Sit, Stay, Love


Dana Mentink - 2016
    Pro baseball pitcher Cal Crawford is not a dog guy. When he inherits his deceased mother's elderly dog, Tippy, he's quick to call on a pet-sitting service. Gina isn't thrilled to be a dog sitter when her aspirations lie in the classroom. Furthermore, she can't abide the unfriendly Cal, a man with all the charm of a wet towel. But with no other prospects and a deep love for all things canine, she takes the job caring for Tippy. As Gina travels through Cal's world with Tippy in tow, she begins to see Cal in a different light. Gina longs to show Cal the God-given blessings in his life that have nothing to do with baseball or fame. When her longing blooms into attraction, Gina does her best to suppress it. But Cal is falling in love with her too... Discover the charming story of Tippy, the dog who brought a family together.

Double Whammy


Carl Hiaasen - 1987
    Decker, star tenant of the local trailer park and neophyte private eye is fishing for a killer. Thanks to a sportsman's scam that's anything but sportsmanlike, there's a body floating in Coon Bog, Florida -- and a lot that's rotten in the murky waters of big-stakes, large-mouth bass tournaments. Here Decker will team up with a half-blind, half-mad hermit with an appetite for road kill; dare to kiss his ex-wife while she's in bed with her new husband; and face deadly TV evangelists, dangerously seductive women, and a pistol-toting redneck with a pit bull on his arm. And here his own life becomes part of the stakes. For while the "double whammy" is the lure, first prize is for the most ingenious murder.

The Blight Way


Patrick F. McManus - 2006
    Problem is, he's already promised to celebrate his dad's seventy-fifth birthday with him. Thwarted romance proves to be the least of Bo's problems, however, when a dead body turns up on Batim Scragg's ranch. The baffling thing is that neither Batim nor his two wayward sons appear to be the culprits. Forced to put on his sleuthing hat, Bo finds himself faced with a whole slew of possible suspects. And what quickly becomes apparent is that, while the sheriff's investigative methods may not exactly be legal, they are, for better or worse, The Blight Way. A bestselling author with more than two million books in print, the curmudgeonly wit Patrick McManus delivers a page-turning mystery filled with mirth and misadventure set in hook-and-bullet territory.

Trout Fishing in America


Richard Brautigan - 1967
    He came of age during the Haight-Ashbury period and has been called “the last of the Beats.” His early books became required reading for the hip generation, and on its publication Trout Fishing in America became an international bestseller. An indescribable romp, the novel is best summed up in one word: mayonnaise. This new edition includes an introduction by the poet Billy Collins, who first encountered Brautigan’s work as a student in California.

The Founding Fish


John McPhee - 2002
    Each spring, American shad-Alosa sapidissima-leave the ocean in hundreds of thousands and run heroic distances upriver to spawn. McPhee--a shad fisherman himself--recounts the shad's cameo role in the lives of George Washington and Henry David Thoreau. He fishes with and visits the laboratories of famous ichthyologists; he takes instruction in the making of shad darts from a master of the art; and he cooks shad in a variety of ways, delectably explained at the end of the book. Mostly, though, he goes fishing for shad in various North American rivers, and he "fishes the same way he writes books, avidly and intensely. He wants to know everything about the fish he's after--its history, its habits, its place in the cosmos" (Bill Pride, The Denver Post). His adventures in pursuit of shad occasion the kind of writing--expert and ardent--at which he has no equal.

Hooked


Tommy Greenwald - 2018
    He loves watching the water and looking at the sky, he loves the peacefulness, and he especially loves dreaming about catching the Big One.Joe’s dad does not love fishing. He doesn’t like the waiting, or the worms, or the fact that nothing much happens.But when Joe needs a parental chaperone for an ice-fishing field trip, his dad agrees to go along. And when the waiting turns into talking, exchanging jokes, and sharing hot chocolate, Joe's dad discovers something unexpected.He doesn’t just like fishing with Joe―he loves it.You could even say he’s hooked.

Fishing with RayAnne


Ava Finch - 2015
    Between her dad's falling off the wagon, unwanted advice from Mom—a life coach to the menopausal rich—and her clingy dog, she needs the advice of her beloved grandmother more than ever.With the show’s surprise success, producers press for celebrity appearances, but fans tweet support for RayAnne and her quirky guests, real women with unique stories and something to say. And though handsome Hal tempts RayAnne, he is a sponsor, rocketing him to the top of her don’ts list.Just when she’s shedding uncertainty, RayAnne’s world nearly capsizes, and she’s faced with gut-wrenching choices. Will she live by the rules, or by her heart?

Still Points North: Surviving the World's Greatest Alaskan Childhood


Leigh Newman - 2013
    But her life split in two when her parents unexpectedly divorced, requiring her to spend summers on the tundra with her “Great Alaskan” father and the school year in Baltimore with her more urbane mother.Navigating the fraught terrain of her family’s unraveling, Newman did what any outdoorsman would do: She adapted. With her father she fished remote rivers, hunted caribou, and packed her own shotgun shells. With her mother she memorized the names of antique furniture, composed proper bread-and-butter notes, and studied Latin poetry at a private girl’s school. Charting her way through these two very different worlds, Newman learned to never get attached to people or places, and to leave others before they left her. As an adult, she explored the most distant reaches of the globe as a travel writer, yet had difficulty navigating the far more foreign landscape of love and marriage.In vivid, astonishing prose, Newman reveals how a child torn between two homes becomes a woman who both fears and idealizes connection, how a need for independence can morph into isolation, and how even the most guarded heart can still long for understanding. Still Points North is a love letter to an unconventional Alaskan childhood of endurance and affection, one that teaches us that no matter where you go in life, the truest tests of courage are the chances you take, not with bears and blizzards, but with other people.

The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators, and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier


Colin Woodard - 2004
    Today’s independent, self-sufficient lobstermen belong to the communities imbued with a European sense of ties between land and people, but threatened by the forces of homogenization spreading up the eastern seaboard.In the tradition of William Warner’s Beautiful Swimmers, veteran journalist Colin Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) traces the history of the rugged fishing communities that dot the coast of Maine and the prized crustacean that has long provided their livelihood. Through forgotten wars and rebellions, and with a deep tradition of resistance to interference by people “from away,” Maine’s lobstermen have defended an earlier vision of America while defying the “tragedy of the commons”—the notion that people always overexploit their shared property. Instead, these icons of American individualism represent a rare example of true communal values and collaboration through grit, courage, and hard-won wisdom.

Salmon Without Rivers: A History Of The Pacific Salmon Crisis


James A. Lichatowich - 1999
    We assumed we could control the biological productivity of salmon and 'improve' upon natural processes that we didn't even try to understand. We assumed we could have salmon without rivers." --from the introductionFrom a mountain top where an eagle carries a salmon carcass to feed its young to the distant oceanic waters of the California current and the Alaskan Gyre, salmon have penetrated the Northwest to an extent unmatched by any other animal. Since the turn of the twentieth century, the natural productivity of salmon in Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho has declined by eighty percent. The decline of Pacific salmon to the brink of extinction is a clear sign of serious problems in the region.In Salmon Without Rivers, fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich offers an eye-opening look at the roots and evolution of the salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest. He describes the multitude of factors over the past century and a half that have led to the salmon's decline, and examines in depth the abject failure of restoration efforts that have focused almost exclusively on hatcheries to return salmon stocks to healthy levels without addressing the underlying causes of the decline. The book:describes the evolutionary history of the salmon along with the geologic history of the Pacific Northwest over the past 40 million yearsconsiders the indigenous cultures of the region, and the emergence of salmon-based economies that survived for thousands of yearsexamines the rapid transformation of the region following the arrival of Europeanspresents the history of efforts to protect and restore the salmonoffers a critical assessment of why restoration efforts have failedThroughout, Lichatowich argues that the dominant worldview of our society -- a worldview that denies connections between humans and the natural world -- has created the conflict and controversy that characterize the recent history of salmon; unless that worldview is challenged and changed, there is little hope for recovery. Salmon Without Rivers exposes the myths that have guided recent human-salmon interactions. It clearly explains the difficult choices facing the citizens of the region, and provides unique insight into one of the most tragic chapters in our nation's environmental history.

The Trout Opera


Matthew Condon - 2007
    Opening with a Christmas pageant on the banks of the Snowy River in 1906 and ending with the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, it is the story of simple rabbiter and farmhand Wilfred Lampe who, at the end of his long life, is unwittingly swept up into an international spectacle. On the way he discovers a great-niece, the wild and troubled young Aurora, whom he never knew existed, and together they take an unlikely road trip that changes their lives. Wilfred, who has only ever left Dalgety once in almost a hundred years, comes face to face with contemporary Australia, and Aurora, enmeshed in the complex social problems of a modern nation, is taught how to repair her damaged life. This dazzling story - marvellously broad in its telling and superbly crafted - is about the changing nature of the Australian character, finding the source of human decency in a mad world, history, war, romance, murder, bushfires, drugs, the fragile and resilient nature of the environment and the art of fly fishing. It's the story of a man who has experienced the tumultuous reverberations of Australian history while never moving from his birthplace on the Snowy, and it asks, what constitutes a meaningful life?

North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family on Deadly Alaskan Waters


Sig Hansen - 2010
    Seen in over 150 countries, the show attracts more than 49 million viewers per season, making it one of the most successful series in the history of cable TV. With its daredevil camera work, unpredictably dangerous weather, and a setting as unforgivable and unforgettable as the frigid Bering Sea, "The Deadliest Catch "is unlike anything else on television.But the weatherworn fishermen of the fishing vessel "Northwestern "have stories that don't come through on TV. For Sig Hansen and his brothers, commercial fishing is as much a part of their Norwegian heritage as their names. Descendants of the Vikings who roamed and ruled the northern seas for centuries, the Hansens' connection to the sea stretches from Alaska to Seattle and all the way to Norway. And after twenty years as a skipper on the commercial fishing vessel the "Northwestern--"which was his father's before him--Sig has lived to tell the tales. To be a successful fisherman, you need to be a mechanic, navigator, welder, painter, carpenter, and sometimes, a firefighter. To be a successful fisherman year after year, you need to be a survivor.This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, "North by Northwestern "brings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like "The Perfect Storm, North By Northwestern "is the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of "The Deadliest Catch, "have become modern folk-heroes.

Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast


Samanth Subramanian - 2010
    Journeying along the edge of the peninsula, Samanth Subramanian reports upon a kaleidoscope of extraordinary stories.In nine essays, Following Fish conducts rich journalistic investigations: among others, of the famed fish treatment for asthmatics in Hyderabad; of the preparation and the process of eating West Bengal's prized hilsa; of the ancient art of building fishing boats in Gujarat; of the fiery cuisine and the singular spirit of Kerala's toddy shops; of the food and the lives of Mumbai's first peoples; of the history of an old Catholic fishing community in Tamil Nadu; of the hunt for the world's fastest fish near Goa.Throughout his travels, Subramanian observes the cosmopolitanism and diverse influences absorbed by India's coastal cities, the wthdrawing of traditional fishermen from their craft, the corresponding growth of fishing as pure and voluminous commerce, and the degradation of waters and beaches from over-fishing.Pulsating with pleasure, adventure and discovery, and tempered by nostalgia and loss, Following Fish speaks as eloquently to the armchair traveller as to lovers of the sea and its lore.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing: Life, Death and the Thrill of the Catch


Bob Mortimer - 2019
    Then, Glory Be! They were both diagnosed with heart disease and realised that time is short. They'd better spend it fishing...So they dusted off their kits, chucked on their waders and ventured into the achingly beautiful British countryside to fish, rediscover the joys of their friendship and ruminate on some of life's most profound questions, such as: How did we get so old? Where are all the fish? What are your favourite pocket meats? What should we do if we find a corpse?Following the success of the BBC's Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing series, this wonderful book by two lifelong friends is a love letter to the joys of angling, the thrill of the catch and the virtue of having a right daft laff with your mates. On the fish, the equipment, the food, and the locations, Gone Fishing is the perfect book for fans of Bob Mortimer, Paul Whitehouse and for anyone who wants to read a brilliantly written and endlessly funny joint memoir on life, friendship and joys of fishing.

Northern Lights


Michelle Cary - 2009
    She worked hard to put that horrible night behind her, but the madman who hurt her is paroled and begins to stalk her. Now, Brooke's life is in danger.Crab fishing captain Nathan Lowery has suffered his fair share of tragedy over the years. He swears he's given up on love, despite the feelings he has for the shy, petite redhead. Learning of Brooke's stalker, Nathan does the one thing he can to help protect her--he takes her with him to Alaska during king crab season.Cooking for six men on a boat in the middle of the Bering Sea presents more of a challenge than Brooke anticipated. It's also the last place she expects to fall in love. But when the season ends and the stalker is still at large, Brooke's fear for her own wellbeing is overshadowed by her need to save her new love's life. She knows, in the end, if necessary, she'll give her own life to save his...Genres: Romance / Romantic Suspense