Friday, October 19, 2012

Good Books

I endorse and will soon cover in detail: Silvio Calabi's The Gun Book for Boys, which may be the best beginner's gun manual ever; David Quammen's Spillover (these will be my first two reviews); Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies (was life at Henry VIII's court any less fraught or terrifying than at Stalin's?) and Birds of Central Asia (a collaboration, from Princeton University Press. Magnus Nillson's Faviken is unique, full of good game and radical advice-- hanging Capercaillie for 30 days, woodcock BEFORE migration, rifles for birds and 22 mags for deer. Not used to seeing trendy Euro cookbooks with ballistic advice...

I hope everybody is already reading Cat and Tom McIntyre and (ahem) me. Coming soon, still in galleys: Gun Guys by Dan Baum, a self- described Boulder liberal with a carry concealed permit, and as far as I can tell a genuine gun nut as well, perceptive and funny and original. Vermont poet, teacher, and bird hunter Sidney Lea has written a new memoir, A North Country Life, also still in galleys, that is even better than his first. Something is coming down the road a bit by iconoclastic wilderness advocate (and self- described New Mexico redneck) Dave Foreman. And with this week the way it is I am SURE I have forgotten something.

6 comments:

Darrell said...

I just received my copy of your An Eternity of Eagles, looking forward to reading it! (Have to finish Barzun's From Dawn To Decadence first)

Steve Bodio said...

That is a good book too-- and wasn't he over 90 when he wrote it?

Darrell said...

He was 92 when the book was published, I think. Dang, he's still alive, 104, 105 next month!

Anonymous said...

I HAVE BEEN WAITING ON SPILLOVER FOR A FEW DAYS.

It sounds good from the review.

The Demon in the Freezer by Preston will chill you, too.

WH

Henry Chappell said...

I'll have to get Sidney Lea's latest. I loved Hunting the Whole Way Home.

Steve Bodio said...

North Country Life is even better. My blurb:

"Mortal beauty, joy touched by melancholy-- Syd Lea's North Country Life reminds me of the bright leaves of autumn. He is a rare combination, a hunter, a man of words, an intentional resident of the enduring real New England. This book, with its tales of hard- won wisdom and evanescent pleasure, is his best."

May wiggle it a bit but there you go...