What are you reading?

[MyKneesHurt]

Two great ones recently:
Floating Coast, by Bathsheba Demuth - a more-or-less recent economic/ecological history of the Bering Strait
As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh, the edited journals of Susan Sontag

 

[Paddlinhal]

I have 3 going concurrently:
1. Tundra, by Farley Mowat (paperback)
2. Poseidon Adventure, Paul Gallico (Libby books)
3. Pirate King, by Laurie R King (Kindle)

 

[JohnSand]

Canoe Sailing and Skinny Hull Sailing Magazines, Selected Articles.
Really enjoying this. Also reading Ten Hours Until Dawn. I like that kind of stuff, and this has a connection for me as I served on one of the cutters involved and later with the engineer from the rescue boat.

 

[Dale]

Cry Wolf by Harold Johnson and The Tiger by John Vaillant are a couple that I have recently read and recommend.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Just finished Harold Iniss' Peter Pond biography. A Connecticut yankee who cut his teeth in the French and Indian wars, turned to the fur trade, and was a cofounder of the North West Company. Innis transcribed his journal which he composed later in life with the original spelling. It turns out he was quite an anarchist when it came to orthography - hilarious read. Innis also includes long passages in French that were, unfortunately, wasted on me. Pond produced some maps centering on Athabasca that were of great value at the time.





The maps of Peter Pond

Free download

 

[UCanoe_2]

For the second time, Tim Severin's The Brendan Voyage: Across the Atlantic in a Leather Boat. The author and his companions recreate the 6th Century travels of St. Brendan the Navigator, in a boat made of oxhides sewed together over a wooden framework. They successfully sail from Ireland to the Hebrides, the Faeroes, Iceland, and Newfoundland, proving that St. Brendan could indeed have traveled to North America as related in old texts and oral history.

A companion to How the Irish Saved Civilization.

 

[UCanoe_2]

Gosh, did everybody stop reading after Christmas????

I learned about this book from a reference in Garrett Conover's Beyond the Paddle. I wrote a review for our canoe club newsletter.

ElliottMerrick, True North,
NewYork: C. Scribner's Sons (1933)
Reprinted by University of Nebraska Press (1989)

read online with a free account from archive.org:​

https://archive.org/details/truenorth0000merr/mode/2up

After graduating from college, Elliott Merrick joined the legion of “sad young men” embarking on careers in business. He soon found the pursuit of money meaningless, and the city environment oppressive.

Seeking a new life, Elliott took a job as a schoolteacher at a mission outpost in Labrador. There he met and married Kay, a nurse at the facility.

Elliott and Kay ventured out with a party of fur trappers for a fall season in the backcountry. They made their way up the Grand River via pole,paddle, and portage. The most arduous carry on the route, modestly named “The Big Hill,” rose 700 feet in a quarter mile. Beyond this point, values changed: “A pound of tea is worth more than a diamond ring and ten pounds of flour is worth more than twenty pounds of gold.”

Life in the bush was fraught with hazards. Far from any hospital, both Elliott and Kay sustained axe wounds while cutting firewood. Elliott accidentally shot himself in the leg with a .22 pistol. Loss of a mitten or an axe could have disastrous consequences, and a fall into freezing slush could lead to fatal entrapment.

Throughout the book, Elliott's appreciation of the skills, stoicism, and community spirit of the trappers is evident. He has particular admiration for the families with children who live in isolated cabins in remote corners of the bush.

True North is only partly about canoeing. After all, through most of the book the rivers and lakes are frozen, and transportation depends on snowshoes. But True North is not just a first rate adventure tale. It is a snapshot of traditional life in the Far North before the invasion of snowmobiles and airplanes. More than that, the book tells the story of one man's search for closeness to nature, an authentic community, and a meaningful life.

​

 

[SouthernKevlar]

A couple of weeks ago while perusing the stacks at the local Public Library, I ran across a copy of "The Survival of the Bark Canoe" by John McPhee, a story about Vaillancourt's trip in bark canoes, following routes closely following those taken by Thoreau. through the wilds of Maine. It also contained a series of sketches by Edwin Tappan Adney on the building of birch bark canoes and sketches of the canoes used by various tribes in the mid 1800's.
An interesting find in this area of the South were canoeing is not a big thing.

 

[smallworks]

Not canoeing or water related; read November 1942 by Peter Englund and am continuing with The Beauty and the Sorrow about WW1. November 1942 is a fascinating account of the turn of the tide for the allies during that time period, told though diaries and first person accounts from people around the world.
Have recommendations though about books that are more suited to this forum. But since you asked-!

 

[Bob B.]

The twenty-ninth Day, by Alex Messenger.

A true account of Alex ( 17 years old ) and his 5 buddies on a 600 mile canoe trip through the Tundra. On the 29th day of the trip Alex gets attacked by a Grizzly. He has to survive with the help of his buddies long enough to reach a remote village deep in the Canadian bush.

 

[smallworks]

A couple of weeks ago while perusing the stacks at the local Public Library, I ran across a copy of "The Survival of the Bark Canoe" by John McPhee, a story about Vaillancourt's trip in bark canoes, following routes closely following those taken by Thoreau. through the wilds of Maine. It also contained a series of sketches by Edwin Tappan Adney on the building of birch bark canoes and sketches of the canoes used by various tribes in the mid 1800's.
An interesting find in this area of the South were canoeing is not a big thing.

Loved this

 

[ppine]

"Fire" by Stephen Pyne. The story of prescribed fire world wide and its use for agriculture and forestry.

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Shelby Foote’s Civil War series. Beautifully written for nonfiction.

Bob

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

I'm reading Adam Shoalts A History of Canada in Ten Maps, Epic Stories of Charting a Mysterious Land. Only two maps into the book and enjoying every page.

A History Of Canada in Ten Maps by Adam Shoalts. Mostly about historic map making. Enjoyable if your into that kind of thing.

Bob

Very enjoyable and educational read. This one didn't linger on my bedside table for weeks.

 

[gadabyte]

nearing the end of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. next on the list will either be James by Percival Everett or Soldiers and Kings by Jason DeLeon.

 

[jdeerfoot]

In case this hasn’t been mentioned before: The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology & the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life by Johan Eklof.

 

[Black_Fly]

I just finished a book that was just ok. I kept waiting for something to happen, but meh….

Despite several books on my kindle, nothing looks good. Any new good reads in your library? I prefer fiction, history, dystopian stories (not zombies).

Thanks,
Tony

 

[Jmharrick]

I just finished a book that was just ok. I kept waiting for something to happen, but meh….

Despite several books on my kindle, nothing looks good. Any new good reads in your library? I prefer fiction, history, dystopian stories (not zombies).

Thanks,
Tony

Have you read “The Century Trilogy” by Ken Follett? The stories follow 5 fictional international families through the major historical events (primarily wars) of the 20th century. Based on your preferences if you haven’t already read them, I’m sure you would enjoy.

 

[UCanoe_2]

Sian Rees, The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an Eighteenth-Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts

The story of the first female convicts who were transported from England to Australia. Only a buck at my favorite thrift store -- how could I resist?

 

[Alan Gage]

Have you checked the "What are you reading?" thread?

There are about 20 pages of suggestions.

Alan