Western Book Roundup
Western Books On Best Lists & Oprah’s Fly-Fishing Adventure
By Jenny Shank, 11-10-10
The best books of the year lists are starting to appear in time for holiday shopping, including those of Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog, Publisher’s Weekly, and Library Journal. The novel Matterhorn by Oregon native Karl Marlantes is in Amazon’s top ten, and The Lonely Polygamist by Idaho’s Brady Udall is on the PW list. Justin Cronin’s novel The Passage, whose action swings through Colorado, is in the Library Journal top ten.
I’ve still got a few books to read before I can make the calls for my annual Best Books of the West list—check back in early December for that.
• As I mentioned last week, Oprah and her best bud Gayle went fly fishing with the help of the Bozeman-based fishing guides Brian and Jenny Grossenbacher, authors of Fly Fishing Montana: A No Nonsense Guide to Top Waters. About.Com interviewed Brian Grossenbacher about the experience. He explains that the Oprah show camera crew selected a spot for them to fish on the Merced river in Yosemite that was not actually very good for catching fish:
“Prior to our arrival, the production crew had already chosen a spot for us to fish based upon camera angles, access and convenience. Unfortunately, the water was very low, very clear and the fish...very spooky.”
Oprah vowed to visit Montana to fly fish with the Grossenbachers again, while Gayle promised not to.
• On Thursday, November 11, the Whitefish Review will host a reading at Crush Wine Bar in Whitefish with Cristina Eisenberg, who will discuss and present a slide show on her book The Wolf’s Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity (7 p.m.).
• Sarahlee Lawrence, author of River House, which I reviewed Monday, will read at Fact & Fiction in Missoula on Monday, November 15 (7 p.m.). Meanwhile, in Denver, Thomas McGuane will read at the Tattered Cover (LoDo) on that night. (7:30 p.m.)
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You're right. The Grossenbachers are based in Bozeman and they are experts on Montana fly fishing, but the Oprah show flew them out to California for the fishing expedition. According to the About.Com Q&A;, Oprah did tell Brian Grossenbacher that she plans to visit Montana to fish with them again. Sorry for the error, and thanks for pointing it out! I've corrected it above.