anne Natti, a teacher.
"East is thorough in her descriptions of the attractive young victim and the loathsome murderer — a devastating portrait of the type of predator of whom it's said 'he would never hurt anyone.' Though the true crime chapters — which alternate with chapters presenting the tangled history of Dogtown — are inevitably more interesting, East gracefully integrates her various themes into a coherent and mesmerizing whole," author Joyce Carol Oates wrote in a positive review.
For religious
Rockport author Sharon R. Chace's "Protestant Pulse," addresses the question of whether or not God exists.
Chace's book is distilled from in part from her experiences as a middle-aged Protestant wildcard at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. The chapters range from "God as Compassionate Editor" to "Social Action in the Swap Shop."
"It is a lovely book, in which you combine a deep, personalized Christian spirituality with a knowledge of critical scholarship. Not an easy task! You write, lucidly, crisply, and you make it all real with concrete details of persons, places, and things," said the Rev. John W. O'Malley, formerly of Weston Jesuit School of Theology and now a professor in the Theology Department at Georgetown University.
The book is available on the publisher's Web site — Chace says it might be cheapest here — orders@wipfandstock.com, as well as amazon.com, and Toad Hall.
Other fiction
Thomas A. Hauck, a Gloucester resident, published two works of fiction this year.
His novel "Pistonhead" tells the unfamiliar story of a guy living in Boston, playing guitar in a rock band and keeping a day job to pay the bills. Charlie Sinclair deals with the heavy drug use of a band mate and a poor living situation, and finally comes upon a tragedy that forces him into a life-changing decision.
Hauck drew from his own experiences as a guitarist in two Boston-based bands — Ball and Pivot, and The Atlantics — during the 1980s.
The second, "Public Images: Stories and Poems," collects 24 short stories and 27 poems.
Both are available at local bookstores.
Gloucester resident and prize-winning novelist Lucy Honig's "Waiting for Rescue" examines how the terror attacks of Sept. 11 traumatized those who weren't personally impacted.
"She a wonderful writer," said local author Peter Anastas.
Andrea Holbrook may be contacted 978-283-7000 x3456, or aholbrook@gloucestertimes.com
