Memoirs Hunting

On the Water is a gorgeously written collection of essays that all take place on or near the water and pay tribute to the flora and fauna associated with those ecosystems. There are essays about the finer points of tickling rainbow trout in the streams of Normandy, and of eagles and ospreys fishing for bass while barely breaking the surface of the water. There are stories of droughts and floods, of dogs and boats, of worms and rattlesnakes, and even of catching and cooking soft-shell turtles that taste like osso-bucco.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1858-1919), the 26th president of the United States, was a conservationist and writer. Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail - published in 1888 - is the account of his adventures as a cowboy, hunter, herder, and deputy sheriff. The Rough Riders was the nickname given to the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War. The Rough Riders are best remembered for their charge up San Juan Hill, east of Santiago de Cuba, on July 1, 1898.

This memorable book by one of our finest writers chronicles two passions: one for a dog named "Blue," another for the "guns of a lifetime." "Blue and Some Other Dogs" is a brilliant memoir about Graves' Basque-Australian sheep dog. "Guns of a Lifetime" tells the stories related to the guns this octogenarian Texan has owned, beginning with a "rusted and cylinderless" revolver.

For Robert Hughes fishing was a lifelong obsession and the pastime that he loved best. In A Jerk on One End he brings the wit and insight that have characterized his art criticism to the subjects of fish and fishing. He traces his love of fishing to his boyhood on Sydney Harbour and recounts the high and low points of his career with rod and reel, from his first catch to hair-raising tales of shark hunts he has picked up from other fishermen.