Texas Books

Weird Texas (Weird)

Wesley Treat, Heather Shades, Rob Riggs

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General AAS
Subjects -> Reference -> Fun Facts -> Curiosities & Wonders

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Fun But Lacking 3 out of 5 stars.
14 of 18 people found this review helpful.

This was a fun read and had a lot of info in the Personalized Properties and Roadside Oddities chapters that was new to me.
The Local Legends and Ancient Mysteries sections were very thorough for what was covered but did not make an effort to cover a lot of other interesting forlklore or sites in Texas.
Portions of the Unexplained Phenomena and Bizarre Beasts are previously published verbatim by Rob Riggs in his book 'In the Big Thicket'. I was hoping he had contributed something new for these sections since I have already purchased his book, but was, however, disappointed. The Haunted Places section was sadly lacking. The places that were covered were entertaining, but some of Texas' well known haunted locations (for example: La Bahia Blanca)were totally overlooked and I can only assume poor research caused this absence.
Worth the price, but don't expect a whole lot if you have already researched the areas of knowledge covered in the book.

Fun, but needs more info 3 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This was a fun read but sorely lacking in details. With the words "travel guide" on the cover, I expected to be able to find where these places were. At best, they gave us vague details or just a city name. This book was more ghost stories and Texas tales than travel guide.

The Texas Hill Country: A Food and Wine Lover's Paradise

Terry Thompson-Anderson

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Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Drinks & Beverages -> Wine -> Food & Wine
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> U.S. Regional -> Southwest

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Texas Hill County: A Food and Wine Lover's Paradise takes readers on a gustatory tour of this picturesque Central Texas region of rolling hills, spring-fed streams, and good eats. One of the state's most popular travel destinations, the Hill Country is fast becoming a magnet for agricultural tourism. Visitors come here to follow the lavender trails, pick peaches and apples, buy fresh-pressed olive oil, sample the offerings at award-winning wineries, and have a meal in the unique eateries--from chic restaurants with world-class dishes on the menu to back-country roadhouses famous for barbecue and hamburgers. Professional chef and cookbook author Terry Thompson-Anderson has explored every corner of the eighteen-county region, with its quaint communities and specialty farms, and discovered more than one hundred establishments that are sure to please the palate. More than a travel guide, the book is also filled with recipes that she has gathered from proprietors or developed using local food products. Sandy Wilson's stunning full-color photographs capture the diversity of the Hill Country eating experience, with its berry patches and orchards, roadside stands, artisan bakeries, boutique wineries, and vast array of restaurants serving both traditional and haute cuisine. Welcome to the rich bounty of the Hill Country, where you're in for some remarkable food finds. If this is your first visit, we bet it won't be your last!

Backroads of the Texas Hill Country: Your Guide to the Most Scenic Adventures (Backroads of ...)

Gary Clark

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Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> South -> West South Central

Editorial Review:

Texas has hill country? Who knew? Well, the Lonely Planet guide to Texas, which calls the Hill Country “rightfully one of the state’s biggest tourist draws . . . an area of gently rolling hills and valleys freckled with cacti and cattle ranches, lined with rivers and dotted with peaceful, picturesque little towns.” And any self-respecting Texan might know as much. Forty miles west of Austin and fifty north of San Antonio, the Hill Country is within an easy drive of two of the state’s biggest cities, putting back-country quiet and beauty within reach of countless urban dwellers seeking respite.

This book brings the remarkable Hill Country of Texas home to the back roads traveler. Whether it’s wildflowers you’re drawn to, or dude ranches, natural areas, historic sites, or quaint Texas towns redolent of history, this is your passport to an experience like no other. Backroads of the Texas Hill Country introduces travelers and armchair tourists alike to the emerging wine country of the Lone Star State, the meticulously preserved culture of East European immigrants, the “cowboy capital of the world” (Bandera), and the childhood home of LBJ at Johnson City. Follow this irresistible guide into the Hill Country, and find yourself deep in the heart of Texas.

The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston

Editors of My Table magazine

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

You may have heard the statistic: According to the Zagat Survey, Houstonians eat out more often than do residents of any other major American city. And it's true! Houston is a city that loves its restaurants. Now, with the August 2008 publication of The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston, brought to you by the editors and writers of My Table magazine, dining around Houston is about to become an even more delicious adventure. Capitalizing on My Table's 14 years of covering everything food in Houston and our reputation as Houston's only editorially independent magazine devoted solely to dining in Houston, this is not a traditional restaurant guidebook so much as -- as the title promises -- a food-lover's guide. Our overriding editorial guideline: Where would we send our best foodie friend? The 5x8 book -- easy to slip into a handbag or briefcase -- is divided into three chapters: Local Flavors has more than 100 bakeries, ethnic markets, farmers' markets, butchers, gelato shops, fishmongers, chocolate shops, coffeehouses, tea rooms, and much more; Spirited Houston lists more than 95 wine bars, wine and spirits retailers, brewpubs, hotel bars and dives; and Restaurants & Cafes covers everything else, from fine-dining establishments to quirky ethnic eateries off the beaten path. Besides the main listings -- nearly 550 in all -- The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston features dozens of color photos, a fold-out map, sidebars and boxes with everything from a list of our favorite boiled-crawfish spots to the town's best sports bars (as chosen by Houston Dynamo star Brian Ching), from a round-up of pick-your-own orchards to the best annual food festivals, from a list of local cooking schools to a chocolatier's secret sources for chocolate-making supplies, from our favorite BYOB restaurants to five spots that serve English-style afternoon tea. The book even has a dozen recipes from Houston's best-known restaurants, including Cafe Annie, Mark's American Cuisine, Brennan's and Ouisie's Table. In other words, this book is richer, deeper and more varied than the traditional restaurant directory-style guidebook. We don't pretend to list everything in town -- only those places that are worthy, beloved, compelling, irresistible or simply cannot be ignored.

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: San Antonio and Austin: Includes the Hill Country (60 Hikes within 60 Miles)

Tom Taylor, Johnny Molloy

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Hiking & Camping -> Instructional

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Hiking in Austin 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is a good basic book for finding the public hiking trails that are on the beaten path. It is very useful to find what is publically available. It isn't for finding those paths that are hard to find.

I do recommend it.

More Austin than San Antonio 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book, very descriptive but there are more Austin trails than SA trails. Some of the trails in this book have become our faves and we would never have found them without the book.

Editorial Review:

This practical guide takes readers to the best trails found in the Texas Hill Country, all within easy reach of San Antonio and Austin. Destinations include secluded, low-traffic areas for quiet hikes as well more popular and heavily used paths. The former LBJ Ranch, the Guadalupe River, the Highland Lakes Chain, and the Lost Pines area are a few of the spectacular treks featured.

Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue

John DeMers

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Subjects -> Travel -> Reference & Tips -> Food & Lodging -> Dining

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Smell The Smoke 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Follow the Smoke: 14,783 Miles of Great Texas Barbecue
Being a native Texan and living in Tx all my life I have found this book to be a trasure for a true barbecue lover. Now you don't have to be a Texan to enjoy this wonderful book. If you have ever ventured down to Tx and experience some Texas barbecue then you will also get a kick out of this book.

Editorial Review:

The product of a 14,000-mile road trip and 111 different meals, this delicious guidebook to Texas barbecue is just the thing for any aficionado with a little gas money and a large appetite. The restaurants profiled range from very plain (a shack with an ordering window) to fancy, from Port Arthur to Abilene, McAllen to Texarkana, and Austin to El Paso. Expressing an absolute reverence for Texas barbecue, this guide celebrates the work and time required to produce meat that is perfectly smoky, tender, and juicy.

Hiking Big Bend National Park, 2nd (Regional Hiking Series)

Laurence Parent

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent, handy useful resource! 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

My husband & I just returned from a fantastic trip to Big Bend National Park. We used this excellent, handy, easy-to-use book as our primary resource for deciding what hikes we were capable of taking in the park. The book proved very useful in showing numerous shorter, easier hikes that older people like us with foot and back problems could take as well as longer, harder trails for those who want them and are able. It also gave very interesting, accurate, readable, and useful descriptions of such matters as how to drive to the trailhead and whether parking is available there, some things (mainly scenery & geological features) one is likely to see on the trail, trail length, elevation gain, trail traffic etc., to allow use to decide which trails would most interest us. Further, it contains some useful black and white photos. And it provides some information about neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park which we also at least drove through. Thanks in large part to this book, we were able to enjoy some the best hiking of our lives despite our current physical limitations. I only wish we had visited the park a decade ago or more when we could have done some of the more strenuous trails described as well. I would recommend this book for virtually anyone planning a visit to Big Bend.

Editorial Review:

Fully updated and revised, this comprehensive guide features forty-seven trails in Big Bend National Park.

Texas Off the Beaten Path, 7th (Off the Beaten Path Series)

June Naylor

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Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> South -> West South Central
Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> States -> Texas -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

An interesting front picture 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I was browsing this book in a local book store and liked the content. What got my attention though was the picture on the front cover. I knew I had seen the place before but it took a couple of seconds before I realized it wasn't in Texas. The cover photo is Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona. Surely Texas has some great looking places that could have been on the cover.

Very Informative 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Informative, thorough listings with maps and information on places to stay and eat listed after each section of the state that is reviewed. Favorite attractions, favorite annual events for each place and Texas Trivia listed throughout.

The publishers must have read the comments of the other reviewer on this page because my copy of this book is also the Seventh Edition, same ISBN number and everything, but the picture on the front cover is of a beautiful old climbing tree on the Brazos-Republic Trail - which is actually in Texas!

Editorial Review:

Texas has a wealth of unique attractions for visitors and residents alike.Visit the Rainforest Pyramid--a 10-story simulated rainforest--at Moody Gardens; interact with dolphins in Corpus Christi Bay at the Dolphin Connection; or take a 9-mile driving tour through Fossil Rim Wildlife Ranch, where more than 1,000 endangered species roam freely.

Fixin' To Be Texan

Helen Bryant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wish I'd read this 23 years ago 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Helen Bryant has summed up everything you need to make the transition from being "from someplace else" to being a Texan, all in a compact and witty book. I lived in Houston and San Antonio for 17 years and I'm fixin to go back (from California) so I thought I'd better brush up. I feel ready, now.

After I finished the book I wrapped it up and gave it to friends, native Southern Californians who are soon to make Fort Worth their home. If you are bound for Texas, read this book first!

I loved this book!! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

We are thinking about making a move to Texas from California, and I wanted to learn a little about the culture. This book teaches you everything you will need to know. I couldn't put it down. It was hilarious!

Highly recommended 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book for my mom, a proud Texan who hasn't lived there since shortly after she got married, some 50 years ago. But she related to everything in this book and laughed so hard she couldn't talk. Over the years, I've bought my fussy mom countless presents, but this is the first one I felt she really liked.

Even as a non-Texan, I found the book to be hilarious (my mom called me up and read the whole thing to me over a few nights). I don't even like Texas (too hot and buggy for my taste), but after hearing this book, it kind of made me want to move there! This would be a GREAT present (or gift to yourself) for anyone who loves Texas, anyone from Texas, and anyone about to move there (fixin' to be Texan).

Editorial Review:

Delightfully witty, this book takes readers through the gamut of facts about Texans, how to understand the conversations, why and how Texans dress the way they do, why pickup trucks are a way of life, and how they, too, can acquire big hair. Illustrated with clever cartoons.

Best Hikes With Dogs: Texas Hill Country And Coast (Best Hikes With Dogs)

Melissa Gaskill

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Hiking & Camping -> Excursion Guides -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

55 dog-friendly hikes throughout the Lonestar State’s Hill Country and Gulf Coast regions

· All trails within driving distance of Austin, San Antonio, Houston
· Terrain that’s hazard-free and easy on the paws
· What to pack for your pooch—the Ten Canine Essentials and the Doggy First-Aid Kit

A native Texan, Melissa Gaskill has spent more than 20 years hiking and camping with her dogs all over the Lonestar State. In this new guidebook, she shares her favorite hikes in the Hill Country and Coast areas that are sure to delight both you and your pet. The hikes range from short jaunts to longer, challenging trails. Discover everything from rugged hills with limestone cliffs and rolling terrain, to wide-open areas with brush and cactus, to the coastal plain with its grasslands and pine forests.

For each hike, leash regulations and availability of water are noted, along with any trail concerns pertinent for your dog. Advice is given on topics such as proper canine trail etiquette, wildlife encounters, and weather concerns. There’s also a handy Trail Finder chart that lists hikes by length, terrain, difficulty for dogs, and more.

Melissa Gaskill has written for newspapers and magazines for more than 15 years on a variety of topics, including travel, outdoors, parenting, and more. Her two enthusiastic trail companions are Keeper, a Labrador retriever, and Max, a mixed-breed adopted from an animal shelter. She lives in Austin with her husband, three children, and two dogs.