Anyone have some good adventure-laced fiction paperback recommendations?
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Happy May Ray Day! 🌞😎🌻🩳🇩
Reading Material for Tripping
- Thread starter Black_Fly
- Start date
I'm currently reading the fourth in the series by James S A Corey...although this may not be the sort of tripping you're used to! It's definitely action packed, and definitely fiction.
Looks good. Thanks.
Here's a treasure trove for you to explore:
http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...ng-discussions/books/106-what-are-you-reading
http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...ng-discussions/books/106-what-are-you-reading
G
Guest
Guest
I am almost solely a non-fiction reader, and for reading material while tripping my first choice would be “adventure laced” non-fiction, with relevance to the area where I am paddling. Historical stuff; voyageurs, trappers, prospectors and early trippers, or more modern day adventurers, there is a wealth of knowledge and insight in such books.
The best of those provide be-then-now experiences, looking out from camp or canoe and being transported to the descriptions of the same place at a different time. As good as any action/fantasy novel any day.
Out west the native peoples and early explorer tales are eye opening. Not a lot of native paddling narratives, but just roaming the west with a copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee for tripping truck reading is highly recommended, especially if read non-sequentially, in chapter order of where you are at the moment.
Historical fiction is good. I've consumed many books about the fur trade and plains Indian wars. I also like historical science fiction, like John Birmingham After America trilogy. I'm pretty particular about only taking fiction for pleasure trips anywhere.
My favorite non-fiction book to date is one I picked up from the author after passing him on a portage. He found us hunkering down on the porch of a Boy's Scout porch sneaking a beer while waiting out a rain storm. His office was the next building over and we hung out while showing us many pictures from his adventures. A link to his book which I bought put in my dry bag and finished the trip with and he signed for me:
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Kingdom-.../dp/0965319911
It was one of the most interesting meetings I have had while on a canoe trip hands down.
Also a bit on the author:
https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en/why-quark/our-people/expedition-team/edward-ed-webster
dougd
https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Kingdom-.../dp/0965319911
It was one of the most interesting meetings I have had while on a canoe trip hands down.
Also a bit on the author:
https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en/why-quark/our-people/expedition-team/edward-ed-webster
dougd
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I've enjoyed seeing the movie, Master and Commander, with Russell Crowe, every time, so the book should be interesting and gets some good reviews... Patrick O'Brien.
Also movie based with reviews that the book's even better... Mutiny on the Bounty, Nordhoff and Hall.
And another movie which should provide good reading... Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart... written by Traven.
Some of the adventure fiction stuff is downright trashy, and maybe Stephen King falls into this camp.... maybe The Shining, more along the lines of horror.
Science fiction, Contact by Carl Sagan. Not adventure, but it is fiction and a universe away from the reality outside the tent. Also 2001 A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke, and the sequel book, 2010.
I've read Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead several times now, fictionalized history about a WWII American invasion of a Japanese-held south Pacific island and will probably read it again, there's something about it. Goes slow but believable and engaging, drawing you in to the misery and reality of war but not a lot of adventure in it.
Hawaii, Michener... a long read, if you've got rainy days inside the tent.
Maybe Shogun, James Clavell... another long read for rainy days and long nights and filled with Japanese details. Not too big on adventure but does have it's moments.
Also movie based with reviews that the book's even better... Mutiny on the Bounty, Nordhoff and Hall.
And another movie which should provide good reading... Treasure of the Sierra Madre with Humphrey Bogart... written by Traven.
Some of the adventure fiction stuff is downright trashy, and maybe Stephen King falls into this camp.... maybe The Shining, more along the lines of horror.
Science fiction, Contact by Carl Sagan. Not adventure, but it is fiction and a universe away from the reality outside the tent. Also 2001 A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke, and the sequel book, 2010.
I've read Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead several times now, fictionalized history about a WWII American invasion of a Japanese-held south Pacific island and will probably read it again, there's something about it. Goes slow but believable and engaging, drawing you in to the misery and reality of war but not a lot of adventure in it.
Hawaii, Michener... a long read, if you've got rainy days inside the tent.
Maybe Shogun, James Clavell... another long read for rainy days and long nights and filled with Japanese details. Not too big on adventure but does have it's moments.
Although I have heaps of reading material of my own I have only one general suggestion, and that is to take along any book, fact or fiction, that relates in some way to the tripping locale.
While day paddling in Kananaskis country I read The Buffalo Head by R.M. Patterson, while tripping in Temagami I enjoy various pages from Hap Wilson, Grey Owl and Selwyn Dewdney, and always in Algonquin I enjoyed the compendium of nature periodicals provided by the Friends of Algonquin Park. In each case the evening read served as a quiet guide providing interesting detail of history and biogeography without taking anything away from the natural wonder that filled each day. So that in my escape to that particular tripping destination I escaped deeper into that place.
We seldom travel and rarely travel far, but when we do no matter where we go I like to take along a good read to fully immerse myself in the history and culture of wherever I'm hanging my hat and calling home. If I'm stuck without some material I'll stop into a local museum, bookstore or tourist info center to sift through the pamphlets, books and brochures. You can find absolute gems amongst the rocks.
While day paddling in Kananaskis country I read The Buffalo Head by R.M. Patterson, while tripping in Temagami I enjoy various pages from Hap Wilson, Grey Owl and Selwyn Dewdney, and always in Algonquin I enjoyed the compendium of nature periodicals provided by the Friends of Algonquin Park. In each case the evening read served as a quiet guide providing interesting detail of history and biogeography without taking anything away from the natural wonder that filled each day. So that in my escape to that particular tripping destination I escaped deeper into that place.
We seldom travel and rarely travel far, but when we do no matter where we go I like to take along a good read to fully immerse myself in the history and culture of wherever I'm hanging my hat and calling home. If I'm stuck without some material I'll stop into a local museum, bookstore or tourist info center to sift through the pamphlets, books and brochures. You can find absolute gems amongst the rocks.
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G
Guest
Guest
Some of the Michener books are wonderfully engaging and informative historical fiction. Chesapeake is perhaps my favorite, largely because it involves familiar DelMarVa areas and traditions, and has a multi-generational Quaker family as one set of protagonists.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...om_search=true
Some of the later Michener stuff not so much; his “formula” got stale and he acquired a (deserved) reputation for moving into some interesting locale, ingratiating himself with the locals, collecting their family’s ancestral tales and massaging their stories into a book. And then leaving town for the next place.
One of my all-time favorite works of historical fiction is Michener’s The Source, interweaving Middle Eastern history and archeology. There are a lot of biblical errors, and it is too strongly pro Israel/anti Arab, but it’s still a helluva read.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12657.The_Source
For tripping though maybe better with a Kindle; both are 600 page monsters to lug about.
EDIT: 800 pages.
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Yes, The Source was indeed a good read. During the seventies Centennial was being passed around from person to person... I was a government man at the time and the occasional drives through Ontario from office to office had me delivering the massive hardcover here and there. Still have not read it myself, and yeah, the formula for creating the books gets a little predictable with time, and while there's still plenty of content inside worth spending time on, there may be other choices that provide a little more surprise.
Hawaii opens with Michener describing the geological formation over millions of years and it runs on and on and on and on... but very well written and he gets the sense of the tremendously long periods of geological time and volcanic activity needed to build the islands up.
Another writer I've liked is Edward Abbey, on the American southwest... The Monkey Wrench Gang is the fiction piece with Desert Solitaire about his personal experiences. Some of his more minor novels, were disappointments, like Black Sun, falling short and just not making it. But Desert Solitaire worked very well, bringing through the energy felt by Abbey in that landscape. Monkey Wrench Gang less so, still, the book was passed around to other readers with all reading cover to cover.
Hawaii opens with Michener describing the geological formation over millions of years and it runs on and on and on and on... but very well written and he gets the sense of the tremendously long periods of geological time and volcanic activity needed to build the islands up.
Another writer I've liked is Edward Abbey, on the American southwest... The Monkey Wrench Gang is the fiction piece with Desert Solitaire about his personal experiences. Some of his more minor novels, were disappointments, like Black Sun, falling short and just not making it. But Desert Solitaire worked very well, bringing through the energy felt by Abbey in that landscape. Monkey Wrench Gang less so, still, the book was passed around to other readers with all reading cover to cover.
FT, The Monkey Wrench Gang was the last book I read on a trip. I could re-read that a dozen times. At one time I owned most of Abbey's book but lost them all in the house fire.
Mr. McCrea, I thought Chesapeake was one of Michener's finest works and had a copy of that as well. One I re-read several times.
I did have a complete set of Toilkien's trilogy books that my parent's gave me for Christmas when I was in High School. I made a point of reading the entire thing once a year. Yup, lost those too!
For mindless quick reads in camp I like Clive Cusseler's books, boarding on stupid but for some reason I enjoy the heck out of them!
Mr. McCrea, I thought Chesapeake was one of Michener's finest works and had a copy of that as well. One I re-read several times.
I did have a complete set of Toilkien's trilogy books that my parent's gave me for Christmas when I was in High School. I made a point of reading the entire thing once a year. Yup, lost those too!
For mindless quick reads in camp I like Clive Cusseler's books, boarding on stupid but for some reason I enjoy the heck out of them!
