What are you reading?

[DaveOR]

Just finished rereading Wait Till Next Year/Doris Kearns Goodwin. As much about growing up in the 50's as it is about being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the 50s, which I can testify was hard work!

Currently:

Company of Adventurers/Peter C. Newman. A history of the Hudson's Bay Company and how it helped shaped the development and character of Canada.

White Doves at Morning/James Lee Burke. I really like Burke's Dave Robicheaux mysteries. But this is my first first non-Robicheaux novel, taking place during the Civil War. It's okay, but I'll be going right back to Robicheaux (rereading The Tin Roof Blowdown)when I'm done. Also, for me listening to Will Patton narrating Robicheaux books is something special.

 

[Odyssey]

One day last week I stood in the book aisle of my local thrift store perusing the soft cover spines searching for that all elusive title that reaches out and grabs you. What grabbed me was Death Of A Policeman by M.C.Beaton. I taxed my memory trying to recall this title amongst the small pile of Hamish MacBeth mysteries written by this author sitting on our shelves. But no luck. I know we have several Death Of A ...books but I wasn't sure about the unfortunate policeman so I left the store empty handed. Coincidentally I see this week that the author has passed away.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...hamish-macbeth
It occurs to me I may not have that particular title, and I certainly would love a few more books about my favourite Highland cop. They're easy reading with whodunnit mystery and humour. I loved the subsequent TV series. The main character is a tall lanky layabout with plenty of charm but little motivation, who fills in time between solving murders with poaching salmon and going for long hikes amongst the lochs and Munros.
https://www.mcbeaton.com/us/books/ha...eth_mysteries/

 

[Odyssey]

I've collected a few books by Pierre Berton and am currently plowing through The Arctic Grail, The Quest For The North West Passage And The North Pole 1818-1909. (McClelland & Stewart 1988) At over 600 pages it's no small read but it is unputdownable. Berton does well to describe the full spectrum of human character and lack of it shown by the major players in the push for the pole and the passage. I'm only a third into the book, so I still have many pages of (mis)adventures to go but my greatest admiration so far goes to Lady Jane Franklin, an intrepid scholarly adventurer in her own right, and with a social conscience her peers of that age seemed to have lacked. Others of note are Wm Scoresby, George Back, John Rae, Leopold McClintock...

 

[BWCA66]

Just picked up this 1910 hunting book by Teddy Roosevelt, so far seems like a good read.

 

[Black_Fly]

Chapter XVI-Things to Avoid-Winter: Never leave your ax outside all night. Intense cold makes it exceedingly brittle.....

I broke a hatchet I owned for 50 years once quartering an elk on a cold morning. I was heartbroken. I had saved trading stamps as a kid to get that hatchet. Adding that book to my reading list.

I'm currently reading The Naturalist, Darrin Lunde - a bio about Ted Roosevelt.

 

[Larry650]

The Indian Canoe, by Russell D. Smith. Copyright 1925, and smells like it's been around mold and mildew for the entire 95 years. Just starting it but seems like a nice "Boys Life" type adventure about two friends, their Indian guide and a big old canoe in the Maine wilderness and the Moluncus River.

 

[Guest]

I've collected a few books by Pierre Berton and am currently plowing through The Arctic Grail, The Quest For The North West Passage And The North Pole 1818-1909. (McClelland & Stewart 1988) At over 600 pages it's no small read but it is unputdownable. Berton does well to describe the full spectrum of human character and lack of it shown by the major players in the push for the pole and the passage.

Brad, that is my all-time favorite compendium of Arctic exploration. It is one of my “travelling” books; it goes in the truck on long trips (and shows it). If I run low on reading material I can pick up that dog-eared copy of Arctic Grail and happily re-read favorite chapters for the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] time.

Without any inter-library loans ready for pick up I came up empty on a visit to the local library yesterday.

Looking back over the last couple months on this most-favorite of threads I have book titles to plug into the library loan catalog, including (for my own cut and paste catalog convenience):

A Natural History of the Hedgerow

A Woman of No Importance

(Cool beans Dan, I just returned A Guest of the Reich. Gertrude Legendre was a socialite heiress OSS spy captured by the Nazis.)

Seward, and The Island at the Center of the World. I am a fan of anything Alaska history. And of Manhattan history; although an offer of free beer, weed and Happy Endings wouldn’t be enough to get me back to Manhattan. Thanks Patrick.

The Little Ice Age and Europe's Encounter with North America, A Cold Welcome. I picking and choosing here. Sometimes I need a book that takes some effort. Worth a shot.

Company of Adventurers. Dave, I second that recommendation. It must have been recommended on this thread or I’d not have found it.

That’s six titles to plug into the loan catalog. Bless y’all, and bless this thread.

Many of the recent bedside reads have been. . . .political. And across the spectrum/divide. And Not Safe for Paddling Board discussion.

Whispering – American Carnage

 

[Guest]

[h=1]The title cut-and-paste from this thread is always worth the effort. Three of those titles are now headed my way via inter- library loan. Although I am # 22 on the current wait list for one library copy. [/h] [h=1]A couple others were not in the library system, but were available as inexpensive copies from used book sellers on Amazon, to be delivered the first week(s) of February. I will sleep well knowing various books are headed my way over the next couple weeks.[/h]

 

[Robin]

I'm reading CANADIAN SPRING by Florance Page Jaques, she is the author of CANOE COUNTRY and SNOWSHOE COUNTRY all illustrated by her husband Francis Lee Jaques who also illustrated Sigurd F. Olson's early books.

I am reading “Canoe Country” per Birchy’s heads up, old school border country story of a 3 week husband and wife canoe trip. She’s a wonderful writer and the art work by Francis Lee Jacques is great imo, plus it was dirt cheap from Abe Books.

I also just received “Me and You and the Red Canoe” by Jean E. Pendziwol (she lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario) with art work by Phil. From a quick glance, it looks to be a nice little poetry book about a parent/child canoe trip.
I will save it for my first grandfather/grandchild trip and have the child read to me.
Another Abe book good deal.

 

[Dan Cooke]

Just finished this Book. A good read, very descriptive. In a part of route they paddled I felt Like I was back there on 30 mile lake. 29th Day Surviving a Grizzly bear attack

https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-ninth...gKOM_evK869iK3tl3ZS7cjl8G-dt_5uaXESOIufAJC2Rg

 

[Robin]

I just finished “Alone on the Shield” by Kirk Landers. It might have been mentioned here already, but worthy of an update if it has been mentioned. It’s a story of a college couple reuniting after 40 years deep in the Quetico wilderness.

He’s another Vietnam veteran with an anger management problem (it never ends) and she’s a canoe outfitter on the opposite end of the spectrum of let’s say, oh, I don’t know, maybe Red Lake Outfitters? Good read about solo canoe tripping, and all sorts of life’s complexities....

Dirt cheap used from Abe Books.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Thanks for the tip Robin. I have it on order with the Inter-Libary-Loan program at the at the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Even more cheap, my property taxes at work.

 

[Alan Gage]

I think tonight it will be time to pull The Plague by Albert Camus back off the shelf for another read. It's about a town in Algiers that is put into quarantine in the 1940's because of an outbreak of the bubonic plague. It's not high drama but rather a look at how different people and the town as a whole deal with the threat and isolation. Highly recommended (and not just because of what's currently going on).
https://www.amazon.com/Plague-Alber...amus+the+plague&qid=1584280536&s=books&sr=1-1

And on a more site related note I recently found the book Letters from the Barren Lands, which are letters James Critchell-Bullock wrote during the grueling period he spent with John Hornby over-wintering on the barrenlands in the mid-1920's and then fleeing down the Hanbury and Thelon rivers the following summer. For anyone who has read Unflinching, Snow Man, and The Legend of John Hornby this is a wonderful read. Simply amazing that these letters just popped up, seemingly out of the blue, nearly 100 years after they were written.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/107137897X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Alan

 

[wjmc]

I agree with Alan about "Letters from the Barren Lands". It's a fascinating read for anyone with an interest in the Hornby saga.

The editor, Carsten Iwers, is a veteran Arctic paddler. His website, northof60.de, is well worth a visit for some exceptional photography.

​​​​​​​wjmc

 

[alsg]

Not canoe related, but I'd put in a plug for Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick.

Emerick was hired fresh out of high school by EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London. His first week on the job the Beatles came in to record their first album. Working under George Martin, Emerick quickly rose to become lead engineer on many of the Beatles' albums, including Revolver and Sgt. Pepper and developed many ground-breaking recording techniques. If you are a Beatles fan, this is a fascinating book that will explain how and why those familiar recordings ended up sounding the way they do. I like to read Emerick's description of a recording session and then play the song. You can absolutely hear many of the things Emerick describes -- not only sound textures and effects, but various edits and overdubs. Also a fascinating look at the Beatles as a group and individually. Who knew that George Harrison had so much trouble with so many of his guitar solos that they would literally have to slow down the tape of the backing tracks during overdubs so Harrison could keep up with the slower tempo! At other times, McCartney would have to play the guitar solos for Harrison because, even at half speed, Harrison simply wasn't up to the job!

 

[memaquay]

I'm wondering if anyone has a copy of this https://www.amazon.ca/Country-So-Interesting-Centuries-1670-1870/dp/0773538852
It lists a map i'm really interested in, but I want to know if it is in the book before I order it.

 

[Boreal Birch]

After re-watching the Robert Perkins You Tube Video that Jim Dodds posted some time back, I am re-reading INTO THE GREAT SOLITUDE by Robert Perkins about his trip down the Back River. I read it long ago, enjoyed it then. I found it yesterday the in back of some books on the top shelf of the book case.

 

[Patrick Corry]

The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Stories, Rudyard Kipling. My wife found this book which belonged to her Dad, signed by him and dated 1948. Seven short stories, the best of which is "The Man Who Would Be King".


It was made into a feature film long ago starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine, and was a HIGHLY entertaining film. It's one of my all time favorites movies, along with Dr. Zhivago, The Blue Max, and Shawshank Redemption. If you can find it somehow, it's a good one to watch while we have guilt-free time at home!

 

[Odyssey]

How times have changed. I dropped off at my country mechanic yesterday morning bright and early just in time to see him opening up. I pulled straight in and together we pulled out the summers on their alloys so he could make the seasonal wheel change for me. We kept our respectable distance given these sad times, which was far from the norm of us usually sipping coffee and talking over what's new and what isn't. I told him I'd give him plenty of space for the hour and take myself for a walk. I'd only come back inside to pick up the vehicle and pay. No more lingering these days. No shared pointing and poking under the hood, no leaning on the work bench gossiping about the latest, and no handshakes upon departure. How times have changed.
I grew up in the area so I knew it well. In fact an old school I attended was just up the road, now the Senior's Activity Centre. I'd played ball here, climbed trees there, bicycled along this road and rambled across those fields and through these forests. But this was a new view to me now. Sloping along the road as an aging man trying to listen to the birdsong beyond the creaking of my knees. I heard heron, blackbird and robin...A kilometre down the country road I stood stock-still as a small herd of deer gingerly stepped across from one woodland to the next. The creek was in full flow cresting it's banks and rushing through the tall reeds and washing the feet of maple, ash, and willow. The sun had already risen to just above treetop level and so was spreading a golden light across all creation, myself included. I felt a little reborn standing there trying to remember this landscape of my youth. Had it ever been this beautiful? Where has all this roadside trash come from? Was there always a heron rookery over yonder? Had I really swum in that creek looking so deep? I zipped up my jacket and pulled down my tuque and ambled on thinking about the word Wild. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/201...ind-wilderness

 

[woodswalker]

I am consistently reading mostly nonfiction, just finish "as far as my feet will carry me", by Josef M.Bauer. am half way through "the First World War a complete history" by Martin Gilbert. There are several books that I keep rereading, "Above the Gravel Bar" by Dave Cook that covers the Native canoe routes in Maine. And Coldwells "Roadside Geology of Maine