During this endless, hot summer, as the sticky days slowly languish on, I've turned my attention away from reality and have fallen prey to my favorite form of escapism, reading fiction. I just started a book that my husband has raved about for awhile now: Blackbeard, The Birth of America by Samuel Marquis. Very good so far! I love pirates stories.
(I even have a pirate in my new novel.) And I certainly love pirate movies. Blackbeard (Thache) and Caesar, his sidekick, have set off to find hidden treasures in the waters off the coast of Nassau.
I also picked up a collection of stories called Gather at the River in which 25 authors tell their fishing stories. Anything about a River intrigues me. I've only just read the introduction and a few of the stories, but I'm hooked. David Joy tells about his boyhood days going to the water, the rivers near him and how it shaped his life. He quoted Thoreau, "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not really the fish they are after."
I especially love J. C. Sasser's story "Lullaby". She weaves her tale of when she was little watching her Mema fish and staying up late when all the grownups would set to cleaning their catch. They'd get to talking about days gone by, about family folk who'd passed on, tales she'd heard over and over again. As she told how they relived their family stories, it reminded me of the Youngblood cousins and my parents and aunts and uncles and all the fishing we did near Alabama point. Those too were long good summer days full of activity and laughter.
Previous to this, I read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (very good!) and Varina by Charles Frazier, the awesome, untold story of Mrs. Jefferson Davis.
I'll leave you with these recommendations because I need to get back to my fishing stories asap. And I must get caught up on what my pirates are gonna do next.
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