Super book - a more modern anthology of fishing stories.
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The surprise success of the television series The Accidental Angler has brought the beautifully crafted, darkly humorous writing of Charles Rangeley-Wilson to a wider audience. It continues where his previous book Somewhere Else left off - carving out a new course of direction for fishing books. This book takes you effortlessly across the world in search of trout but reveals so much more than what fly caught how many fish. His prose is clarity itself - you are right there with him seeing the world through his eyes untainted by the prejudice of others. The Accidental Angler may have been cleaned up for the BBC and lacks the irreverent language of his earlier work but this does not mean that it has totally lost some of the more colourful turns of phrase to be heard when a good fish is lost or appreciative murmurs when a fish swirls in front of the fly "I don't normally swear but those are friggin' big fish"
Chapters include:
Holy Grayling
The Breath of a River
Metal Guru
The Course of Shiva
Non, Ne Pechez Pas La!
My Kingdom Come
The Year of the Big Fish
Blame it on the Boogie
Paradise Found
Letters Home from a Brazilian TV Adventure
Suburban Sea Trout
Breakfast in Bhutan
Wash & Tope
In addition to urban trout in London and salmon fishing on the Annan his travels include mahseer fishing, grayling fishing in the UK and France, sea trout off the Norfolk coast, Icelandic trout fishing, bonefish, triggerfish, tope, fishing on the Amazon and troutfishing in Bhutan.
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Something Else
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A second helping from Charles Rangeley-Wilson, the writer who, but for his civilisation and lack of hair, would certainly be known as "The English Trout Bum".
Actually The Accidental Angler is something else; more a delicious pudding, like a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream that is so good you're not sure whether to scoff the lot as quickly as you can or savour each mouthful slowly - subtle tastes, conflicting and complementary, combining to create a perfect compilation.
It is perhaps unfair to compare this wonderful book to something so traditional. Charles has, with this new collection of 13 stories, excelled himself and frankly, in my opinion, most other fishing authors for decades and joined the ranks of writers whose truths and insights dangle a tempting glimpse of the deeper side of fishing that many of us are still hunting. This writing deserves to endure. For myself, I can't wait for the cheese.
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