Abandoned New Hampshire: Ghosts of our Past by Marie Desrosiers

“With her focus now on New Hampshire, Desrosiers takes us down different roads in this book. Photographs and histories of places with sadly, darker pasts are told in delightfully frightening detail and the photographs just make all of it so much more real. A quick, fun and intriguing read."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pros: Desrosiers takes us deeper into the histories of the places she chose to showcase in this book and some of the stories are truly haunting.

Cons: Some of the stories, such as Doc Benton weren't accompanied with many photos but these are photographs of abandoned places falling into ruin, so safety was the main reason I'm sure.

Full Review:

In this addition of Desrosiers photographic journey around abandoned places in New England, she focuses on the state of New Hampshire. Unlike Abandoned Vermont: Down Forgotten Backroads (America Through Time), this book dives deeper into the histories of the places she's visited and some of them are truly unsettling.

Laconia State School, once housing for the developmentally disabled that closed in the 1990s is the first star. It's long, sad history of a severely over-crowded and under-staffed "place for the feeble-minded." was intricately and sympathetically explained by Desrosiers. And with her photographs, we're brought to a sprawling campus of buildings, all forgotten in the New Hampshire woods. Some of the buildings are beautiful and unique while others are stark and institutional.

With each part of the book, we learn a bit more about these forgotten places and their often melancholy pasts. Desrosiers is a stellar photographer, managing to capture the buildings beauty in all seasons and her narrative is informative and fun. Some of the photographs were beautifully haunting and as always, makes you wonder what happened to make someone simply leave everything behind?

Comments

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

"Obviously targeted to writers but honestly, anyone could benefit from Bradbury's practical yet poetic advice, this was a collection of esasys by Bradbury about his writing process and reflections on some of his greatest works." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros: Bradbury, duh, though I'm biased, to me, the man's prose is pure poetry, every word beautiful/Since writing is not my career, it was an interesting way to view Bradbury's life. Writing was his job and he was the only income. If he did not produce material, he would not get paid. It help put things into perspective. Cons: The man can go on for a bit 😂/Bradbury's insane work ethic and endless endurance to just produce story after story seems insane and overwhelming but then again, this was his livelihood, so I'm sure it was insane and overwhelming. If he didn't write and get paid, they'd starve, so, it was a life or death situation. Full Review: This was essentially a collection of essays written by Bra...

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

“Rick Deckard is a Bounty Hunter who's on the trail of six "Andys" (Androids) who have come to Earth illegally. His job is to track them down and "retire" them. Something he found easy to do until he met her, Rachael Rosen. The Android that does the impossible, passes the "Voight-Kampff" test. The story quickly devolves into a slow, drawn out and frankly boring mystery that was putting me to sleep by the end." ⭐⭐ Pros: I was more interested in comparing it to the film, "Bladerunner."/At first I kind of liked the drab, dreary atmostphere but it soon became soporific. Cons: I had no real idea what was going on with Mercerism/The end there had me blinking in bewilderment, like with Herbert's 29th Dune Book/There was a lot of idle chit-chat while they were in murderous/intense situations, it just seemed odd. Full Review: Rick Deckard, a Bounty Hunter, contracted with the San Francisco Police Department hunts down and retires rogue ...

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

“The tale of Andy Dufresne and how he served his time at Shawshank prison, as told through the eyes of his friend and fellow inmate, Red. Dark and disturbing but also compulsively readbale. I finished it in 2 days. Also enjoyable is Frank Darabont's 1994 film adaptation, "The Shawshank Redemption." ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros : Red has a soothing, drawl, making the reading easy and flowing/Since I saw the film first, I couldn't help but compare the book though I was pleased to find that the two were very similar. Cons : Things got a bit rambling a bit at the beginning/Since I saw the film first I couldn't help but compare the book but this ended up not being a con. Full Review: The state of Maine has a prison. Shawshank Redemption. And Red is the guy that can get you things. He also happens to be the only guilty man in Shawshank but that's netiher here nor there. He meets Andy Dufresne for business purposes at first and he finds him to be a calm, cool man and Red likes him i...

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