River Home: An Angler's Explorations FROM THE PUBLISHER
In This Remarkable Collection of Essays and Stories, Jerry Dennis demonstrates why he has emerged as one of America's finest writers on nature and the outdoors, drawing comparisons with such luminaries as John Voelker, Sigurd Olson, and Aldo Leopold. The River Home is a testament to the ways that fishing, travel, and nature can put us in deep contact with the world--and with ourselves. Ranging from northern Michigan to Iceland, Chile, and the fabled rivers of the American West, it explores and celebrates the simple pleasures (and complex challenges) of family life, the allure of giant trout, the sacredness of secret places, and such wonders as bad weather, quirky fishing companions, and the occasional naked angler. The River Home is a passionate record of life outdoors, crafted with clarity, insight, and wit--by a writer gifted with an instinct for what matters.
SYNOPSIS
In this remarkable collection of essays and stories, Jerry Dennis demonstrates why he has emerged as one of America�s finest writers on nature and the outdoors, drawing comparisons with such luminaries as John Voelker, Sigurd Olson, and Aldo Leopold. The River Home is a testament to the ways that fishing, travel, and nature can put us in deep contact with the world and with ourselves. Ranging from northern Michigan to Iceland, Chile, and the fabled rivers of the American West, it explores and celebrates the simple pleasures (and complex challenges) of family life, the allure of giant trout, the sacredness of secret places, and such wonders as bad weather, quirky fishing companions, and the occasional naked angler. The River Home is a passionate record of life outdoors, crafted with clarity, insight, and wit by a writer gifted with an instinct for what matters.
FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Reviews
Convinced þnobody knows beansþ about why fish bite, Dennis (A Place on the Water, 1993) eschews the usual nuts and bolts of fishing in favor of entertaining personal essays laced with good humor and middle-age nostalgia. The author, who recently moved to a farmhouse on a peninsula in Lake Michiganþs Grand Traverse Bay, writes that the concept of home tends þto expand as we grow older to include the rivers and lakes where we fish and boat, the woods where we hunt and hike, every place that has emotional and historical significance.þ The wistfulness behind that statement keynotes many of these pieces. In þA Trout for the Old Guy,þ Dennis comes across a cigar box full of dry flies tied by a crotchety old fisherman he hadnþt thought about in 25 years. Elsewhere, he notes that there are three days of fishing he never misses: opening day, for obvious reasons; the great Hex hatch on Michiganþs rivers in late June, and the last day of the season, that final day to þbe taken slowly, like a last meal.þ Dennis has some fun discussing good fishing buddies and what qualifies them as such, and he takes dozens of 24-inch rainbows from the Rio Puelo in Chile, along with a 5-pound brook trout, þas bulky as a steroid junky.þ One of the best pieces, and by far the funniest, is þFish Naked,þ wherein he pokes fun at the sartorial correctness of catalogue-outfitted anglers. He harks back to a 1970s trip to the Firehole in Yellowstone National Park when he and a friend happened on a naked man and woman fishing side by side. þMaybe nude angling was a local tradition. Maybe it was a tactic. þ Not quite upto his earlier efforts, but Dennisþs descriptive writing and his sense of fishing as serious fun keeps this one afloat. (illustrations)
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
W. D. Wetherell, author of North of Now
Jerry Dennis writes of fly fishing as well as anyone, in both essays and short stories, blending a lyric prose style with an uncommonly sharp eye and a generous imagination. — W.D. Wetherell
Lisa Faye Kaplan, ,USA Today
This bright and sharply written book is a guide to a life lived consciously, a prerequisite and bonus of the sport done well. — Lisa Kaye Kaplan
ACCREDITATION
Jerry Dennis writes for such publications as Smithsonian, Sports Afield, Wildlife Conservation, Gray�s Sporting Journal, and The New York Times. His previous books, including It�s Raining Frogs and Fishes, A Place on the Water, and From a Wooden Canoe, have
won numerous awards and have been translated into five languages. In 1999, he was the recipient of the Michigan Author of the Year Award presented by the Michigan Library Association. He lives in Traverse City, Michigan.
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