I am looking for some reading suggestions to pass the winter. What is your favorite book(s) or author? I am currently reading Gene Wensels new book, which I highly recommend and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Barry's which I expect to be just as good. Thanks for any suggestions!
Jeff
Archery related only?
Stephen King, everything He put out I can read..
David Petersen, really enjoy his books, Im waiting on "Ghost Grizzles" now.
I just read Love of the Hunt by John Winsor. It's not very long. About 264 pages of his different hunts. Mostly longbow hunts but some rifle. Good book.
Dean Torges, Don Thomas.
Each writes about the sport I love as no one else, and communicates in a way that is really special.
Mike Mitten's "One with the Wilderness" is another wonderfully written book that tells a great story... and teaches some GREAT lessons...
Daryl
If its archery everything,If not JRR Tolken from the Hobbit to the Cimerarilian.After than Jimmy Buffet (Joe Merchant,pirate looks at 50,tales from margaritaville,jolly mon)ok I'm done. :readit: :coffee:
Pat McManus.....I wake my wife at night laughing...
James Lee Burke, not archery but writes like Louis L'Amour inasmuch he describes his environment in detail,setting each scene in your mind.My brother-in-law gave me two paperbacks a year ago by C.J. Box.His main character is a game warden.I wasn't too enthused about reading them so they sat on a shelf for a year.I picked them up this past week and read both books in two days.Great stories I'll have to get more books by him.
QuoteOriginally posted by Biggie Hoffman:
Pat McManus.....I wake my wife at night laughing...
+1 I love that guy. :-D
Gene Hill and Havilah Babcock were not archers but wrote good hunting stories. Have you found any of the older books such as Archers Bible that were written when we were younger, and the wheelie bows were not around yet? I also read a lot of wilderness survival material, not that I expect be lost in the wild, but you can sometimes pick up some nifty woods lore that way. Howard Hill is my archery hero, so I read a lot of the stuff about him. If the primitive camping/hunting idea interests you, take a look at the Book of Buckskinning - there is a whole series of these books dealing with recreating the frontier scene. Not much archery in them but it sure does fire the imagination.
I can't recommend too much fiction, since I don't read it, but have several hundred books on military history.
Cormac McCarthy :thumbsup:
Where the red fern grows, Buckskin and Bone,
If it doesn't have to be archery related then Louis L'Amour is the best author to ever move a pen in my opinion. I own all but 4-5 of his books. Great books
Hard to beat Don Thomas for writing bout trad bow hunting, or anything else for that matter. I also second Gene Hill if you like to hunt birds with a smoke pole or fish trout with a fly rod.
Don Thomas.
Longbow Country by Don Thomas is hard to beat even though I have all of Louis L'Amour's works.
Peter Hathaway Capstick
death in the long grass, greatest book ever.
"Where the red fern grows, Buckskin and Bone,"
Jimmy where the red fern grows is one of my all time favorites. can't tell you how many times i have read that book.
Just started reading some of William W Johnstone's The mountainman series. Very good books.
The Last River Rat, Kenny Salwey's life in the wild. Written by Scott Bestul and Kenny Salwey
Some great authors and books have been mentioned above.
I might specifically add the following:
If you are planning to hunt elk, A MAN MADE OF ELK, by David Petersen is a great read.
THE TRADITIONAL WAY, by Fred Anderson is good and provides a historical perspective as well.
Enjoy!
Shoot straight, Shinken
QuoteOriginally posted by mysticguido:
Stephen King, everything He put out I can read..
Yep. The Stand was my favorite.
I also just finished J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. It was probably one of the best books I've ever read...
I forgot PlayBoy.. I really do read it.. The Pix are just as good
Speaking of Death in the Long Grass-I confess that I really enjoyed it but I'm not sure I believed all of it! :)
Well I like my old, and I mean old, friend Don Thomas' writings.
Mickeys4, I have read 4 CJ Box's " Joe Pickett" novels since Christmas and am on number 5. Great read especially if you have spent time in Wyoming/ Montana. In fact one scene has the characters in Don Thomas' hometown of Lewistown MT. You should read them in order. Fun reads with significant outdoorsman appeal.
Norman Maclean's "A River Runs Through It" and anything written by Ivan Doig. Also like a lot of Rick Bass' work. Can't forget "Sand County Almanac" by Aldo Leopold.
There are several guys on here who use quotes from Aldo Leopold in their signature line. I think of them as friends I haven't yet met. :thumbsup:
Have to 2nd Pat McManus. He even talks about recurves in two of his stories. One involves a tent and the other involves an exercise program. Claims using a recurve causes his eyeballs to protrude and in effect gives them exercise so he can tie tiny flies.
Harry Middleton writes the outdoors well, though it is fly-fishing based. Chet Stevenson's writings, compiled by Nick Nott are fun for any Oregonian. Non-sports related I read a great book recently titled A Soldier of the Great War.
"Real Ponies Don't Go Oink".....Patrick F. McManus.
QuoteOriginally posted by George D. Stout:
"Real Ponies Don't Go Oink".....Patrick F. McManus.
Never sniff a gift fish is another good on by Pat!
QuoteOriginally posted by Curveman:
Speaking of Death in the Long Grass-I confess that I really enjoyed it but I'm not sure I believed all of it! :)
That's just like a Compliance Officer!
I've heard too that some Capstick stories are just that, stories but it's still a great read. Nobody asked what is your favorite book, non fiction 8-)
Ounce upon a Tine...By Barry Wensel.
I just recieved my limited edition the other day and am having a hard time putting it down.
Stalking and Still Hunting..by G.Fred Asbell is another great read.
"Something of Value" Robert Ruark is a great fiction novel.
Anything by Jim Dougherty
Death in the Long Grass- Capstick
Hunters fireside book- Gene Hill
anything by Patrick McMannus but especailly his story titled "Pigs" found in "rubber legs and whitetail hairs".
Fred Bears Field Notes.
Basic Economics- Thomas Sowell
The Bible-God
Lot's of my favorites already listed, and I think I have just about every one of them so far, so I won't repeat those. But one of my all time favorites that never seems to get mentioned is Mark Siedschlag. I have two of his books - Autumn Leaves and Searching For the Wild that are among the best bowhunting books I have read.
Another of my all time favorite outdoor authors is Jay Reed. His book "Thor and More" is one of the finest reads I have ever had my hands on. It is not a bowhunting book - his passions were ducks and fishing, but he could express the feelings of outdoorsman better than anyone else I have ever read.
I'm a book nerd. My hunting library is taking up a couple bookcases and several boxes now and I haunt the 1/2 price book stores. My #1 favorite book is Edison Marshall's "Heart of the Hunter". That guy could write. Got lucky and picked that one up in a used bookstore for pennies, but I've bought copies for friends on Amazon. Robert Ruark's "Old Man and the Boy" books are classics as well as "Something of Value", "Uhuru", and "The Honey Badger" - all must reads IMO, but I lost all respect for him as a hunter when I read "Horn of the Hunter". He should have kept the 1 curl Kudu.
R
Oh yeah, almost slipped my mind - Jim Corbett - all his stuff is great. Unbelievable hunter, and I've never heard anyone doubt his truthfulness. "Jungle Lore" has the best "how to" I think I've ever read on the mental aspects of becoming a good woodsman/hunter.
R
Jim Corbett & J.A. Hunter are gun legends from a different time. True stories of yesteryear dangers & death. Try "Hunter" by J.A Hunter & "Maneaters of India" by Jim Corbett. Riveting reads.
Stewart Edward White is another great writer.
"Lions in the Path" is excellent reading
The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Man Eaters of Kumaon - Jim Corbet (this book is freakin' nuts)
another vote for The Prophet.
"...the archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far."
I've read Don Thomas and , and long ago lost my signed copy of In Pursuit Of Trophy Whitetails by Roger Rothhaar. I'm reading Mike Mitten's book now, I have only read articles by the Wensels and many others but, to my mind, nobody writes like Dean Torges.
All of the C.J. Box Joe Pickett novels, anything by Roger Crais, especially the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series, James Lee Burke (Unless of course you're inclined to depression - he writes well but his stories aren't exactly uplifting); any of Michael Connelly's novels; W.E.B. Griffin, particularly the Badge of Honor and Presidential Agent series; Lee Child's Jack Reacher series (the stories are good though some of the things in them reflect the fact that he doesn't do much research - a 50+ mph car chase over Wyoming prairie comes to mind); Tony Hillerman's Navajo series; Robert Parker, especially the early stuff before he started writing TV scripts, though his 3 recent Westerns are pretty good.
Let me know if you need anything for the winter of 2012. :)
I am writing a lot of these down and making a trip to the library.
Check out CJ BOX, as mentioned, a game warden from Wyoming. He has a new book coming out in May.
Another great author - Elmer Kelton, he wrote similar to Louis L'Amour and has been voted as the best all time western writer. I have read 17 of his books in this past year. He just passed away in Nov. 2009.
I forgot to mention 3 novels by Craig Johnson in which the main character is a rural Wyoming sheriff. Those are very well done.
Stephen Ambrose "Undaunted Courage" You might start out thinking this is a history book, but by the time you finish you have traveled with Lewis and Clark and their men down the Ohio, up the Missouri, over the Divide, down to the Pacific, and then back. All along the way living off the land using wits and outdoor skills. Trading with, making treaties, fighting with, loving with various Native Americans they met. New land, new animals (they learned the hard way to leave grizzlies alone), new plants, a different campfire nearly every night. And made the whole trip with only one casualty, and came back with enough gun powder to make another trip! Just a remarkable journey, and I'll bet most on TG have thought a time or two "wish I could have been in on that one" ... (think I just talked myself into reading it again!) John
I second the vote for any Don Thomas book. Bows on the Little Delta is an excellent read, by Glenn St. Charles. If you are a fly fisherman as well, the books Rising Trout and This Wonderful World of Trout, are excellent books, by Charles K Fox.
Not sure what your tastes are so I won't go into all of my history recommendations but a book I just read and enjoyed is "Out of Africa". I then rented the DVD after. Visually the movie is great but the book is 1,000 times better.
"Anything for Billy" and "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. Both have the capacity to make you laugh and cry.
Also, I reconfirm the recommendation of anyone who listed Pat McManus. I have laughed myself to tears and spit out many a drink while reading his books.
Tom Cole's "Hell West and Crooked" and "The Last Paradise" are really interesting stories about Australia and P. New Guinea back in the croc and buffalo hunting days. When "men were men".
WDM Bell is classic Africana - "Bell of Africa" is great. Small bore elephant man back in the ivory hunting days.
I keep reading and rereading Kipling's short stories - something in there for everyone, and CLASSIC writing style. Get a collection of "Kipling's Best" and you won't regret it. I particularly like his soldier stories - "On Greenhow Hill", "Love O' Women".
R
I'm chiming in with LongbowGuy83. 120 + books authored by Louis L'Amour will keep you reading by the campfire thru many winters. I've read them all over and over. Never tire of them.
Conn Iggulden's 3 books about the life of Genghis Khan , starting with "Lords of the Bow".
Michael Shaara's novels of the civil war.
"The Hornets Nest" by Jimmy Carter, an excellent novel of the Revolutionary War in the south.
Anything by James Alexander Thom
"Deer of the World" Their evolution, behavior and ecology by Valerius Geist
There are some fine books mentioned here, and yes Roger, you have posted up some good ones. I would have kept that Kudu too!
Me,well I like CM Sacketts book "Doorway Buck".
Anthing of the good Doc, Don T, is always worth time to read.
Fiction, I like Bernard Cornwell. He does his research well and the books are an easy read.
Keep 'em coming...
ak.
Picking a favorite is difficult, but I'd have to go with William Faulkner. His collection of stories in "Big Woods" is my favorite book.
Robert Ruark is a close second.
Archibald Rutledge comes in third.
Agree with Liquid Amber.
Robert Ruark "The Old Man and The Boy" was a book I couldn't put down.
Agree with JEJ
Stephen Ambrose "Undaunted Courage" about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
"Unintended Consequences" Read it and it will change the way you look at the world around you.
Anything Stephen Hunter writes is good too.
Jim Hamm's "Ishi & Elvis" is seldom mentioned but is one of my favorites. It's a very well told tale with a good mix of archery, bow making, history, hunting, and connection to the land. I would highly recommend it.
Aldo Leupold's "A Sand County Almanac" is by far my favorite read. To that I would add anything by David Petersen, especially "On the Wild Edge".
If you like hunting stories, anything by Don Thomas or T.J. Conrads.