Great reads, what's on your night stand?

I have been reading two books from my collection,

the Seasons of a fisherman by Roderick L. Haig-Brown

and Famous British Columbia Fly-Fishing Waters by Art Lingren


I am actually reading them together Lingren's book make a great reference
to Haig-Browns as well he refers to much of what Haig writes about.
Good stuff!

I could not recommend these strongly enough the authors take you on a journey through piscatorial history of some the finest northern rivers.


I started collecting back in the early eighties and have been addicted
to reading and collecting ever since.


How many of you collect fly-fishing books and what do you have?

My library consists of two hundred thirty five of which twenty are related
to fly tying the rest fly fishing and aquatic entomology.

So what book (s) is currently on your night stand?





Steve

Obligatory Hemingway "Nick Adams Stories"
Harry Middleton "On the Spine of Time"
couple of Fly Fish America back issues,
and a Big Sky Journal under the pillow it's where dreams come from:rolleyes:

On MY night stand?
The Holy Bible.
(Lord knows I need it!) ;)

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Originally Posted by Sonny Edmonds

On MY night stand?
The Holy Bible.
(Lord knows I need it!) ;)

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Ok, what's current in your reading area...lol

"What's So Great About Christianity" the author is east Indian his name escapes me. Surprisingly interesting to read.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Molcsan

Ok, what's current in your reading area...lol

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You asked what was on the nightstand...you didn't say anything 'bout the bathroom:p:p:p

Can't talk about "that" reading material here:shock:

I just finished The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Fishing. It was ok. Kind of boring, but informative. Nothing I couldn't learn on FAOL, but my wife would rather me read and ignore her than play on the computer and ignore her.

Three copies of Fly Tyer magazine Tying small flies by Ed Engle and a jeep repair manual

Just finished Theodore Rex, a biography of Teddy.

And most of the way through "Something of Value" an African hunting (and lots more) book by Robert Ruark published in '55. It is about the African wars.

God Laughs and Plays by David James Duncan, the guy that wrote "The River Why" and a bunch of other good stuff is next.

my new weatherby owners manual and "the call of the wild" just had to read it again . its been a few years. my favorite book!

Just finished "The River Why" and started "Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders".

DaveP,
Duncan's book is one of my favorites!
At the moment I'm reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and catching up on back issues of the American Angler.
Coughlin

I just finished "Casting a Spell" and will re-read "The Fine Bamboo Fly Rod." I have a loose ferrule on my Tonka Queen.

The Dry Fly: New Angles
Gary Lafontaine

Nothing.
When I go to bed, I go to sleep.

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At the moment I'm reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods

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I loved that book. :)

Recently I havent had much time to read, but waiting patiently on the bookshelf for colder weather or a weekend camping trip is the Dhammapada. Haven't read it in a while, and I always find myself better off for the time taken to read it once again.:)

The Soft-Hackled Fly by Nemes. My 3rd time through it and I pick up something profound each time!

The Vital Spark: The Illustrated Para Handy by Neil Munro.
It certainly isn't fly fishing, but is it an amusing string of short stories set on and around a Clyde Puffer early last century. Apparently I'm on a nautical binge with a British flavor. My previous book was Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.

I'll be getting back to a couple of books by Dave Hughes and starting Bergman's Trout.

Somewhere in the mix are a couple of Windows administrators guides and IIS 6.0 and 7.0 guides by Stanek.

<assuming Lotus position> ommmmmm... I love my cube... ommmmm

< assuming loco position> ohm... (volt, watt, etc...)


Ed, geeking out

Not fly fishing..."What Color Is a Conservative" by former congressman J.C. Watts.

Son of martin,
Had to add that The Soft-Hackled Fly by Nemes never leaves the porch!
Coughlin

Herter's Fly Tying and Lure Making book, don't remember the name. Also Non-ff "Fatal Shore" about the founding of Australia. The new Fly Tier just got here yesterday, but is already done. Loved the Article about Charlie's Fly Box.

Re-reading Harry Middleton's The Earth is Enough.

bobbyg

McLanes Fishing Encyclopedia (It's getting way to heavy to lift) and; currently plodding through The River Why. A strange book.
Recently The Snow Fly. I liked it.

Charlie Craven's new fly tying book.

Beaver

Hairwing
The River Why is still on my top ten favorites of all-time list... As an English Lit major in college I was forced to read a lot of stuff looking for hidden meanings and mostly worked hard at finding hidden twists or way to explain the "writer as joker" line of thought...

So many different thoughts along the way seemed to hit me with a baseball bat as I read it... The sentence structure through the book changes and the sentences get longer and "twistier" as the book progresses and less inclined to make definitive statements... I saw a lot of life in the book...

But then, I was that Eng major...
art

Hi,

Though it's not directly a fly fishing book, Richard Louv's "Last Child in the Woods" has been on my list forever - he is a devoted fly fisher, and that comes through.

But I happened to find a week on the farm in Michigan with just me and the dogs, so I tackled the List, and read it. Sorry I waited :-)

Kat

"Way of the Peaceful Warrior" and "Fly Fishing Patagonia: A Trout Bums guide to Argentina"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hap

Hairwing
The River Why is still on my top ten favorites of all-time list... As an English Lit major in college I was forced to read a lot of stuff looking for hidden meanings and mostly worked hard at finding hidden twists or way to explain the "writer as joker" line of thought...

So many different thoughts along the way seemed to hit me with a baseball bat as I read it... The sentence structure through the book changes and the sentences get longer and "twistier" as the book progresses and less inclined to make definitive statements... I saw a lot of life in the book...

But then, I was that Eng major...
art

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Hap,
I was an English Lit failure in High School. I'm about 70% through the book but finally got the rhythm of Duncan's pen and can already see a lot of the depth in his writing.
Thanks for your incite. I'll add the book to my library and have to do a reread. At present I borrowed it from the library.
My "Garden angel" and I.
HW

"A Fly Fishers Life: The Art an Mechanics of Fly Fishing" by Charle Ritz
Non Fly fishing- "Twilight on the Line: Underworlds and Politics at the Mexican Border" by Sebastion Rotella.
"The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
"Things I've learned from the Women Who Dumped Me" by Ben Karlin
"This Boys Life: A memoir" by Tobias Wolff.
I work for a public library system and deal with books all day long. I start way too many and it takes some time to finsh them but eventually I do.
Janus

I am currently reading "Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America" by Douglas Brinkley. I saw an interview with him on "The Daily Show" and it sounded like a very interesting book. So far, a lot of stuff I didn't know about his early leanings to being a naturalist. Very good so far.

I'm afraid that my night stand looks more like a lending library then a piece of furniture. It's covered with books and magazines. I always try not knock off 10-12 pages of something before I make a serious effort to fall asleep. Sometimes I don't succeed; I will wake up in the middle of the night with the book on my chest and the light still on. Reading materials on the night table includes 11 assorted fly fishing/tying magazines and

Major Reading Projects:

Dave Hughes Nymphs for Streams and Still Waters Excellent, Excellent, Excellent book!

Karel Krivanec Czech Nymph and Other Related Fly Fishing Methods Another very good book

Peter MacInnis 100 Discoveries: The Greatest Breakthroughs in History. This guy doesn't know anything because he fails to include the Parachute Dry Fly, the Double Haul and the Whip Finish.

John Kumiski Flyrodding Florida Salt Super great book if you are headed to Florida and need very specific where-to-fish information.

Minor Reading Projects:

The Freshwater Angler Series Fishing Rivers and Streams Nice, light reading with lots of pictures which covers some very important concepts. Got this at Hamiltonbooks.com at a very deep discount.

James Mannion Essentials of Philosophy For nights when I'm having trouble falling asleep. 3-4 pages and I'm out like a light. :)

Steve Dobbs The South Carolina Lawn Guide What can I say? My Burmuda grass keeps trying to die so it can go to a better place. I may have the only suicidal Brumuda grass in the whole world.

In answer to your question about book collections, I'm afraid that I fall into the category of "books before food." I've been collecting, reading and enjoying fly fishing/tying books since 1957 when my grandfather gave me a copy of George Herter's Fly Tying and Lure Making and Bill Blades' Fishing Flies and Fly Tying. I can't give you an exact count because of loans to friends and other books scattered around the house but I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of 380 books. A few of those are general fishing books but most are fly fishing and fly tying. I'm right around the same number for cookbooks and books on grilling/barbecue. Christmas, birthdays, and Father's Day are always celebrated with a trip to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com. 8T :)

Great reads , whats on your night stand?

I have a lamp and an ear plug (only need one , mostly deaf in the other ear ) . If she starts to breath loudly (aka snore) I turn on the lamp and stuff an ear plug in my good ear. :)
Seriouly, I've seen what many of you all are reading and am impressed with the wide array of literary interests of the folkes here . Some of it sounds a bit intimidating !
I've eliminated nost of my library over the years. Now I just try to keep it very light ,some art ,a bit of comedy, absolutely none of the classics (Moby Dick? give me a break , Ahab needed to take a deep breath and let it go!).

Now I mostly like the old "Pat McManus " stories.
I (fortunatly) can relate to a lot of his stories .


Strive for simplicity ,
Change is bad!

Didn't see it mentioned: Fly Fishing Through The Midlife Crisis by Howell Raines

On the night stand is W.E.B. Griffin: Double Agents, American Angler, and Fly fishing and Tying Journal and Golf Digest.

Books on deck to read "Ike, An American Hero" by, Michael Korda.
"Pearl Harbor" by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen and "The Few" by Alex Kershaw.

Sounds like "The river Why" is going to be on my read list!

Recommend; any thing by Patrick McManus.

Nice post by the way!

Sean

These two books bring back some wonderful memories,
the first I purchased from blue ribbon flies many years ago,

The second was a special treat, it included the authors phone number
when I finished reading it I gave Gary a call to compliment him, he promptly invited me up for a day on his favorite river with Chester.
A memory I will always treasure

1.) Minor Tactics of the Chalkstream, by Skues

2.) Fly Fishing the Mountain Lakes, by LaFontaine

Another great read I think most would like is The Dry Fly and Fast Water, by La. Branche
La Branche and Skues were friends and Fast Water includes correspondences
between the two of them from 1925 until 1947.
Very insightful informative reading..

Steve

I just picked up a couple more books last night. I dont read much so these should last a while, but I got A Good Life Wasted by Dave Ames. I havnt started it yet. And I got Why We Suck by Denis Leary. Its good so far. Oh and i picked up a biography of Janis Joplin. I absolutely love rock and roll bios.