false 51601 5 As adept as Thomas McGuane has been through the years with a rod in his hand, he's even more skillful with his pen. Join the two like tippet to leader, and the result's as irresistible as a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear in the middle of a Hendrickson hatch. <p> For <I>The Longest Silence</I>, McGuane has trolled his inventory and assembled 33 essays written over three decades. Passionate, meditative, personal, and often very funny, they are filled with fellowship and connected by his love of angling. The title piece, a certified classic in the sporting genre, chronicles his quest for the elusive permit. Since permit is about the hardest fish to catch on a fly, the expected futility of not catching one hooks McGuane's introspection, and he weighs in with trophy prose: "What is emphatic in angling is made so by the long silences--the unproductive periods. For the ardent fisherman, progress is towards the kinds of fishing that are never productive in the sense of the blood riots of the hunting-and-fishing periodicals. Their illusions of continuous action evoke for him, finally, a condition of utter, mortuary boredom."<p> That's McGuane on angling in a nutshell; he knows the real action is internal. Whether he's casting for salmon in Russia ("Fly-Fishing the Evil Empire"), bonefish in the Florida Keys ("Close to the Bone"), or trout in Ireland ("Back in Ireland"), the catch is secondary to the pursuit, and the pursuit has as much to do with making sense of self and the universe as it does with anything aswim in a river. "When you get to the water you will be renewed," he assures. "Leave as much behind as possible. Those motives to screw your boss or employees, cheat on your spouse, rob the state, or humiliate your companions will not serve you well if you expect to be restored in the eyes of God, fish, and the river, which will reward you with hollow waste if you don't behave. You may be cursed. You may be shriven. You may be drowned. At the very least, you may snap off your fly in the bushes." McGuane clearly wades in with honest intentions; in <I>The Longest Silence</I> he casts cleanly to his target again and again. <I>--Jeff Silverman</I> 50348 1999 The Longest Silence total:46|5:25|4:14|3:4|2:2|1:1| 46 198 67 12 4 1 false false Mon Sep 15 10:31:22 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 10:33:07 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri Oct 24 07:56:19 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 08:03:19 -0700 2008
This guy can describe the feeling in an angler's heart as he watches a bonefish approach a lure in the crystal blue water over shallow...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 14 09:54:01 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 14 09:55:32 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sat Nov 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon May 11 08:10:33 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 08:10:33 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Dec 02 09:04:34 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 09:05:45 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Apr 10 10:16:21 -0700 2007 Sun Jan 27 11:21:51 -0800 2008
Truly this may be the best essay book on fly fishing ever written; everything from his time at Key West to his more contemporary existence on his Montana ranch falls unde...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Jul 20 21:06:50 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 20 21:12:37 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Tue Jul 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 09:08:55 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 15:56:15 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu May 29 20:07:47 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 20:14:19 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jul 13 09:35:22 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 09:59:07 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 09:35:22 -0700 2008 a concentrated eye ..thanks cristin ]]> 0 0 false false Tue Feb 05 21:17:31 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 21:21:38 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Jan 09 06:09:46 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 06:11:53 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Tue Dec 01 07:48:26 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 07:48:26 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Nov 25 03:51:27 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 03:51:27 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Nov 05 08:09:29 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 08:09:29 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Oct 18 13:17:06 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 13:17:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Oct 10 11:12:49 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 10 11:12:49 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Sep 24 17:14:51 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 17:14:51 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Sep 09 04:18:15 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 04:18:15 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 02 12:25:03 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 12:25:31 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=51601