6 Books for Nature Lovers: Reading on Topic

This year has been a good one for nature-loving readers. A number of excellent books have come to my attention, among them the following recommended titles, which I present in no particular order. What 2016 books would you add to this list?

• On Trails by Robert Moor: An experienced backpacker ponders the nature of foot travel and the evolution of established trails from animal traces to named byways. This worldwide exploration promises to be fascinating. Opening line: "Once, years ago, I left home looking for a grand adventure and spend five months staring at mud." (Simon & Schuster, July)
• Vitamin N by Richard Louv: Although this book is geared to getting your kids outside, it offeres great advice and encouragement to anyone who wants to reap the many benefits of spending time in nature. Louv provides a range of suggestions for all kinds of would-be adventurers. Opening line: "Is nature time absolutely necessary for a healthy, happy, fulfilling life?" (Algonquin, April)
• And Soon I heard a Roaring Wind by Bill Streever: You can't see it, but you can feel it and sometimes you can see the results of its power. Using his own sailing experiences as a foundation, Streever studies wind through the lenses of history and science. Opening line: "Aboard the sailing yacht Rocinante, the north wind shrieks through the rigging." (Little, Brown, July)

• Sixty Degrees North by Malachy Tallack: This is a gorgeously written series of essays about the author's journey around the world at the 60-degree latitude line, which crosses his Shetland home. Recommended for those of us who love the northern climes, the outdoor life, anthropology, and history. Opening line: "I can remember the day: silver skied and heavy with rain." (Pegasus, July)
• The Wander Society by Keri Smith: A fun guide to enhancing your ability to wander and observe. As useful to urban dwellers as it to wilderness adventurers. Opening line: "About two years ago, I was browsing in a favorite dusty old bookshop, one that I frequent when I am in need of a random book find." (Penguin, March)
• Under the Stars by Dan White: Most kids and many adults love going camping, and this has been the case in the United States throughout its history. Mixing personal experience with a historical and sociocultural perspective, White explores the camping movement from the nineteenth-century Transcendentalists to today's RV'ing. Opening line: "I love camping." (Henry Holt, June)

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Starting from Page 1: Six Summer Picks

It's July 4, which is American Independence Day and thus a day for being with friends and family, grilling, being outside, and watching fireworks. Yesterday, I was thinking about what I might want to read today and on all the warm summer days and evenings of the coming months.

Although some of the books I plan to read in the next eight weeks won't be published until later in the fall, I wanted to tell you about a half dozen titles that are out now or will be by the end of August. One way I choose my next book is by reading the opening lines, and I love it when bloggers share the first sentence or two of their current book. Here's what I read this morning.

Karen White
The Beach Trees
Penguin / New American Library, 2011
ISBN-13: 9780451233073
Fiction

Death and loss, they plague you. So do memories. Like the Mississippi's incessant slap against the levees, they creep up with deceptive sweetness before grabbing your heart and pulling it under.

Craig Nova
Brook Trout and the Writing Life
Eno Publishers, 2011 (new edition)
ISBN-13: 9780982077146
Outdoor writing / essays

Often the connection between things is not obvious to the eye, and even when it is, it can take years, if not decades, for me to see just what is associated with what. The events of my life and brook trout often meet at the line of demarcation between the world of the fish and the world of the fisherman, between the seen and the unseen.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Language of Flowers
Random House / Ballantine, 2011
ISBN-13: 9780345525543
Fiction

For eight years I dreamed of fire. Trees ignited as I passed them; oceans burned. The sugary smoke settled in my hair as I slept, the scent like a cloud left on my pillow as I rose. Even so, the moment my mattress started to burn, I bolted awake.

Darin Strauss
Half a Life
Random House, 2011
ISBN-13: 9780812982534
Memoir

Half my life ago, I killed a girl.

I had just turned eighteen, and when you drive in new post-adolescence, you drive with friends.

Amy Hatvany
Best Kept Secret
Simon & Schuster / Washington Square Press, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781439193310
Fiction

Being drunk in front of your child is right up there on the Big Bad No-No List of Motherhood. I knew what I was doing was wrong. I knew it with every glass, every swallow, every empty bottle thrown into the recycle bin. I hated drinking. I hated it . . . and I couldn't stop.

Christie Watson
Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away
The Other Press, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781590514665
Fiction

Father was a loud man. His voice entered a room before he did. From my bedroom window I could hear him sitting in the wide gardens, or walking to the car parking area filled with Mercedes, or standing by the security guard's office or the gate in front.

From the opening lines, which of these would you read first? I'm not sure where to begin.

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Today's Read: Fire Season by Philip Connors

MizB at Should Be Reading hosts Teaser Tuesdays. Here's how it works: Grab your current read; let the book fall open to a random page; and share 2 "teaser" sentences from that page. For more teasers, click on through to MizB's blog.

It's no wonder our Forest Service brethren think of us lookouts as the freaks on the peaks. We have, in the words of our forebear Edward Abbey, "an indolent, melancholy nature." Our walk home is always uphill. We live alone on the roof of the world, clinging to the rock like condors, fiercely territorial. We ply our trade inside a steel-and-glass room immaculately designed to attract lightning. Our purpose and our pleasure is to watch: study the horizon, ride out the storms, an eagle eye peeled for evidence of flame. (p. 47)

—From Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout by Philip Connors (Ecco, 2011)

Take a look at the book trailer for a bit of a bonus teaser!

Fire Season at an Indie

Fire Season at Powell's

Fire Season at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

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Review: Fishing Journals by Louis Gary Lamit

Today we have a first at Beth Fish Reads: Mr. BFR comes out of hiding to give us an interview review.

If you fish, you may have thought about keeping a record of your fishing trips. If you're like most people, you started with a blank-page journal, made a few entries, and gave up. But what if the journal's pages prompted you for information, making record keeping a breeze? Louis Gary Lamit's Fishing Journal and My Fishing Journal (for children) do just that.

Each journal entry consists of two pages. On the left is a chart with spaces for everything from location, fishing buddies, weather, and water conditions to bait/lure/flies, equipment, species, and size of fish. The right page offers a blank area for a photo, sketch, or map and a lined area for entering thoughts.

The journals also contain pictures and facts about sport fish, photos of equipment, and sample pages to guide the user. The children's journal is exactly like the adult version but is half the size, is in full color, and has two additional pages of different kinds of fish.

Because I don't fish (well maybe from a boat if someone else will take the fish off the hook), I asked Mr. BFR, a lifelong fisherman, to give me his opinion.

Me: What do you think about the setup of the journal pages?

Mr. BFR: I think the setup is good. The chart seems to cover all the important data, and each person can fill in what matters to him or her. I really like the blank area; I'd use it to draw a map or to add a photo.

I particularly like the fact that the journal can be used for all kinds of fishing. I've seen flyfishing journals before, but I also like to surf fish and bass fish on occasion. The chart covers everything, so I can use one journal for all my fishing.

Me: What about the children's journal? What do you like about it?

Mr. BFR: I think most kids would like the pictures of the different fishing equipment and the information about the sport fish. I think it's great that the journal is just like the adult journal but in color. The journal is not simple or too cute, which is good thing—when a kid has a love for fishing, he or she wants to keep a serious record. Most kids would soon tire of something that seemed like a toy or a game.

Me: Is there anything you don't like about the journals?

Mr. BFR: I might like a spiral binding better because the books could be opened flat. The charts might ask for too much detailed information for children. . . . Well, actually, I was the kind of boy who would have filled out every bit of information in the chart, so I take that back.

Me: Would you use this journal now? Would you have liked this when you were a kid?

Mr. BFR: Yes and yes. In fact, I'm going to keep one of these in the car, and I'm going to put the other one with my surf fishing gear. They're mine, right?

Me: Anything else you want to say?

Mr. BFR: I think the journals would make a great joint gift for a parent (or other adult) and child. Most kids would immediately notice that their journal was just like Dad's (or Mom's), and I think that would make them feel pretty grown up and give them motivation to keep a record of their fishing adventures.

Thanks go to Mr. BRF, who in turn would like to thank WalkingFish Books for sending him the journals for review.

Lamit has a website where you can see sample journal pages, learn about his children's books, and find links to fishing resources. There is also information about buying the journals.

Published by WalkingFish Books, 2008
ISBN-13: 9781439217702
Rating: A

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Review: Inventing Montana by Ted Leeson

Ted Leeson's newest collection of essays takes us to one of the most famous fly-fishing areas of the country: the Madison Valley. For about twenty years, Leeson, his wife, and a group of friends have met every August to stay in the same rented farmhouse. Through twelve nicely paced essays, Leeson conflates the seasons to give us a sense of life in Montana through the eyes of a long-time visitor.

In the tradition of most outdoor writing, Leeson's reflections encompass much more than fishing. Several essays touch on the power of space, the meanings of house and home, and the easy rhythm of life among friends who have long since taken on comfortable summer roles.

Leeson is not insular, however, and also notices how Montana has changed over the decades from a sportsman's haven to the playground of the rich and famous. He explores the question of what it must be like to live in a town that is caught between needing the tourists in order to make a living and simultaneously resenting their intrusion. He observes the irony of the diminishing open spaces caused by the influx of people who have moved to the state to enjoy the wilderness.

But ultimately, Inventing Montana is about the fishing. In one section, Leeson ponders the differences between wading and floating the river:

The sense of promise in wade fishing originates in its deliberateness, in the potential for adapting to circumstances, and in the confidence that every local angling problem has a solution. . . . The drifting angler, by comparison, embraces the more innocent optimism of what lies ahead, the fresh hand dealt, the next card turned; it is poker hope, by no means inferior, but rather more easily purchased. (p. 53)

Through humor and good storytelling, Leeson takes on the hunt to find the perfect water, the quest for solitude, and the agonizing wait for the hatches. He also ponders the correct way to answer, "What's your favorite fishing spot?"

An honest reply would take some explaining, and I have learned that any response to a fishing question posed casually at a social function should be scrupulously brief, at least if you care to get invited anywhere again. (pp. 132-133)

And throughout it all, Leeson's love of the Madison River Valley is evident:

The first hours of light on a river are the most gracious of the day. Cool night air still lingers over the water, and there is seldom any wind. Shadows stretch out as the day uncurls in the yawn of morning sun, and the river is never more quietly spectacular or the landscape more vividly limned than in that slanting light. (p. 107)

Inventing Montana should appeal to anyone who fly fishes, enjoys nature, and who has been lucky enough to return year after year to a favorite spot with the best of people.

Inventing Montana at an Indie

Inventing Montana at Powell's
Inventing Montana at Amazon

Note that all extracts come from an advance reading copy and may not exactly match the finished book. Thanks to Thomas Semosh for bringing this title to my attention at BEA.

Published by Skyhorse Publishing, September 1, 2009
ISBN-13: 9781602397965
Challenges: 999, 100+
YTD: 65
Rating: B

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