Fly-Fishin' Fool: The Adventures, Misadventures, and Outright Idiocies of a Compulsive Angler
The theme in Babb's third book is "having fun while attempting to catch fish," preferably in congenial company. The 31 essays in the book explore saltwater and freshwater fly-fishing. Babb, editor ofGray's Sporting Journal, and his friends bring an Algonquin Round Table-like camaraderie to their fishing trips, and his essays capture the free-flowing conversation, whether about politics and the environmental impacts of fishing or about fly tying and fly design. Along the way, he also takes time to share some delectable recipes (including his grandmother's fried chicken). An Appalachian native, he also spices the text with evocative vignettes of Appalachian life. Fish-lit fans will especially enjoy comparing Babb's descriptions of angling trips with John Gierach to Gierach's versions of the same events in hisStill Life with Brook Trout[BKL Mr 1 05]. Snappy, good-humored prose.John RowenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved