Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders : A John Gierach Fly-Fishing Treasury | 
| Author: John Gierach
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy Used: $2.10
You Save: $12.90 (86%)
New (30) Used (39) from $2.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 231824
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.6 x 1
ISBN: 0684868598
Dewey Decimal Number: 799
EAN: 9780684868592
ASIN: 0684868598
Publication Date: June 5, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
There are two things no dedicated fly-fisher can really have enough of: a decent selection of flies on the stream and a decent selection of John Gierach off of it. Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders should go a good way toward satisfying the latter. In this "greatest hits" of essays culled from Gierach's previous collections, the genial wit and astute observer behind Another Lousy Day in Paradise, Dances with Trout, and Trout Bum reels in 40 of his favorite keepers. Considering the quality of Gierach's writing, calling Headwaters a "treasury" is no fish tale at all. Reading Leaky Waders is like recalling some memorably productive afternoons on the stream with an old fishing buddy. Writing about his sport and his adventures, Gierach is naturally writing about much more: "I've always tried to figure out what a story is about," he'll admit readily. "It's something other than the fishing but that wouldn't have come up without the fishing." As in "The Purist," an essay from The View from Rat Lake: it's vintage Gierach, an excuse to use fishing to open a window onto human nature. "What is it about fly-fishing," he asks, that attracts ... those people who must engineer a corner of their lives--sometimes a pretty large corner--where things have to be done properly? I'm not sure I know, but whatever it is, it's why the sport can be used to define the very existence of the practitioner. From there, he connects, with deft precision, the seemingly diverse strands of his own experience as a plumber's helper, a fire on the Cuyahoga River, Zen, a little fishing history, a brief meditation on the dry fly, B.B. King, such noted anglers as G.E.M. Skues and Gierach's own great fishing accomplice A.K. Best, Idaho's Three Rivers Ranch on the Henry's Fork, and a graceful dismissal of snootiness and pretension. It's a skillful performance. Before you're finished with Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders, you'll find 39 more that are just as good. --Jeff Silverman
Product Description
Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders collects forty of John Gierach's finest essays on fishing from six of his books. Like all his writing, these essays are seasoned by a keen sense of observation and a deep knowledge and love of fishing lore, leavened by a wonderfully wry sense of humor. Gierach often begins with an observation that soon leads to something below the surface, which he finds and successfully lands. As Gierach says, writing is a lot like fishing.This is the first anthology of John Gierach's work, a collection that is sure to delight both die-hard fans and new readers alike. To enter Gierach's world is to experience the daily wonder, challenge, and occasional absurdity of the fishing life -- from such rituals as the preparation of camp coffee (for best results, serve in a tin cup) to the random, revelatory surprises, such as the flashing beauty of a grayling leaping out of the water. Whether he's catching fish or musing on the ones that got away, Gierach is always entertaining and enlightening, writing with his own inimitable blend of grace and style, passion and wit.
Download Description
His fans don't need to be told, because it has already happened to them. All it really takes is a few paragraphs. Open up any one of John Gierach's perennially popular fishing tales, and just like that, it's all over. He's got you -- hook, line, and sinker. Sports Illustrated got it right with this comparison: "If Mark Twain were alive and a modern-day fly fisherman, he still would be hard put to top John Gierach in the one-liner department". The Richmond Times-Dispatch speaks for countless readers in calling Gierach "as funny, sad, irreverent, and wise as they come", and fisherman-writer-publisher Nick Lyons calls Gierach's writing "as human and witty and memorable and perceptive as any prose of its kind".With Headwaters, which arrives just in time for Father's Day, the author selects and introduces forty of his personal favorites from bestsellers past, including such classics as "Camp Coffee" and "On the Road" from Trout Bum, "The Purist" and "In Camp" from The View from Rat Lake, as well as "Montana" and the title essay from Even Brook Trout Get the Blues. As passionate as it is effortlessly hip, Headwaters is the ideal introduction for a new legion of Gierach fans, and a perfect catch for Gierach's already devoted readers.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Great Outdoor Book April 9, 2008
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders
Time, little pieces of forever crumbling into tomorrow, so fleeting so fast, so damn close to April 15th and tax day. I received a letter from the IRS, and after a big breath, and popping a fresh load of buckshot into the old 12 gauge, I decided to read it. Appears the government is giving me $600 of my own money back in order to stimulate the economy. They could have saved a stamp and given me $600.41 cents back, or better yet, left it in my pocket. I would have tickled the economy by buying food, books, and of course, fishing gear. Yep, the first true sign of spring isn't robins or dandelions or even April showers, but that first tug at the end of a fishing line. The first day of trout season is always about more than the fish, and no one knows that better than outdoor writer John Gierach.
John Gierach is a free-lance writer and author of several fly-fishing themed books with titles such as Still Life With Brook Trout; Sex, Death and Fly-Fishing; and the cult classic, Trout Bum. His work has appeared in Gray's Sporting Journal, Field & Stream and Fly, Rod and Reel. His writing is not purely instructional, though there's plenty of useful information, nor merely adventurous, though he travels from the Arctic to Scotland to the Rockies, and it's not the purist philosophy of an elite fly fisherman, though there's a witty thinker with a wry sense of humor wearing that patched-up pair of waders. What he does manage to do is explain the peculiarities of the fishing life in a way that will amuse novices and seasoned fly fishers alike.
Death, Taxes and Leaky Waders collects forty of John Gierach's finest essays on fishing from six of his earlier books. Gierach is perhaps one of the most entertaining outdoor writers working today. Like all his writing, these essays are about more than fishing, but about nature, friendship, and observations of life. Gierach often begins with a keen observation that soon leads to something below the surface, which he coaxes out, and successfully lands. As Gierach says, "Writing is a lot like fishing."
Writing is a lot like fishing. Both take patience, persistence, lots of time, an appreciation of the process, and both are harder than they appear. This anthology of Gierach's work is sure to comfort the angler who stands in a cold river for hours and brings home nothing to show for it. As any fisherman knows, there's more to fishing than the fish, and like any good writing, this collection of essays is about more the preparation of camp coffee or catching arctic graylings, but ultimately about life, death and of course, fly fishing...
If you love this book, check out "Of A Predatory Heart" by Joe Parry and "Of Woods and Wild Things" by Don Knauss
Fish or cut bait? Trout or Bass? Drop me an email at frommyshelf@epix.net Trolling for past columns? Cast your line at www.frommyshelf.blogspot.com Be sure to catch "Hobo Finds A Home" a children's book about a cat who wanted more out of life than to be a barn cat. This column approved by the committee to elect Hobo for President
To bad only 5 stars available May 17, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is one of the best books I've ever read. John's insights into flyfishing and it's connection with day-to-day life are phenominal. I'm ready to buy a camper, quit work and spend the rest of my days cruising fron stream to stream.
Funny and Educational -- What a Book! December 10, 2001
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
John is one funny guy. And he knows the outdoors. His cast of characters make reading this series of short stories about fishing, camping, and life outdoors a real pleasure. I only hope his other books are as enjoyable as this one.
Makes me want to load the truck and hit the open road! May 31, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I always page to John Gierach's column first when the Fly Rod and Reel magazine shows up in the mail box. This was a wonderful read for a flyfisherman in Minnesota in the winter. The thoughts this book brought forth kept me going through the long (too cold to fish) winter.
Quaint it ain't September 22, 2000
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
John's writing is in one of those styles you look forward to crummy weather so you can justify sitting down and getting a kick out of his antics. To do otherwise, well heck, you'd feel like he'd wag a finger at you and ask, "Why the hell aren't you fishing you dolt!? See that hatch? See that rise? Drop my book and tie into those beautiful little torpedos!"The stories are marvelous. John's fishing and hunting partners are a hoot. And I can't help but think that there's some cryptic means of deciphering his secret fishing spots by selecting every third letter of every ninth word of every other paragraph... or something like that. The illustrations are GREAT! Hope I can find a garage sale edition of the book so I can demolish it for the pictures. John, great job and hope your St. Vrain is chugging along for you. GB in Tulsa
|
|
|
