When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to
get out into the world at large and to explore it. And I’ve done so. I
especially wanted to travel around Europe, and have visited many Western
European countries during the past twenty years that I’ve lived in Norway. That
wasn’t the reason I moved abroad, but it strikes me now that I was not at all
averse to moving abroad when the opportunity to do so arose. I am perhaps a bit
nostalgic these days for all things familiar from my youth, including my
hometown, and that does not strike me as unusual after more than twenty years
abroad. But what strikes me as most true is that the area where I grew up in
New York State is beautiful; I am not
remembering it wrong or seeing it through rose-colored glasses. The Hudson
River Valley is lovely; likewise many of the small towns that have grown up along
it and that are an indelible part of its landscape. I have traveled along most
of the Hudson River by train, from Grand Central Station in Manhattan as far
north as Poughkeepsie. It’s a beautiful relaxing ride, especially when you get
out of the city area and into the suburbs; if you want to read more about it,
here is a good link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Line_(Metro-North).
So it won’t be surprising that I am
recommending two books that I have so enjoyed perusing and that have stolen my
heart with their beauty and warmth. Both of them are about the Hudson River
and/or the towns along it—one is a book of photography, the other is a warm and
lovely tribute to a small pub in the town of Garrison (across the river from
the West Point military academy)—Guinan’s--and its owner Jim Guinan (who passed
away in 2009). The first book is a book of photography published in 2006 that I
recommend to many people who ask me about New York State and the area where I
grew up; it is entitled The Hudson River:
From Tear of the Clouds to Manhattan by Jake Rajs; you can find it on Barnes
and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/ckb5f35 and on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/cjeeb8p.
So much of the photography in this book is stunning; it is a collection of
photos that portrays the Hudson River and the river towns and landscapes as
they really are, in all seasons. The second book, published in 2006, is
entitled Little Chapel on the River
by Gwendolyn Bounds; it too can be found at Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/cqclprc and on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/cl7xdyh.
It was recommended to me by my friend Stef who read it and loved it; I share
her sentiments. The author writes in a heartfelt style about her meeting with
Jim Guinan, his family, and the patrons of the pub, all of whom have their
individual stories to tell, and all of whom become her friends over time. If
you’d like to see photos of Guinan’s pub, you can find them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwendolynbounds/2050518523/in/photostream/.
I never thought reading about a bar could be so interesting, or that it would
make me want to visit it the next time I am in New York. Unfortunately, it
closed its doors in 2008 and its owner passed away in 2009. I can relate to the
author’s way of writing and to her attention to detail; but mostly I was glad
to read about a place that connects me in some way to my first home—a Hudson River town in the state of
New York. It brings me back to a time
and a place that are close to my heart. Guinan’s pub was in Garrison, but it
could have been in any of the small towns on the Hudson River, where the locals
gather to drink a few beers after work in the evening and to shoot the breeze.
As they used to say in the TV series Cheers—a
‘place where everyone knows your name’. That’s what this book manages to impart—the
message that what counts in life is the connections we have to other people and
how we deal with the people who grace our daily lives.
