Lighthouse Legends & Hauntings

Summary (from the publisher): Stories about different lighthouse keepers, including Connie Small, a lighthouse keeper's wife from 1920-1948. Stories from "Mr. Lighthouse", Ken Black, founder of Maine's lighthouse museum, "The Shore Village Museum" in Rockland, Maine. Memories of the last keeper's family stationed at Nubble Light in York, Maine. The legends of ghosts and hauntings of ten New England lighthouses.

Review: I've about read my fill of lighthouse books for the year (which, in this book's defense, may be why I was less than thrilled by it). My dad lent me his collection of these books and I've been slowly working through them. This was definitely my least favorite. This book suffers from an extreme lack of editing. I'm talking glaring absence of commas, misspelled words, the works. Additionally, having already read Connie Scovill Small's memoir, I was disappointed that Thomson spends a decent chunk of the beginning of this book basically summarizing her memoir. I would rather have had new content. Additionally, the title of this book was misleading. Only the last thirty pages dealt with the "legends & hauntings" referenced in the title. The rest of the book is a history and overview of lighthouses in America. 

Although I appreciated the sentiment behind Thomson's writing, and I'm glad to see stories of this lost way of life preserved, this book was lacking in quality. The one section I did enjoy was the section relating Brenda Ahlgren's memoirs as the last lighthouse keeper in 1987. It was cool seeing a mor emodern day discussion of life on a lighthouse.  

Stars: 3