March Bookshelf: Telling Tales

More gems from the state’s master storyteller

It’s a subtle thing, but spend some time with Fritz Wetherbee’s latest book, “Taken for Granite,” [$19.95, Plaidswede Publishing] and you’ll soon see it — a rich mosaic of New Hampshire slowly being created by colorful bits that, page by page, add one to the other.

You won’t find the big moments of state history here — these are the tales that are whispered over fences, buried in town histories and otherwise passed along generation to generation. And, as it is with all of Fritz’s stories — whether in his books (now four of them) or on WMUR’S “N.H. Chronicle” — they are told with a spare eloquence.

His writing also contains a charming, classic, you-can’t-get-there-from-here Yankee-ness that no doubt comes from his deep roots in the state and his 70-some years of soaking up its essence.

In her introduction to the book, Rebecca Rule — a great storyteller herself — aptly sums it up: “New Hampshire lives in these Fritz Wetherbee books.”