The River Home: An Angler's Explorations

One can expect most books by fly fishermen to contain the inevitable profiles of fellow anglers and tales of secret spots laden with trout, their locations generously revealed so they become secret no longer. This memoir by Michigander Dennis (A Place on the Water) offers that and much more, which makes his perceptive book interesting to a wider audience. There are musings on individuals' notions of home at various stages in their lives and the influence of travel that can make a return home a revelation. There are also thoughts about the twin themes of abundance and waste in the history of the American Midwest and West. Other highlights are Dennis's trips overseas to the Chilean Andes, where enormous trout are an anomaly in lakes and streams, and, even more intriguing, to Iceland in search of the Atlantic salmon, where fishing comes dear at $1000 for a license, plus an average daily expense of $500 for accommodations, food and incidentals. There are salient observations about life (""Sometimes tradition is just folly perpetuated"") and a few of Dennis's short stories are appended, most of which are uninspired except for ""Tom Dean's Boy."" (June)