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Another Lousy Day in Paradise and Dances with Trout
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers.
For the first time, two of John Gierach’s most popular fishing books are collected in one volume—a double dose of delight for longtime fans or first-time visitors to Gierach country.
As Gierach astutely observes in Dances with Trout, “Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It’s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.” This observation might also describe Gierach’s writing—catching fish might be the subject, but most of the fun and (mis)adventure comes well before that point. Whether it’s fishing close to home waters (Colorado) or farther afield (Alaska, Scotland, Texas); ice-fishing, tournament fishing, or night fishing; fishing for trout, salmon, carp, splake, or grayling; fishing with familiar companions like A.K. Best or the enigmatic “Zen master among fishing guides”; no detail of the fishing life is too insignificant or too absurd for Gierach.
As he writes in Another Lousy Day in Paradise, “The real truth about fly-fishing is, it is beautiful beyond description in almost every way, and when a certain kind of person is confronted with a certain kind of beauty, they are either saved or ruined for life, or a little bit of both.” So start reading and be saved—or ruined—by Gierach’s wonderful insights into the world around us.
For the first time, two of John Gierach’s most popular fishing books are collected in one volume—a double dose of delight for longtime fans or first-time visitors to Gierach country.
As Gierach astutely observes in Dances with Trout, “Fly-fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with conflicting aesthetic considerations. It’s not even clear if catching fish is actually the point.” This observation might also describe Gierach’s writing—catching fish might be the subject, but most of the fun and (mis)adventure comes well before that point. Whether it’s fishing close to home waters (Colorado) or farther afield (Alaska, Scotland, Texas); ice-fishing, tournament fishing, or night fishing; fishing for trout, salmon, carp, splake, or grayling; fishing with familiar companions like A.K. Best or the enigmatic “Zen master among fishing guides”; no detail of the fishing life is too insignificant or too absurd for Gierach.
As he writes in Another Lousy Day in Paradise, “The real truth about fly-fishing is, it is beautiful beyond description in almost every way, and when a certain kind of person is confronted with a certain kind of beauty, they are either saved or ruined for life, or a little bit of both.” So start reading and be saved—or ruined—by Gierach’s wonderful insights into the world around us.
448 pages, Paperback
First published April 19, 2011
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50 people want to read
About the author
John Gierach
68 books233 followersJohn Gierach was an American author and freelance writer who lived in Larimer County, Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 6, 2013
This was my entre into the world of John Gierach and his motley crew of friends like A.K. Best, Ed Engle and the rest. Smart and lyrical, yet in a simple and droll way. Humorous, yet compelling collection of fly fishing (and related outdoors adventures) tomes by John Gierach that takes the reader from the Rocky Mountains for bass and trout to carp fishing in Montana, and trout fishing in Alaska and Northwest Territories. Honest and down to earth, Gierach presents himself as the kind of guy you'd like to meet on a river and his friends seemed like the very same group of guys I go on adventures with - just older, wiser, and still just as crazy. Loved every minute of it.
November 10, 2013
A nice set of essays if you like to fling some fly line; Gierach only grates on you once in a great while.
Favorite quotes:
“The thing about fishing is, at about the point where it begins to take over your life, it becomes a search for quality, not so much from the spoiled or vain delusion that you deserve it, but because, just this once, it seems like it would be fun to learn for yourself what quality is, instead of accepting someone else’s definition of it.”
“Basically, everything works out well in the end if you just fish enough.”
“Real generosity isn’t always obvious.”
Favorite quotes:
“The thing about fishing is, at about the point where it begins to take over your life, it becomes a search for quality, not so much from the spoiled or vain delusion that you deserve it, but because, just this once, it seems like it would be fun to learn for yourself what quality is, instead of accepting someone else’s definition of it.”
“Basically, everything works out well in the end if you just fish enough.”
“Real generosity isn’t always obvious.”
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews