Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and In the Rain

by Riverhorse Nakadate

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 16, 2026

Reviews

[Laura Simmons]

Though I don't understand a lot about fishing, Riverhorse's love for nature and fly-fishing is ever apparent. The illustrations are stunning as well.

[Summer Sayre]

I went into this book not knowing what to expect, but I requested it because I wanted something a bit different from my usual read. Work has been stressful lately, so I thought perhaps a book about nature would be good for me.

This book did not disappoint! It was different, and I loved the short little vignettes about nature. Some of them were funny, and others just had a nice little story within. It made me think, and I wound up wondering what the audiobook would be like - if there is one, I hope the author reads it so the reader can really hear the meaning behind these little stories.

It was also very refreshing to read small bits instead of being bogged down by large chapters and getting stuck. It was light and easy to read, and it left me wanting to go experience nature in my own backyard and beyond, just to see what I'd notice along the way. My dad is an avid fly fisher, so this made me reminisce on when he'd take me fishing as a child.

Thank you to NetGalley and Patagonia for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Stephanie]

Thank you to NetGalley and Patagonia for this amazing piece of art.

Amazing, mesmerizing, raw, beautiful!
There just are not the right words to explain how deeply this collection of stories touched me. I live in the state where the author currently lives and where many of the stories take place, I am familiar with many of the places he describes in this book. I don't fly fish, but I did fish quite a bit with my father in my youth which was so very long ago, this book transported me to the rivers I have canoed, fished, swam, walked along. Mountains I have driven, hiked and camped in. I took a while to gather my thoughts on this book and still I find it hard to describe how this book can transport you in such short a short story to the vast places the author so lovingly describes. The stories are so full of emotion, descriptions, longing, healing, activism, finality that you can't help but to escape in to the authors vision.
I will be buying the physical copy and the audio book and do an immersive read with this wonderful book!

[leireads]

Disappointing. It is trying to sell itself as a work similar to those by Mary Oliver or Edward Albee, but fails to provide anything remotely innovative or thought provoking. Honestly, it kind of reads as a satire, if not for the fact that the book takes itself painfully seriously. I didn’t doubt the authors love for nature at any point but his portrayal of a nature-lover felt like an unfunny caricature of an immature man who acts like the simplest thoughts are actually groundbreaking. Also, he is not a particularly skilled writer. It is written in a sort of informal register but without any of the closeness associated with it. I couldn’t really immerse myself in the landscapes he was describing, which is something that he supposedly set out to do. Having said that I do have to applaud his advocacy for the environment and conservation.

Overall, wouldn’t recommend this unless you are already familiar with the places depicted and able to handle a couple hundred pages of pseudo-deep reflections. I forgot to mention it previously but the illustrations are gorgeous, I have to give them that.

[Anna]

Reading this book felt like agreeing to go on an adventure with a friend of a friend with only a vague idea of what you'd agreed to and having a great time in spite of yourself. I'm not a fly fisher, so some of the descriptions of equipment used and techniques got a little repetitive. That said, the author's love of nature, fish, and his fellow humans was infectious, and the landscape descriptions made me want to hop in a canoe immediately.

[Dan]

The most refreshing, comical, soul warming collection of work I’ve read in a long while. Thank you, Riverhorse. Safe travels.

[Jacob Wallace]

Beautiful, evocative testament to the value of living experientially, the love we seek between and within ourselves, and the wonders all around us.

[Luke Kemmerling]

Absolute banger for the genre. A slice of life for folks with a sense of adventure who love to eat, fish, love, explore, risk, and feel. Powerful and inspiring. Hope to see more from Riverhorse.