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My copy of "Sticks & Wire & Cloth" arrived from Amazon.com on a Friday afternoon. I started reading it that evening and couldn't put it down -- I finished it that Saturday around 7PM! What a wonderful, magical book. It was a joy to read, and a joy to fly "behind Anne Hopkins' eyes" and watch the wonder of Nanna's flights and the country unfold beneath him. I can't get the book out of my head. I've been searching for a way to describe the feeling it gave me, and what finally occurred to me was a surprise. This is a love story between a woman and her Great Lakes biplane. Thank you, Anne, for sharing the romance with me. When I read this book my feeling was, "if I could only write one book, I would wish for it to be like this!" It deserves a wide audience, which I hope it will enjoy. I've urged the book on friends, and I've already decided to buy several copies for friends for Christmas. This is a book which pilots will love of course, but its appeal is much broader -- to anyone who can take joy in freedom and in engaging life with a passion. I discovered that Anne Hopkins has a website and was covering her barnstorming book promotion tour there. I logged on and was surprised to find that the tour ended in Tennessee. I was heartsick when I clicked on that locale and discovered why. I had just discovered Nanna, and now found that he might be lost. I hope that by now the news is better; after all, he apparently survived a flip over in the past, so perhaps after a lengthy recuperation...? Here's hoping that his recovery time is short. He and Anne have got a lot more flying to do. Jack Clemons, Bethesda, MD | |||||
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Anne Hopkins takes you back to the early days of flying - but her adventures have taken place in recent times. Her vivid descriptions of learning to handle an airplane designed in the 20's really captures your attention. Through her eyes, you learn that, even in the 21st century, there are still new vistas to explore and challenges to undertake. The book itself is beautifully crafted with pictures carefully woven into each chapter. The cover photo shows Anne's biplane resting comfortable on a grass field - looking much more at home than on a big city runway - that is the environment for which it was designed. And her book tells the reader that this is the environment in which Anne feels most at home. Chuck Boedeker, Texas and Alaska | |||||
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"What a great book.....at times you feel as if you are there, in the front seat. Truly one that is hard to put down." Cliff Smith, Athens, AL | |||||
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"Anne Hopkins captures in words what pilots feel in the freedom of flying." Larry Van Dam, Riverside, CA | |||||
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"As a Naval Aviator, my Primary Flight Training was in the N2S Stearman open cockpit, fabric covered, biplane. In 20 years of flying dive bombers from carriers and fighters and helicopters, I never felt as 'hot' a pilot as in the N2S with wind in the face, singing wires, and roaring engine. Reading Anne Hopkins has rekindled wonderful memories as I flew through her adventures in this wonderful book." CDR Robert A. Close USN (RET), San Antonio, Texas | |||||
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"I read it at one sitting and loved it. You’re talking to a real arm-chair flyer though I have fifty whole hours in floats, several teen-age hours in aeroncas, luscombes and a TravelAir but I was in the cockpit with Anne on every page.” Barnaby Conrad, Founder, Santa Barbara Writers' Conference, www.sbwc.org | ||
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"What a joy!! I loved this experience (it's more than a book)! Anne's metaphors, similes, whatever you call them, are so vivid and so to-the-point. I found myself saying 'whoooomph' like biplane Nanna's namesake St. Bernard every time she landed. It's obvious this writer is honest about everything, objective about life and herself - sharing her thrills as well as her fears in ways I could definitely relate. There are so many moments that resonated with me, even though I am not a pilot myself. For example, when Anne was getting checked out for a glider rental with '... a serious young man' who said '...you fly better than I thought you would,' she ends the episode with '...I even got him to smile and chuckle a few times before we were done. I love these guys.' I was not just reading a story, but listening to a woman who had a dream and made it real. The people Anne introduced me to as she travelled around the country were fascinating, like the woman who flew around at night looking for lightning strikes that might start forest fires, the couple who took her in when Nanna ran into the fence, all her 'teachers'. This is a book for everyone, but I know lots of women who will be wearing a knowing smile when they turn the last page." Barbara Steck, Tampa, Florida | |||||
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"To read Anne's story is to be reminded of every good reason we fly. It seemed I was flying with a kindred spirit, one whose vision I could absolutely trust. She flew me to places and followed routes I have flown, and then over horizons well beyond. Her words resonate remarkably inside my head. Yet, they are inescapably her own. There is a cadence, or rhythm which is peaceful, calm, a unique kind of patient firmness in her writing. I so welcome a woman's perspective about flight, which is distinctly feminine but unaware that it even matters. Neither the sky nor the aircraft we fly knows our gender and it is only in our choice of words that we may reveal it. So, the parts I loved? Easy-- pages one through 307. The book is a recipe for wanderlust, of course, and I have this marvelous sense of well being knowing that Anne Hopkins is out there somewhere, flying, experiencing, AND writing about it. For me, there was nothing I could not relate to. Every experience touched me and lit a fuse to a memory of my own. I see the world and civilization as a puzzle and a process, interlocking in our heads and our deeds. Not so very long ago, no one could have described the planet and her part in it as Anne has. Witnessing the earth framed with scalloped wings and putting pen to paper, heart to keyboard, she has given us a gift. A valuable piece of the puzzle. Dare I say essential piece? How about just 'required reading.' Anne is, single handed, going to drive up the price of Great Lakes, and those lonely little airport operators around the country are going to wonder what all the blue feathers sprouted on tails are all about." Rod Magner, Magic Air Tours, Orcas Island, www.MagicAir.com | |||||
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"Dear Anne, I got to meet you and your airplane at the breakfast fly in at Bowling Green Ohio. I always like buying aviation books especially when I get to meet the author. Most of the books are quite interesting but are usually a chore to get through. Yours on the other hand was like opening a fine box of chocolates. I was only a couple of pages into "Sticks & Wires & Cloth" and I knew I was in for a treat. I limited my indulgence to only a couple of pages at a time and then put the book down and let the mental imagery digest awhile. Just like having a special treat in the fridge I kept sneaking back to the book for just one more "taste". I only wish I could have read the book before I met you so I could have complimented you in person!" Tim Aufdencamp, Bowling Green, Ohio | |||||
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“I’m a 76-year-old man who is in the twilight years and a self-confessed romantic! I don’t fly, never aspired to it, BUT a biplane -- well as you so well described in your book -- a biplane excites everyone and for me a biplane exudes pure romance. As I read each chapter, I felt I was in the front cockpit vicariously flying with you. Fine writing, simple, enjoyable, exciting. I am an English major from two universities -- always aspired to write “something.” I would use your book as a model if I were teaching a class in creative writing. Oh how I wish that I knew you were coming to this area. I would have cherished just touching “Nanna” and shaking your hand. Thank you so much for affording me the brief interlude of flying with you via your book.” Gene Kawana, Hermitage, PA | |||||
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