July is time to get outside and celebrate Parks and Recreation Month! Here is our collection of relevant books about food, travel, and outdoor recreation as we enter July.
2022 Food, Travel, Outdoor Recreation Collection
Connecticut Walk Book: The Complete Guide to Connecticut’s Blue-Blazed Hiking Trails / Connecticut Forest and Park Association
“There are more than 825 miles of Connecticut Forest & Park Association Blue-Blazed Trails across Connecticut. That’s 825 miles of trails you can’t get lost on if you have the Connecticut Walk Book as your guide. That’s 825 miles of trails you will never have to ask directions for. I still have my frayed and tattered copy my dad gave me so many years ago. The guide is a handy way for newcomers and old-timers alike to explore the state by making their own loop trails or out-and-back paths. Don’t go into the natural world without it.” —Peter Marteka, Hartford Courant Staff Writer/Nature Columnist
Birding in Connecticut / Frank Gallo
“It would, in fact, be impossible to improve on what Gallo has pulled together in Birding in Connecticut. It is a one-stop shopping expedition for birders of all skill levels. It’s also a definitive guide for lovers of the state’s natural gifts, flora and fauna alike….” —Alan Bisbort, The Sunday Republican
Fly Fishing in Connecticut: A Guide for Beginners / Kevin Murphy
“I don’t know how many fly fishing books have come and gone over the better than 70 years since I picked up my first fishing rod, but this one is genuinely special. The wide variety of information just keeps coming. It centers around Connecticut, but will be helpful to fly fishing folks just about anywhere. If there is a book on this topic that contains more interesting and useful information on such a wide variety of subjects, from aquatic biology to fishing technics, I haven’t seen it.”
—Duane Raver, nationally known fish artist and former editor of Wildlife in North Carolina
The Traprock Landscapes of New England: Environment, History, and Culture / Peter M. LeTourneau and Robert Pagini
“I’ve wandered every mile of this magnificent range, and this book celebrates these mountains and surrounding valleys wonderfully. With evocative text, well-researched ancient and modern history, and the most beautiful photos of the range I have seen, this book belongs to everyone who reveres—and might be curious about—this sublime landscape.” —Elizabeth Farnsworth, Senior Research Ecologist, New England Wild Flower Society
Maple Sugaring: Keeping it Real in New England / David K. Leff
“David Leff dives into a vat of maple syrup and comes out with a brilliant book on sugaring. His practical know-how and reverence for the practice are matched only by his skill at depicting the kaleidoscopic interaction of character, place, science, and passion that has created the New England culture we know and love. Tree by tree, shack by shack, he builds a world and illustrates it from every angle. Like John McPhee before him, Leff has turned cultural investigation into an art.”
—Eric D. Lehman, author of A History of Connecticut Food
Hidden in Plain Sight: A Deep Traveler Explores Connecticut / David K. Leff
“The Connecticut places—some world famous, some obscure—that David K. Leff lovingly explores in Hidden in Plain Sight are fascinating. Even more revelatory is how he gets there. Invariably putting his senses on high alert, he teases out truths ‘hidden in the middle of everywhere.'”
—Tony Hiss, author of In Motion: The Experience of Travel