cover image Maine's Golden Road: A Memoir

Maine's Golden Road: A Memoir

John Gould. W. W. Norton & Company, $21 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-393-03806-4

For 32 consecutive summers, Gould and his daughter's father-in-law, Bill Dornbusch, have spent a week deep in the Maine woods. They've liked to think they are following in Thoreau's footsteps, though their camping has been anything but austere. Most of the wilderness area belongs to a paper company; the pair have permits to use logging roads and are invited to lodge in company camps. Gould (There Goes Maine!) writes about fly-fishing for trout and salmon, picking wild raspberries, rainy days in camp and Maine blackflies. He offers affectionate portraits of camp managers and comments on changes in the lumber industry over the 32-year period. This memoir is vintage Gould: good-natured, whimsical and entertaining. Photos. (Aug.)