Books
 

Books are a wonderful escape from the often monotony of everyday life and from the stresses of business and making a living. They are also a soothing medium for those experiencing 'cabin fever' or the 'shack nasties' at this time of year. To be able to sit back in that comfortable chair by the fire while enjoying a favorite beverage and become lost in a different place in a different time within the pages of a book is such a pleasure after a long day. I do it almost every day.

Reading some George Bird Evans recently I came across a short passage of his that really epitomizes my feeling about woodcock - he writes: "The sorcery of woodcock - dropping out of almost nowhere into remote coverts, bringing them alive for a few days, then vanishing - working their spell each autumn in places many times unseen by men, is a wonder I can never take for granted."

I'm a grouse hunter, but woodcock really have my heart.

In the Spring Issue of Parker Pages we have a nicely written Book Review. We used to publish members' book reviews with some frequency but haven't done so for quite a good while, but I'd sure publish them if we received any.

Please share with our readers a good book you have read recently. If you haven't read one lately, now is the perfect time to do so.... to ward off the Shack Nasties. :vconfused::throw::rotf:






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Dean,
Thankfully, we are not experiencing the shack nasties in the Carolinas (72 today) but your topic is very timely and I agree wholeheartedly. In an attempt to broaden my horizons from the traditional works of Rutledge, McIntosh, Ruark, GB Evans, etc., my fly fishing son has introduced me to a book called "Trout Bum" by John Gierach. A fly fishing book may seem off topic for our forum but I know a lot our group occasionally will put down the Parkers and pick up a fly rod. The link for me and my son is that we are now tying our own flies with our wing shooting feathers. Anyway, the book is humerous and written at a high level that really makes you think about what you need to sacrifice and forsake in life to truly become a "trout bum". It's a good read for those that share other passions in addition to our Parkers and wing shooting.

Charles

there are fly fishing writers who, in my opinion, rival the best of the upland writers

some like Corey Ford did both well

And Burt Spiller wrote "Fishin' Around." A really good read.

Gierach is one of my favorites! I have several of his books - he's really an independent cuss... a lot like many of us.

One of my favorite Gierach quotes came from one of his stories where he nosed his old pickup truck in against the curb in one of those little Colorado recently 'yuppified' towns and a young woman on the curb started berating him for the shotgun in the rack in his back window.... "That's no shotgun lady - that's a Parker!" was his terse reply.





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Need a good foul weather weekend here so I can catch up on my reading. I have saved GBE's last book on the Blackwater/Cannan, have Steve Smith's new woodcock book, and haven't looked at the Tranquility series I bought from Angel. I almost always buy some books when I go to the Southern and Hausmanns . Yeah, Gierach is a good read, I need to collect all his books. I get sidetracked now with playing guitar--fingerstyle--just picked up a little classical guitar, working on some James Taylor, Stephen Bishop, and Kenny Rankin tonight--along with a little Bulleit Rye.

Do yourself a favor Harold - treat yourself to the Tranquility trilogy soon... you will not regret it. Sheldon's writing in these books is some of the 'best of the best' - but then that's a Yankee's opinion of a Yankee writer and sportsman. :bowdown:






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I've been reading Gierach for a number of years .

It's almost a cliché to say it, but every year I find myself re-reading something of Gene Hill's; fishin' stuff when the season's upon us, upland stuff in the fall. And...

...yup!

I've had Tranquility and Tranquility Revisited for years and had read them several times. It was less than a year ago I picked up Tranquility Regained and then read them as a set. It looks like it is time to do so again. Good reminder Dean!
Thanks,

Jack Kuzepski

I keep going back and reading Gordon McQuarrie's stuff, and when I need a Michigan fix, it's Robert Traver's Trout Madness and Trout Magic

I love outdoor books too. Favorites include Archibald Rutledge, Corey Ford, William Faulkner's the Bear, Hemingway, Jack London and Corey Ford. Havilah Babcock is a must for quail hunters. Really, there are too many to list.

Sporting Classics has a new book out called The Greatest Quail Hunting Book ever which I am about to order. For decades I was a member of Amwell Press through The National Sporting Fraternity and have amassed a good library.

For a long time Africa has held a special place for me and I just finished a collection of stories assembled once again by Sporting Classics. Santa brought me Incidents from an Elephant Hunters Diary by W.D.M. Bell and a bottle of Jack Daniels Single Barrel. I think this weekend it's time to put 400 grain solids in the double rifle (figuratively speaking) a few cubes of frozen water in a glass and the Single Barrel and go Elephant hunting.

Agree except for Rutledge; for some reason I just can't like his work. I was all excited the first time I picked up a few of his books, but they just left me cold. It's gotta be me, 'cause I like others from the era...for me reading him is like reading Emily Dickinson (or would be, if I ever read Emily Dickinson :)).

While I'll always have a soft spot for Buckingham's Play House, two recent reads, both non-fiction, I found better than average: The Devils Teeth by Susan Casey, about the Farallon Islands and Great Whites and the toughening up of a city girl, and Dead Wake by Erik Larson about the last crossing of the Lusitania and a pretty good view of life in 1915. Enjoy.

I really love Sheldon's Tranquility books.My favorite story of all time is the story of the funeral for the major who came to live in their village after the civil war.Sheldon talks about how important he was to the people there,particularly the war veterans.In the final paragraph he has the local band play the major's favorite song one last time for him.It was "Dixie".Makes you kinda misty eyed.

Got Amazoned pretty good this Xmas. Marcy gave me "Hemingway on Hunting" and my brother, Hank, gave me the Kennel Club book "Black and Tan Coonhound" (I used to have good one, old Rattler).

The name of that story is "Not Without Honor." One of my favorites too.

Here.... http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=honor






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This book, just finished last night, is only for people who love old stories of Fly-in Lodges, and Bush flying in Northern Maine.
Jake Morrell worked for Max Folsom, perhaps the most famous Maine Float pilot, then he and his wife started "Hardscrabble Lodge"; the name of the book.
Turns out, I drive by the guy's retirement home every trip to Greenville.
The book is published by Maine Authors Publishing and Cooperative
www.maineauthorspublishing.com
I love books that 'sound' like stories from around the woodstove, favorite drink in hand.

If you love Down East humor read "Tall Tales from the Tall Pines" by Christian Potholm. Its a collection of Maine hunting & fishing stories as told by a Maine Guide. The characters in this book are absolutely hilarious.

That one's on the nightstand right now.

Books
 

I enjoy picking up and reading a few chapters of Field, Cover and Trapshooting
by Capt. Bogardus. Another is Forest McNeir of Texas...
regards,
RD
Trap3

1611 KJV.

Fred, the sound of hounds on a hot trail might be better than a sexy point by a English Pointer. English Pointers remind me of Coon hounds, they can go and go and they have that smell. Know what I mean ch

Just finished New England Grouse Shooting and while it was less story and more practical, I enjoyed it greatly. Provided a really nice history of not only grouse, but the area itself. Currently reading my new autographed copy of Tattered coat and enjoying it immensely.

In regard to non sporting books, Itwo of my favorite reads are The King Ranch by Tom Lea and The Years of Lyndon Johnson series by Robert Cairo. Two amazing reads.

I have hunted almost everything that walks or flies through books. They can take you anywhere in the world and you can go in different time periods. No where else can you hunt with Rutledge, Babcock, Roosevelt or Ruark.

Anything by Jack O'Connor and Zane Grey.
I just finished "The Best of Jack O'Connor", published 1977. Awesome collection of Jack's personal favorites.
And "Zane Grey Outdoorsman" (selections by George Reiner), published 1972. Zane was equally outstanding as a hunting & fishing writer as with his western novels.

For a great read try " Hell, I Was There " by Elmer Keith.

I love books. To me, they represent knowledge and wisdom with nice covers! I will not live
long enough to make all the mistakes possible, so I (try) to learn from others experiences.
If I found time to fish, my Parker fly rod would come in handy!!(LOL).

I've read a lot of O'Connor and we have hunted sheep together from Alaska to Mexico. In addition Keith is well represented. It's interesting to not the differences between the two. Jack liked lighter faster bullets and Elmer the bigger the better. Seems I remember a Keith quote along the lines that a 375 made for a good prairie dog rifle. I've shot deer with both the 270 and a 375 both worked well.

I much prefer the look and feel of a book, no tablets :nono

Books, especially first editions, much like our old Parkers and other guns, have a certain... 'soul' I guess. I wouldn't waste my time reading a great old book on an electronic device.... That's just me I guess.






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I have enough trouble navigating this computer:shock: I can't see myself with a Kindel:nono: It would end up at the rifle range where I could test O'Connor VS Keith with a 270 and a 500 express rifle:rotf::rotf::rotf:

I greatly enjoy Gordon McQuarrie for his story telling that takes you there with him and the president. Ted Trueblood for his story telling and the practicality he works into them. Francis Sell for his knowledge that was earned through experience and his old time story telling. Gene Hill for the way he expresses what we do so well. Burt Spiller for his ability to take me grouse hunting when I cannot go myself.Townsend Whelen because I love those old Springfield custom rifles.

No writer in the outdoor sporting genre has ever come close to Jack O'Connor. Or ever will. He was a master of language, nuance, candor and sophistication. The rest stand in his shadow.

a book to read, and a place to read it
 

Quote from start of this Thread: "....To be able to sit back in that comfortable chair by the fire while enjoying a favorite beverage and become lost in a different place in a different time within the pages of a book is such a pleasure after a long day. I do it almost every day...." -- D. R.

So, part of the experience, other than selecting a good title, is providing the right atmosphere for reading it. A carpenter friend of mine cites a house he built for a client in a fashionable Northeast area, costing several million dollars. It was, as he reported, "all glass"; "there wasn't a cozy corner in the entire house" ; "you couldn't read a book". (Apologies to those who like or live in Frank Lloyd-type houses -- and are Ok with reading a book in them.)

My friend's reactions reminded me of what I saw when returning to a New England college a few years back. The library interior reflected a new-style of institutional remodeling. It no longer had any cozy corners; the wing-back chairs were all gone; even the displays of collections had been removed. It looked like a records storage facility or laboratory.

So, I sought some explanatory insights from a good "local knowledge" source -- one of the college Buildings and Grounds employees (often a good alternative to an academician). He told me that the current practice was to get people in and out of the library quickly -- no reading or study encouraged there; just get what was needed for study or research and take it elsewhere.

As for recommended titles, don't overlook the works of Jim Corbett, slayer of man-eating Tigers and Leopards. A boxed set of his writings -- hunting for sport, meat and guiding and his life in rural India under the Raj -- can now be obtained.

And, if drawn-in enough by the Corbett mystique, you can follow up with the biographies:

JIM CORBETT OF KUMAON, by D. C. Kala
CARPET SAHIB --A life of Jim Corbett, by Martin Booth
GENTLEMAN HUNTER, by Peter Byrne, the one biographer of unique authority, as he was once a professional guide for big cat sport hunters in India
BEHIND THE JIM CORBETT STORIES -- an Analytical Journey to 'Corbett Places' and Unanswered Questions, written by a squad of enthusiasts of varying nationalities, professions and advanced degrees, re-tracing Corbett's footsteps and debating the saga's lingering discrepancies.

A sad note for those who love to read by the fire: we lost a true Northeast Kingdom treasure in the passing of the author Howard Mosher a few weeks back. I had fished and hunted a bit with Howard and slapped my knees a hundred times in outrageous laughter with him. One of his last wishes was to finish a final book and this he succeeded in accomplishing. In saying goodby I know that the energy is never lost and this final work should be one great read.

Ok, very sorry for the loss of a true NEKer.

How can I get a copy of that book?

Dean,
Thanks for the reminder. I just pulled down my copy of "Tranquility" to enjoy this weekend. While it's not Nash writing about places familiar to thisTennessee boy, it is a wonderful book. Don't have the other two in the trilogy but I'll have to start looking for them. By the way, I am really enjoying the nice 28ga Repro I got from you recently!
Have good weekend.
Best
Tim

Thanks Tim - That's a sweetheart of a gun. I took a fair number of grouse and woodcock with it and that Mod barrel can really reach out there.
One of my greatest memories with it was a big cock grouse that flashed about twenty-five yards to my right from beneath some scrub apple trees flying up along an old barb wire fence toward another group of older apple trees. When he finally broke into view he was more than 35 yards away and about 4 feet off the ground going like a rocket. All in one motion I mounted that gun, put my finger on the rear trigger, swung past him, and I must have pressed the trigger because he disappeared from my view. I found him stone dead just beyond where I last saw him... a full 44 long paces from where I was standing when I shot.





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The one writer that I just never could warm up to was Nash Buckingham. I just find him hard to read. Spiller, Sheldon, Ford, Evans I have enjoyed immensely but not Nash.

Nash sure had the ability to put 'old-time Southern' dialect and colloquialism to the pen - he was a master of that style of story telling.




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Yes he was but I was never able to master reading it:)