A Fishing Life Is Hard Work

Rating:
Summary: Art Scheck is wry, insightful, and well worth the read.
Review: Art mirrors life. Fly fishing is a faith, Art says. Its practitioners always favor best story over the most likely story.

"And while we fret over the details of tail and wing profile and thorax color, we cheerfully ignore the big non sequitur: that a fish will look at two different artificial flies and discern differences a diamond grader wouldn't see, and then, twenty seconds later, pass up a real bug to eat a patently bogus one with a curved hung of steel hanging out of its butt and a piece of plastic string tied to its snoot."

Rating:
Summary: Art Scheck is wry, insightful, and well worth the read.
Review: Art mirrors life. Fly fishing is a faith, Art says. Its practitioners always favor best story over the most likely story.

"And while we fret over the details of tail and wing profile and thorax color, we cheerfully ignore the big non sequitur: that a fish will look at two different artificial flies and discern differences a diamond grader wouldn't see, and then, twenty seconds later, pass up a real bug to eat a patently bogus one with a curved hung of steel hanging out of its butt and a piece of plastic string tied to its snoot."

Rating:
Summary: Not your ordinary fishy book!
Review: If you enjoy fishing, this book is a MUST READ. If you enjoy a master storyteller at his best, this book is a MUST READ. Or, if you simply enjoy a good belly laugh or welling up emotionally about a man who totally and unabashedly adores his wife and two daughters, this book is a MUST READ. It is certainly at the top of my list for gift-giving!

I received this book as a gift and, being a total City creature whose idea of a nature walk is a stroll through the Museum of Natural History, my first reaction was "Oh Lord, how am I going to read this?" But, being related to the author by marriage and having spent many long weekends and vacations deep in conversation with Art and knowing his ability to enthrall a room with his stories, I settled down on the subway to start working my way through what I considered an obligation. By the time I had finished the Preface, I was totally and completely hooked! This was no mind-numbing book on how to catch the biggest fish in the pond! True to the worn out cliché, I laughed, I cried. And startled many of my fellow commuters doing so! Granted, some of the stories were personal treasures to me but even if I didn't know the people in this book, they would be as real to me as they are to Art because of the way he described them, and as important. All through this wonderful book I could hear his voice telling these wonderful stories. He truly is a wordsmith of the first caliber and this book will take a very special place of honor on my over-crowded book shelves and I know I will find myself picking it up many times over the years to visit with him when I can't get to South Carolina to be with him in person.

Rating:
Summary: Not your ordinary fishy book!
Review: If you enjoy fishing, this book is a MUST READ. If you enjoy a master storyteller at his best, this book is a MUST READ. Or, if you simply enjoy a good belly laugh or welling up emotionally about a man who totally and unabashedly adores his wife and two daughters, this book is a MUST READ. It is certainly at the top of my list for gift-giving!

I received this book as a gift and, being a total City creature whose idea of a nature walk is a stroll through the Museum of Natural History, my first reaction was "Oh Lord, how am I going to read this?" But, being related to the author by marriage and having spent many long weekends and vacations deep in conversation with Art and knowing his ability to enthrall a room with his stories, I settled down on the subway to start working my way through what I considered an obligation. By the time I had finished the Preface, I was totally and completely hooked! This was no mind-numbing book on how to catch the biggest fish in the pond! True to the worn out cliché, I laughed, I cried. And startled many of my fellow commuters doing so! Granted, some of the stories were personal treasures to me but even if I didn't know the people in this book, they would be as real to me as they are to Art because of the way he described them, and as important. All through this wonderful book I could hear his voice telling these wonderful stories. He truly is a wordsmith of the first caliber and this book will take a very special place of honor on my over-crowded book shelves and I know I will find myself picking it up many times over the years to visit with him when I can't get to South Carolina to be with him in person.