Jim Harrison?

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bob2935
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Jim Harrison?

#1

Post by bob2935 »

Just read a fun short story by Jim Harrison in a collection of fishing stories by Russell Chatham. Talk about gonzo angling literature. Can members recommend a novel by Jim. Talk about unconventional. My kind of stuff.

Thanks Bohemian Bob

GMflyf1sh
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#2

Post by GMflyf1sh »

Bob

He did write Legends of the Fall
The Major

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creakycane
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#3

Post by creakycane »

As far as novels, I like Sundog and Warlock. Farmer is a beautiful short novel, also. Wolf is a young man’s book. A Good Day to Die is very Ed Abbeyesque. The novellas in Legends of the Fall are top shelf. The later stuff is good, but Jim’s earlier work is where I would start. I would skip Dalva. The character Brown Dog in the later novellas I can relate to perfectly. Also Lundgren in Warlock and Corvus Strange in Sundog and Joey in Farmer. But don't tell anyone.

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Big Pine
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#4

Post by Big Pine »

I like The English Major. Also the Brown Dog novellas, which are now collected and published together, and The Ancient Minstrel, his last work of fiction, which includes three novellas.

I recommend his poetry, too. My two favorite collections are the more recent In Search of Small Gods and Theory and Practice of Rivers, which is earlier work.

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bamboo rodley
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#5

Post by bamboo rodley »

All of his books are worth reading. Dalva is especially well written. But again all his books are worth reading. The most recent ones are a bit kinky so I wouldn’t start with those.

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fisheye444
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#6

Post by fisheye444 »

Sundog + 2

canogacreek
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#7

Post by canogacreek »

I would also recommend his non fiction book, "Just Before dark". Great essays on everything from food, fishing, hunting, drinking, poetry etc. I believe I have read all of his fiction and enjoyed them all. I especially liked the three stories in the book "The beast God forgot to invent". His poetry, as well as the poetry of Ted Kooser, is really special.
"What was big was not the trout, but the chance. What was full was not my creel but my memory".
Aldo Leopold

bob2935
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#8

Post by bob2935 »

Thanks Guys I ordered Farmer for a starter book.

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creakycane
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#9

Post by creakycane »

The movie "Carried Away" (Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving) is an adaptation of the novel "Farmer" to movie. Don't recall JH having much of a hand in it; I've only seen snips of the movie.

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cwfly
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#10

Post by cwfly »

Yesterday’s New York Times Book Review featured a lengthy review of a new book, Jim Harrison, Complete Poems, Edited by Joseph Bednarik, (Cooper Canyon Press, 2021). The book is 921 pp in length, notes Harrison, “began life as a poet and remained one for the rest of his life.” The reviewer, Troy Jollimore, writing favorably, observes that during his lifetime Harrison published over a dozen collections of poems, “adding up to a massive and bounteous body of work that would have made Harrison a significant American writer even if he had never published in any other genre.”
Finally, Jollimore writes, that while Harrison enjoyed Los Angeles, “…you can’t help feeling that the authentic Jim Harrison was the one who felt anxious to get out of the hot tub and back to the streams and fields of Michigan and Montana, the one who wrote in “The Theory and Practice of Rivers,” “I can’t find a river in Los Angeles / except the cement one behind Sportsman’s Lodge / on Ventura.”
I found this single volume book, published this past December, and a newly released boxed three volume limited edition for sale.
If you like Harrison, or like poetry, you might like this.

PT48
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#11

Post by PT48 »

I like the epic two part family stories such as the Dalva and Burkett sagas. The Brown Dog novellas are really amusing.

shuksanrodco
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#12

Post by shuksanrodco »

Everything Jim wrote...everything, was incredible.

This is a wonderful profile by a writer (and veteran Missoula guide) Chris Dombrowski in the Angler's Journal called "The Gospel According to Jim" https://www.anglersjournal.com/people/t ... ing-to-jim

-jimmy

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LeoCreek
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#13

Post by LeoCreek »

I just grabbed my copy of the Russell Chatham collection of fishing stories titled Silent Seasons from my bookshelf, and re-read the Jim Harrison short story titled A Plaster Trout in Worm Heaven. Great stuff! Thanks for the reminder, Bob (and others). There are 2 other Jim Harrison stories in this collection that I'll have to re-read this weekend.

I also have the Jim Harrison books Sundog, Legends of the Fall, and the Brown Dog novellas. Excellent author!

P.S. - One of these days, I hope to find copies of the Russell Chatham books Dark Waters and The Angler's Coast that I can afford...
bob2935 wrote:
03/19/20 18:16
Just read a fun short story by Jim Harrison in a collection of fishing stories by Russell Chatham. Talk about gonzo angling literature. Can members recommend a novel by Jim. Talk about unconventional. My kind of stuff.

Thanks Bohemian Bob

billems
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#14

Post by billems »

My favorite Harrison book is, "Off to the Side," his memoir. He's one of the great essayists, and I prefer his non-fiction to his novels. Great soul, humor, and a storehouse of information on history, politics, nature, food, sex and alcohol that will startle you with its conclusions.

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SxS
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#15

Post by SxS »

I prefer his short stories (brown dog etc.) and i'm not sure if i've read everything he's ever written but it's gotta be pretty darn close.. the best of the bunch for me is "returning to earth". that's a very beautifully written novel! .02

Arctic-Grayling
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Re: Jim Harrison?

#16

Post by Arctic-Grayling »

Thank you “cwfly” for your post about Jim Harrison’s COMPLETE POEMS book. I got a copy from the local B&N yesterday. A great big thick book, there have been times in my life that I wish I had this book with me. At my age I might not have enough time left to read & enjoy the entire book, like all the other writing of Harrison I am loving it.
I plan to take this book with me anytime I travel. I doubt that I will ever be bored in transcontinental air travel or the endless sitting in airports waiting on flight delays. 931 pages will keep me happily reading for a long, long time.

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