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Little Chapel on the River: A Pub, a Town and the Search for What Matters Most
Forced from her downtown Manhattan apartment by the terrorist attack of September 11, journalist Wendy Bounds was delivered to Guinan's doorstep -- a legendary Irish drinking hole and country store nestled along the banks of the Hudson River in the small town of Garrison, New York -- by a friend.
Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming, motley...more
Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming, motley...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
July 25th 2006
by William Morrow Paperbacks
(first published 2005)
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Great story about a small town on the Hudson River and discovering what's most important in life - people, their stories, and your relationships with them.
This is not a book I would usually pick out for myself. I’m somewhat allergic to inspirational memoirs in which the author realizes “what life is really all about” and acknowledges ten thousand different people in the epilogue. But my mom and dad finding a book that they both enjoy was a rare enough occurrence to merit Little Chapel on the River a read. And it is actually pretty enjoyable. The author’s story is simple: she and her girlfriend were displaced after 9/11 destroyed their apartment bu...more
Little Chapel on the River is a community study of even tempo and simple observation. I appreciated the author's reserve in description of both place and people.
Over time she lets their actions and words paint the picture of a group of people whose intersection is not in their own backgrounds or personalites, but in their desire, no, their longing for a place to step out of life for a bit to contemplate and discuss what passes by on river and road.
I had some difficulty in rating the book, though...more
Over time she lets their actions and words paint the picture of a group of people whose intersection is not in their own backgrounds or personalites, but in their desire, no, their longing for a place to step out of life for a bit to contemplate and discuss what passes by on river and road.
I had some difficulty in rating the book, though...more
I liked this book. A lot. Really it is a window into a magical world known as Guinan's Pub, formally in Garrison, NY, and the owner, Jim Guinan. This book delves into the history and lives of the Guinan clan and the family business, namely a pub, and store, spanning several decades. Bounds describes the daily ongoings in this community pub along with the colorful cast of characters who frequent it. A charming and poignant tale. Two of my favorite parts are as follows:
1. Bounds begins helping in...more
1. Bounds begins helping in...more
An appropriate follow-up to "The Great Good Place," and a fun book to read aloud with Nick. Reading "The Great Good Place" made me yearn for a good community establishment, where everybody knows and takes care of each other, where everybody knows he or she is welcome after either a good or bad day. Guinan's Pub in Garrison, New York, aka the little chapel on the river, is that great good place. I loved meeting the cast of chapel characters (especially when Nick did the Irish accent) and getting...more
I liked reading about the story of Guinan's pub/store and the Guinan family. I was less interested in the story of the author and I didn't particularly care for her writing style. Overall, it is an interesting history of an Irish immigrant family in NY and the public house that they run.
This book is about a journalist who works for the Wall Street Journal. She and her partner lived practically across the street from the World Trade Center on 9/11. In the days and weeks following the attack, she and her roommate stayed with various friends while their apartment was unhabitable. They ended up near the little town of Garrison, NY on the Hudson River, about 50 miles from NYC. Before catching a train to the city one day, they stopped in a small local tavern there and the author, Wen...more
I read this little book immediately after Jonathan Franzen's 600 page "Freedom" and it took me a little while to adjust to the simplicity of its narrative and the writing. But after several chapters, I settled into with it and ultimately enjoyed this book that explores values, families, loyalty, friendship, and what is important in life.
The story takes place shortly after 9/11, where the author, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and her partner leave Manhattan to take refuge in a little town on t...more
The story takes place shortly after 9/11, where the author, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and her partner leave Manhattan to take refuge in a little town on t...more
For everyone who ever had a bar to call home, or wanted one. This is a book about the regulars, the locals. The author is a 9/11 refugee from NYC, finding a new home and a new perspective on life in a small town - specifically, in a family establishment filled with interesting characters. I wouldn't call it a 9/11 survivor memoir, but I do think the experience clearly flavors Ms. Bounds' early interactions with the pub life. She eventually becomes a convert to life in "the Chapel" and respectful...more
I'm almost done with this book & am just loving it. It is easy to read entertaining & heart warming. I recommend it to everyone.
Dec 07, 2008
stephanie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
EVERYONE.
Recommended to stephanie by:
the internet.
this is the best post-9/11-new york book i've read.
i can't even wrap my head around it, the quietness, the sanctity, the small, brilliant writing. the carefulness of the characters, the beautiful setting, the honesty of everything.
i'll be back later for a more thorough review, but seriously, pick this book up.
guinan's doesn't exist anymore, and that's really sad, but this book will remember it. for me, i found dive bar, and gwendolyn found guinan's. these things are what we remember and hold...more
i can't even wrap my head around it, the quietness, the sanctity, the small, brilliant writing. the carefulness of the characters, the beautiful setting, the honesty of everything.
i'll be back later for a more thorough review, but seriously, pick this book up.
guinan's doesn't exist anymore, and that's really sad, but this book will remember it. for me, i found dive bar, and gwendolyn found guinan's. these things are what we remember and hold...more
Nonfiction. A writer and her partner who lived and worked near the Trade Center were displaced from home and work on 9/11. The writer sought refuge in Garrison, NY (right across from West Point) while office and home were repaired or relocated. She stumbles on an old-time country store/Irish Pub at the river landing of this wonderful small town and becomes part of this "Community," held together by "human duct tape." Here descriptions of the "characters" that run and frequent the place are utter...more
Gwendolyn Bounds, a Wall Street Journal writer and editor, is driven out of her New York City apartment by 9/11. She ends up in place called Garrison Landing, 50 miles from NYC. Time has forgotten this little village. The local bar serves as the anchor (the chapel) of humanity for many, the locals make sure to keep it that way.
For all of us who lead lives that are much to busy, lives that often forget what humanity should be about, read this book. We all need to find a place where perspective c...more
For all of us who lead lives that are much to busy, lives that often forget what humanity should be about, read this book. We all need to find a place where perspective c...more
A heartwarming account revolving around the town of Garrison, New York and a pub that instantly becomes such an important part of the lives of those who walk in and hear the stories told by the owner, Jim Guinan. The pub is affectionately referred to as "The little chapel on the river" and shortly after the events of 9/11, the author and her girlfriend stop by this pub and realize that this gathering place and the small town of Garrison provide the calm and sense of normalcy that was taken from...more
"Forced from her downtown Manhattan apartment by the terrorist attack of September 11, journalist Wendy Bounds was delivered to Guinan's doorstep -- a legendary Irish drinking hole and country store nestled along the banks of the Hudson River in the small town of Garrison, New York -- by a friend.
"Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming, motley clientele, Bounds uprooted herself permanently and moved to tiny Garrison, the picturesque river town they all call home.....more
"Captivated by the bar's charismatic but ailing owner and his charming, motley clientele, Bounds uprooted herself permanently and moved to tiny Garrison, the picturesque river town they all call home.....more
This was another book that fell victim to my '100 pages' test. I put it down after that. It wasn't bad, and I actually liked the story of the Irish immigrant who owns and operates the pub, but this is a memoir, and you have to be into the author to love a memoir. I wasn't. She seems to analyze the people in the bar/story too much; I felt uncomfortable, like I was a Peeping Tom or something, knowing too much about these people.
Lovely book about escaping New York on 9/11 and discovering a whole new world just up the river. It's Cheers for New York. This is the type of corner bar I remember from my childhood, where all of the neighbors were there on Friday nights for the fish fry or Saturday nights to unwind. The kids would have sour cream and onion potato chips and play bar games while the parents would visit over a beer. That's this book.
Wonderful post-9-11 book about the author's search for life's meaning and how she found an Irish family tavern 100 miles north of New York City that was "home" to many, many people. Her 9-11 nightmares were healed by the Guinan family in the small town of Garrison, NY. I visited "the chapel" 2 times after reading this book! I am so grateful for how this book enriched my life!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The author's recounting of September 11, as well as her following experiences, were vivid and touching. At the end I realized that nothing had really happened and no one had really changed over the course of the story, which is usually unacceptable to me in books. I didn't mind this time, though. In the same way the author embraces the present moment, I am happy for the time spent reading Little Chapel.
Really nice story. Author writes for The Wall Street Journal.Had to leave Manhattan after September 11 (her apartment was next to the World Trade Center) and ended up in this little town up the Hudson River where she fell in love with this tiny pub run by an Irishman and its patrons. Made you want to make the trip to have a beer there or find your own Cheers type place.
I really loved this book, I read it some years ago and it stays with me the way an impression of comfort and coziness can. The people Wendy Bounds described seem like friends of distant memory, I say that because she draws them so well, you do feel as if you know them and you come to understand them and the place they inhabit as Wendy comes to understand it for herself.
"The hamlet slipping into winter is a gentle but palpable occurance. As final fair warning, the leaves begin to glow until it looks as if someone has lit a warm lamp across the entire valley...Wood is stockpiled, chimneys swept, snowplow contracts signed.
Meantime, the summer renters close up shop...Those who stay can watch as the landscape strips down, unloading her buxom summer weight until she is naked, angular, severely beautiful.
This is home on the eve of our arrival."
Reading the book jacke...more
Meantime, the summer renters close up shop...Those who stay can watch as the landscape strips down, unloading her buxom summer weight until she is naked, angular, severely beautiful.
This is home on the eve of our arrival."
Reading the book jacke...more
This is a book set in my town that has opened up worlds for me. Guinans was a great focal point of Garrison and being able to read all of their stories makes me so happy and helps me connect with something so iconic about the landing. Truly a well written and moving book which will forever be one of my favorites.
A reminder to treasure the venues that make a town a community even if they are rough around the edges or down at the heels! Reminded me a little of some of the love that people have for the characters and small town drama of Niles, except I am ashamed to say, I think we are a little more cynical here!
This book really deserves 3 1/2 stars...
This true story begins on the morning of September 11, 2001, in an apartment next door to the World Trade Center. The author, Wendy Bounds, is preparing to go to work at the Wall Street Journal when the towers are hit and life turns upside down. After a couple months as a nomad, she and her roommate end up living with friends an hour outside the city in the small hamlet of Garrison, across the Hudson river from West Point. Wendy becomes more intrigued and...more
This true story begins on the morning of September 11, 2001, in an apartment next door to the World Trade Center. The author, Wendy Bounds, is preparing to go to work at the Wall Street Journal when the towers are hit and life turns upside down. After a couple months as a nomad, she and her roommate end up living with friends an hour outside the city in the small hamlet of Garrison, across the Hudson river from West Point. Wendy becomes more intrigued and...more
A heart-warming story about a little pub and country store just north of NYC that defeated all odds. And the people who ran it and became part of it also defeated most odds. Garrison, NY seems like a place I'd love to live in and perhaps work out of, from the author's fabulous description of it. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that the author seemed to want to become these people a little too much. She basically invited herself into the lives of the Guinans and gave up her p...more
An incredible read where nothing really happens. The writing is beautiful and it is incredibly difficult to put down. You end up feeling like you know the people in this bar after awhile-and you like them all. It makes me think of all the regular spots I attend and how we all have or desire that one place that we can consider our second home.
I really liked this book and felt like the author really captured how many people felt after 911. The pub that became her safe haven is the kind of place I love and the author seems like someone who you would want to call a friend.
This is the other non fiction book I read this week and it is about a woman who lived across the street from the twin towers and was there on 9/11 and the place she found comfort just 50 miles from NY city in upstate NY. Great read
What a great book. Wendy does a wonderful job of character development, to the point that you feel you really know these people. Gotta take a drive up the Hudson one day soon and stop at Guinan's for a beer.
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Apr 06, 2009 02:21pm