What are you reading?

[yellowcanoe]

A must for any Maine canoeist..(and its taken me so long to find and read it..doh)
A book titled Maine Voices: A Celebration of the People of Maine and the Places They Love.
I found it at the library.
Now I have to go past Eustis to the Chain of Ponds. Not a big trip but a couple of days might be pretty. Or a nice change from nearby Flagstaff Lake.

 

[Robin]

"Daylight in the Swamp" by Selwyn Dewdney; mostly an autobiography of his early years growing up in the Kenora area, where he formed his love and appreciation for the boreal landscape.

I just finished this book, excellent read, I really enjoyed it. Thanks Brad.

 

[Seeker]

Wife and daughter just gave me "A Look at Life from a Deer Stand" by Steve Chapman. Awesome so far.

 

[DuctTape]

I recently finished reading "Adirondack Adventures: Bob Gillespie and Harve Dunham on French Louies Trail"

 

[Guest]

I last read “Company of Adventurers” and “Caesars of the Wilderness” ten years ago, and it’s time I picked them up again. These are two volumes of Hudson Bay Company history. The author Peter C. Newman shows his exhaustive research in these books, and manages to take the reader into the everyday lives of trapper and trader, factor and politician, Scotsman and native. The HBC kept meticulous records, and started collecting everything related to the company’s history in 1920. The HBC donated this huge archive in 1994 to the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. A visit there will show you bales of furs, a life size replica of the HBC ship The Nonsuch, trade goods, personal items, and much more. Having read these books led me to visit this incredible collection a few years ago. If you’re interested in the fur trade, the collection at this museum is worth the detour. These books are not light reading, but do give an incredible view into the European expansion across what we now call Canada. This colonial corporate invasion changed history for the good, and the bad.

 

[Robin]

Thanks again for the information Brad, I will start a search for them in the near future and hopefully have some interesting reading around the wood stove next winter. I enjoy HBC and native history, and all the history, good or bad, sounds like some interesting books.

 

[Guest]

Of the three book selection I keep on the bedside table I’m currently reading “The Measure of Manhattan”

http://www.amazon.com/Measure-Manha...3502&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Measure+of+Manhattan

Any map or history lover would enjoy it immensely, and anyone with a bit of background in surveying would be enthralled.

I’ve been on a “map book” kick lately. Also recommended, “The Island of Lost Maps”

http://www.amazon.com/Island-Lost-M...33645&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Island+of+Lost+maps

Or, for a more trivial fun and rollicking ride, Ken Jennings “Maphead”

http://www.amazon.com/Maphead-Chart...69933715&sr=1-1&keywords=maphead+ken+jennings

Anyone else go off on reading tangents? Polar exploration, the Amazon, whaling….I went through a North Korea phase recently in the typical I-read-one, now-I-want-to-know-more gambit.

One continuing area of fascination is the Pacific theatre in WWII; my father and uncles all served there, flying the Hump, foot slogging through Burma, brewing beer in the stacks of a destroyer escort or staying on in China until ’49.

 

[memaquay]

In Daylight in the Swamp, Dewdney gives one of the best descriptions ever of the full range of biting bugs. I'm gonna print it off for my high school kids before we strike out in a couple of weeks.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I have to sneak my book-reading in bits and pieces. Lately, I've been going through classics - because I'm cheap and I can get them for little or nothing in digital form. Finished a collection of Sherlock Holmes stuff recently, and now slogging through some Edgar Rice Burroughs (just to say I did, I guess). Pretty light reading, all that. Probably get into some Rudyard Kipling next...

 

[Seeker]

Just finished the Belgariad fantasy series (David Eddings).

 

[Guest]

"A pirate of an exquisite mind" is an absolutely absorbing read. It's a biography of an 18th century buccaneer who was cartographer, naturalist , explorer and privateer all rolled into one man. I couldn't put this book down until I'd read it cover to cover.
http://www.amazon.com/Pirate-Exquis...70055643&sr=8-1&keywords=of+an+exquisite+mind

 

[Guest]

BIRCHBARK BELLES: Women on the Michigan Frontier. Edited by Larry B. Massie It's a collection of narratives by women of various backgrounds, from touring literati to homesteaders, who saw the place during the first half of the 1800s. Unlike the experience when the frontier was east of the Appalachians, getting to the brink was relative easy by water and later by rail. So a few, like many of these women, went out for a look. And because of the good access there were also sizable settlements and even a city or two on the frontier. No matter. "That over there is where the bush begins." about sums up the view. The people, the times, the incidents and the attitudes are all here. C. found it for me as we browsed a used book store - on the South Shore of Lake Michigan. Canoes are mentioned, but only casually. It's my night table read, and I'm half through. Absorbing.

 

[Guest]

http://www.amazon.com/Of-Courage-Undaunted-James-Daugherty/dp/1893103021

great book on lewis and clark

 

[Seeker]

Wow, time flies. Recent reads:

-The Mallorean series (sequel to the Belgariad) (David Eddings) (just common 'good vs evil' fantasy genre.)
-The Starfish and the Spider, the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom) (I got it for work/counter-terrorism stuff, but it applies to business as well, especially internet piracy).
-The Forest (Stewart Edward White)
-Camp and Trail (Stewart Edward White)
-The Archer's Tale (historical fiction by Bernard Cornwell)

 

[Guest]

"Voyage of a Summer Sun-Canoeing the Columbia River," by Robin Cody. Wonderfully written book, both entertaining and thought-provoking. Cody addresses the history of the region and connects with many locals. He also very intelligently addresses the issues of the dams and the plight of the salmon, as well as the Hanford nuclear site fiasco, which is still in the news today. Highly recommended!

 

[sweeper]

I'm trying to read "The Fort" byBernard Cornwell, but the world Series and fall chores are limiting my reading time. It a historical novel about a British fort that was build at the mouth of the Penobscot River, (in Maine) and the Colonial force that was sent to remove it that lead to the greatest US Naval defeat until Pearl Harbor.

 

[red langford]

just finished Beyond Survival by G. Wm. Gotro. The book is based on a true story and describes a story of survival in the north woods of Ontario from freeze up to the following summer with next to no equipment.

An archeologist hires a bush pilot to take her to an abandon native village. One of the descendants of the residents of the village tags along to ensure she does not remove anything that she shouldn't. When it comes time to leave the plane crashes during take off causing them to lose all of their gear in the freezing waters of Crystal Lake. One has a broken ankle, another a broken shoulder and they must prepare for the event that nobody comes to rescue them.
They hunker down for the winter and in the spring manufacture a canoe using their crude tools and begin the long long paddle out f the wilderness. Misadventures ensue and the harrowing tale unfolds with the most fortunate rescue. The book goes on after this to talk about the EXTREME good fortunes of the trio.

Not a terribly well written book but the story of their living in the wilds with little or no tools was very interesting for me.

 

[Guest]

I loved The Tent Dwellers about a canoe adventure into Nova Scotia at he turn of the century. The writer, Albert Bigelow Paine, was Mark Twain's friend and biographer. He writes beautifully, is self deprecating and hilariously honest about his difficulties.



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tent_Dwellers
The Tent Dwellers is a book by Albert Bigelow Paine, chronicling his travels through inland Nova Scotia on a trout fishing trip with Dr. Edward "Eddie" Breck, and ...
‎Summary - ‎Gear in The Tent Dwellers - ‎Ecology in The Tent Dwellers - ‎References

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

What are you reading?

Wow, everyone here reports reading books about canoeing, camping or the outdoors!

I must be a mutant. I have read books (and now the web) almost every day of my life since the fourth grade, and in all that time I've probably read only 30 or 40 books on those subjects. None recently.

Science fiction was my traditional favorite. For the past several years I have been reading mysteries, thrillers and spy novels with recurring main characters. Those are what I take on canoe trips. I also read one of my many bibles a little bit on most days.

Then, of course, there are the mandatory paddling and women's basketball forums every day, as well as science and theology blogs and websites.

I have no time to work because of all this reading. Thank goodness Big Brother/Big Nanny Government will take care of all my economic and personal needs. I read that somewhere.

 

[Sturgeon]

In the Footsteps of the Group of Seven.

Saw this couple speak at the Kitchener-Waterloo Canoe Symposium last April. They found locations where famous Canadian artists painted their works, and photographed the view, in a kind of " then and now" format. Very interesting so far. Many of the sites are accessible only by canoe, as some members of the Group of Seven travelled this way, and the locations of many sites are in Killarney provincial park, and in the Algoma area north of Sault-Ste-Marie.

http://www.amazon.ca/Footsteps-Group-Seven-Jim-Waddington/dp/0864929080

I bought this as a Christmas present, so I'm perusing it with clean hands, taking care not to crack the spine or dogear any pages, but I might keep it for myself, hehe...