E.B. White's essays are the best things I've read about Maine - especially the one in which he's not sure if he can go out sailing any more in his sloop.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
In a way, I'm very interested in writing about Maine, because I think Maine represents its own kind of history. It's the oldest state, and it's the whitest state.
I've been enjoying 'Life on the Mississippi' by Mark Twain that I picked up at the airport randomly. It's very witty and interesting to read about his time as a steamboat pilot.
Maine out of season is unmistakably a great destination: hospitable, good-humored, plenty of elbow room, short days, dark nights of crackling ice crystals.
For someone who made such an enormous contribution to American literature, Mark Twain has been the subject of many books but few major biographies.
In non-fiction, I found John Gardner's two writing books to be tremendously helpful.
It used to be that the highest ambition of American novelists was to write 'the Great American Novel,' that great white whale of American fiction that would encompass all the American experience in one great book.
I am now reading Cooper's Naval History which I find very interesting.
All I know is that history repeats itself and people are going to want to experience the world. But I know then they are going to have a better appreciation for what is here in Maine.
Every journalist has a novel in him, which is an excellent place for it.
Stephen King's 'On Writing' is probably the most useful writing book I've ever read.