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Dersu the Trapper — V.K. Arseniev
The Tiger — John Vaillant
Both are nonfiction and both take place in the Russian Far East, aka Siberia, in the same exact region. All my life I have preferred nonfiction over fiction and have read hundreds of great books, always with an eye to truly great writing and story-telling. These two are among the very best I know of, ever, anywhere, period. And both have excellent films made from them–Dersu Uzala (reviewed in TBM longa go), best foreign film of 1976, and Conflict Tiger, a chilling documentary film by Sasha Snow, with rights to The Tiger (TBM review forthcoming) recently bought by Brad Pitt for “a major motion picture.” I can’t wait. I had to order a CD of Conflict Tiger directly from Sasha in England, but I’ve heard you can stream it for free if you know where to look online, which I don’t. But do yourself a favor and read the books first. IMHO
Good books are among the best things we can invest the precious moments of our lives in. If I have to be inside, I prefer to be inside a good book. Thanks for this thread and please, read your books on paper, not some electronic gadget. It’s traditional. 😀
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This is amazon’s reflection of eBay. These are speculators but really dumb ones. Some of my books, also, have outrageously high prices on used copies. A good friend here owns a book store and knows all about collectible book values, and those prices are generally reserved for first edition, out of print books by well known authors. For example, when Little-Brown published Edward Abbey’s personal journals, Confessions of a Barbarian, one investor bought a whole case of them and asked me to sign them (as editor), hoping that someday they would be worth something. But he’s going to have to wait a while as that book is still in print in paperback from the original publisher. But I can’t see that any paperback book, first edition or otherwise, and no matter who the author, should ever be worth more than it’s original cover price. In those same amazon “affiliates” listings that are shooting for the sky, you’ll see the same exact book sometimes for pennies and normally way under original retail price. So if you’re poor and love to read, your cheapest bet is to buy used from amazon affiliates and at least $25 at an order, so you get free shipping. That’s what I do when buying cd’s and dvd’s. It’s like shopping at WalMart: few of us are proud of it, given their awful reputation for abusing suppliers and workers, but then few of us can afford to pass up the savings. I am currently working on a new book, “The Good Hunt” (yes, same theme as the documentary film, on which I won’t make a penny but no matter) and I plan to self-publish it. That way I keep all profits, not just a small percentage, and have total control over everything like editing, art and layout, and sales. Of course I’ll also have to put up a couple months social security checks to get it in print and can only cross my fingers that it will earn back my investment. But it’s the only way to go now that the publishing industry has become so filthy and vile. Such a world we have created for ourselves, eh? But so long as we have true wild wilderness to walk into and camp and hunt and fish, we have a chance of remaining sane in an insane world.
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I thought I’d revive this thread with a book I just started reading:
Wolfer: A memoir
by Carter Neimeyer
His plan was to stay in Iowa, and maybe get a job counting ducks, or do a little farming. But events conspired to fling Carter Niemeyer westward and straight into the jaws of wolves. From his early years wrangling ornery federal trappers, eagles and grizzlies, to winning a skinning contest that paved the way for wolf reintroduction in the Northern Rockies, Carter Niemeyer reveals the wild and bumpy ride that turned a trapper – a killer – into a champion of wolves.
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Jim, indeed, after my rants earlier in this thread saying I would never do it, I did. Sort of. I used to have readers on darn near every continent, but the international postage got to crazy high that it cost more to ship than the book cost. Plus I hated waiting through the P.O. line to do the customs. And too, the alleged “The Good Hunt Film” will likely go public in Europe later this summer, which might stir some interest. So I took the four books I have control over (most remain with various publishers) and created e-book versions. Those are:
Ghost Grizzlies
Heartsblood
Racks
Going Trad.
All are $9.95. Thanks for giving me an opening to shamelessly plug my own wares.
ColMike has been here for 10 days and leaves today. We did a road trip to Teton NP, seriously lowered the local craft beer, gin and scotch reservoirs, and it has been good medicine for me. Thanks, Mike.
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Duncan wrote: Smithy,
Seeing your volume by Larry McMurtry reminded me that I saw Larry’s son James, a singer and actor playing live at the Continental in Austin Tx back in October. Good stuff.
Duncan
Duncan –
Apologies, I somehow overlooked your post above. I try to never miss a McMurtry show ’round these parts if at all possible. He’s even played in the summer free concert series in the city park in our dinky little hometown a few times, which has been a treat.
Still working my way through the book above on the history of the fur trade in our valley, but I’m also going back and re-reading this again as well:
Such a classic. Written in 1906 and still relevant today. It belongs on every woods bum’s bookshelf, imo.
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