Posts from the “Lit” Category

Bloggers With Book Deals

Posted on November 21st, 2008

A guide in Alaska named Miles Nolte posts accounts from his life on the river into a thread on The Drake Magazine forums. The thread gets a following. One of the readers starts a publishing company. He signs up Nolte to write a book based on his thread: The AK Chronicles Start a blog or thread or something and you never know. Look what happened to the guy who did Stuff White People Like.

Writing I Like: William Stafford

Posted on August 21st, 2008

Start with the premise that I can’t stand reading anything that follows anywhere along the lines of, “I saw the glistening stippled beauty of its form inhale my meagerly tied offering, and the line went taught, and for a few brief moments the rainbow and I, our souls merged into one…” Right. (If that’s your thing, sorry man, no offense.) In contrast, here’s some great stuff (according to me at least) from William Stafford: Traveling through the Dark Traveling through the dark I found a deer dead on the edge of the Wilson River road. It is usually best to roll them into the canyon: that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead. By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of…

BOOKS: Men’s Lives

Posted on July 25th, 2008

Reading Peter Matthiessen’s book from 1986 on the lost way of life of Long Island’s south shore surfmen and baymen. I’m a huge fan of Matthiessen’s trilogy of historical novels on frontier Florida, particularly Killing Mr. Watson and Bone by Bone. This book is so far a great read about a culture now buried under glitterati and horrible traffic every summer.

Have My Gierach Book

Posted on July 16th, 2008

Tell me who said this, who he said it to, and when and I’ll send you my hardcover review copy. First correct gets it done.* You’re not an idiot. Huh! You’re not a goddamn looney now, boy. You’re a fisherman! *Last time I did this someone answered in about 30 seconds, so I’m not trying to generate traffic or anything, just giving someone a book.

QUOTES: More From Gladesmen

Posted on July 15th, 2008

Here’s another quote from Gladesmen, the book I just finished reading: “When a road is built to replace a trail, the woods are not the same anymore. It’s all over, folks.”

Fishing with Dynamite

Posted on July 8th, 2008

Reading a book called Gladesmen: Gator Hunters, Moonshiners, and Skiffers, about the pre-park Everglades in the 1920s and 30′s. It’s a colorful read, with firsthand narrative like this: Well back in the ’20s and ’30s, dynamiting fish was quite common, although it was illegal then too. But you could buy dynamite then over the counter at the Horn Hardware and Lumber Company. Even kids could buy dynamite. And, you know, we lived right next to a big magazine of dynamite. Wasn’t over two or three hundred yards from us. If that thing had gone off, it would have blowed us slap into that Long Glade. When fishing with dynamite, the older men would usually gather up us yearling boys and head to a canal…

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