THE BRIGHT COUNTRY is a heartbreakingly beautiful, sad, hilarious, touching book that flows and burbles along like a favorite trout stream. I've probably bought 6-8 copies of the book over the years and loaned, given or otherwise forced it upon at least twice that number of people. It's not a perfect novel, but is easily the most honest look I've ever encountered into the heart of a guy I wish I'd had the opportunity to know. There's more than a little bit of trout fishing, but this is a book that hooks non-anglers as well.

I can't write Harry Middleton to tell him how much I admire his writing, or how much his stories and themes resonate in me. He died not long ago. And if I may quote Russell Chatham, "It hurts to know that Harry Middleton rode the back of a garbage truck every night during the wee hours to put groceries on his family's table." It's true. It's part of this story.

This is the moving, affecting story of Middleton's struggle with depression, his mother's death of brain cancer, and, most memorably, a blind trout on the South Fork of the Platte River. Like all of Middleton's books, the language is wonderful and the characters are memorable. Perhaps more so than most, this book is Middleton laying his soul bare, telling a story as it happened, cutting close to the bone.

And if flyfishing isn't the whole story here, it is part of the path to redemption.

Harry, we hardly knew you, and I wish there had been more time, and more books. But you will live on for me and for those readers who discover you. Ollie ollie oxen free.

If you are looking for a how to book on woodcock and grouse hunting look elsewhere. Valdene spends a great deal of time painting a picture with very fine brush strokes. As you read you will smell the smells, feel the ground under foot and see the enviroment as it really is. This is not a book about hunting as much as it is a book about appreciating something. I have read it several times (it is an easy read) and I am sure I will read it again and again. There are technical aspects to the book. When you are finished you will know pretty much all there is to know about woodcock. From the singing grounds in March through migration in the late fall. You will definatly have an appreciation for this simple little bird.

If you have/now, or hope to live in 'their' flight path ... enjoy this lovely book.

The reicpes, the family stories, the insights are profound!

We're in Lakeville, Maine ... And the stories are like home spun ... Enjoy!

The best collection of writing about the West I have ever read!

I have read, re-read, and re-read Grass Fires. It is one of the few short-story collections where I have savored every sentence. Each story captures you from the first paragraph, drawing you deeper and deeper into each character as Dan Gerber peels away the layers. The descriptions are crisp and unique. Dan Gerber, I am sorry to say, is one of America's best kept secrets.

P.S. Grass Fires is currently out of print, but well worth the search. And, no, I will not sell my copy!

Well, you won't want them in your backyard if you're raising cattle. This story about the Ninemile wolf pack in northwestern Montana is a fascinating account of a wolf reintroduction program, and it deals with the complexity of the situation thoroughly and compassionately. Bass makes no secret of his own opinions--he wants wolves to make a comeback in the lower 48--but he discusses the concerns of the ranchers and all parties involved in a professional, fair manner. I learned more about wolves from reading this book than from any other source, and it helped me to clear up many of my own misconceptions about these canines. Bass very cleverly shows us the human side of the wolf reintroduction issue, the often predictable pattern of what happens when you put wolves and people together. And it helped me to think about wolves in a new way--if there's an antonym for anthropomorphism, Bass's writing is it. And like all of Bass's other books, this one displays his uncanny economy with words. If you think that all nonfiction writing should be devoid of passion or color, this isn't the book for you. But if you love wolves, you'll love this book.

I know taste in art is an individual thing, but these are absolutely wonderful paintings! No knowledge of fancy theories is necessary to understand these landscapes, they just ARE. Using muted (some would say murky) colors, Chatham's work is filled with mystery and wonder, love of the earth, and a luminous atmosphere. You can see the stillness in these paintings... They are full of spirituality and tragic beauty. Chatham's essay on his life is insightful and inspiring. I only wish some examples of artwork by his grandfather, Gottatdo Piazzoni, had been included, since that was the inspiration for Chatham's work. I have a lot of art books, this is the most inspirational. And it has become better over the years! It is not a "how to" book, but a retrospective of this artist's work over the last 30 years.

Sacred Trusts: Essays On Stewardship And Responsibility is an impressive anthology showcasing thirty new essays by environmental issues and nature writers ranging from Wendell Berry, Mary Catherine Bateson, and Frederick Turner, to Gary Paul Nabhan, Joan Wulff, and Bill McKibben. The contributors discuss their diverse experiences and attitudes as caretakers of the natural world and include a range of perspectives not commonly found in most collections of environmental commentary. The compelling, entertaining, informative, and occasionally challenging essays are enhanced for the reader with superb illustrations drawn by Russell Chatham. A balanced mix of personal reflection, finely crafted nature writing, and passionate appeals for conservation, Sacred Trusts is a welcome, timely, and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library environmental studies collections and reading lists.

Rick Bass does it again! This book, as much a character desription of grizzly expert Doug Peacock as it is a search for supposedly extinct grizzly bears in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, is a great triumph. The story is compelling, the language is beautiful, and the search itself is important. Truly, our attitude toward grizzly bears must be a direct reflection of our attitude toward ourselves. Although sometimes Bass gets a little heavy-handed with his metaphors--we probably could figure out that Doug Peacock has many grizzly-like traits without his coming out and telling us--his plea for the protection and defense of grizzlies is compelling, believeable, and genuine. A wonderful read.

Lost Grizzlies is a superb read! Rick Bass is fast becoming (may already be) our premier writer of the american wilderness. Bass' descriptions of the books characters and the wilds of the San Juan Mountains of Colorado are vivid. I enjoyed Bass' descriptions of Doug Peacock's brilliance and brutishness. I enjoyed reading ABOUT Peacock almost as much as I enjoyed reading Peacock's book (Grizzly Years).

As Rick Bass and Doug Peacock go high and deep into Colorado's San Juan Mountains, on the chance there might still be grizzlies somehow surviving there, we are treated to glimpses of unspeakable beauty and wonder. It's as though Bass were able to blend his own Ninemile Wolves with Peacock's Grizzly Years. Their journey is both exhilerating and meditative. Reading this book was a pleasure.

This book has it all. It's funny, touching, beautifully written, easy to read, contains life lessons - what more could you want? And I don't even fly fish!!! Buy it, read it, keep it, re-read it. I first read it years ago, and keep buying copies as gifts.

I didn't know anything about this book before ordering. It came up as a suggestion on my Amazon account as a result of my buying several other flyfishing related books. This book is extremely well written in a descriptive, intelligent manner. Even if you have never fly fished in your life, the narrative is inviting, contemplative, warm, intelligent and heart warming. I read alot. This book is high on my list of all time for best book ever read. I encourage you to experience the pleasure and tears this book produces...

I've read a good number of books that deal with the subject of fly-fishing, streams, trout and country living, but I've never read one that makes me see the images of my home; home stream; home woods; home folk, quite the way Middleton does; he is superb.

Middleton's pen works just like the streams and life he writes about; it wanders, meanders, gurgles, sprits, colors and calls: beckons you to come along - regardless of whether you see where you're going or not. You will gladly follow and are generously rewareded for your efforts. Middleton is such an artist in delivery, that one must be patient in order to see the full palette of his work. It is well worth the wait.

The captivation experienced within the color and tale found in Middleton's work, is only the lure for the more meaningful and deep-rooted feelings he exposes and we try so desperately to hide from.

The meaning of words like: home, place, belonging, passion, love, devotion, loyalty and the like are all brought to clarity through Middleton's pen.

Middleton pens the human condition into hues and shades we canot overlook; cannot run from; they envelop you and gracefully force you to look deep into the soul that makes us who we truly are.

This book may be best read after living the first 50 years of ones life; else it's wisdom would most likely be lost. But I surely wish all would read it - at least the first time - early in life, then pick it up again later on; read it again, and drink in the full meaning: drink long and full. If only the simple wisdoms pointed out here could be learned early on ... life would be far more enjoyed, than simply endured.

The rest of Middleton's books are equally salient and soulful reminders of what truly matters in life. And chorus the statement eloquently posited here, "The Earth is Enough"; take care of it, there's only one. When it is gone, it's ALL GONE.

This book's as much about fly fishing as The Big Two-Hearted River is. Without ever deviating from its straightforward purpose -- to explore the good people Chatham's met in a lifetime of flyfishing the San Francisco Bay and points north for chinook and stripers -- Chatham manages also to pen a meditation on what makes people good, and how challenge (including the challenge of fly fishing well) nurtures that goodness. The book's also a love story to a Northern California that used to be, and belongs in any Bay Area or Northern Californian's bookshelf along with Bay Area Landmarks, The Flavors of Home and other well-written celebrations of that place's home geography.

And the details about fishing, in bays, estuaries and rivers, are fun.

If you have any doubts about the literary value of this book, note the foreword by Thomas McGuane -- who wouldn't muck around writing forewords for trash.

Loved the book, Russell.