I did it again - My bookshelves are already filling up as it is, but I still have a very hard time with the online bookstores. I simply can\'t help it. - Global FlyFisher

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I did it again

Tuesday February 7th 2012
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I did it again

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Published: Tuesday February 7th 2012 (1 year ago)
Updated: Friday February 24th 2012, 3:40AMMore about: Books |
by Martin Joergensen

My bookshelves are already filling up as it is, but I still have a very hard time with the online bookstores. I simply can't help it.

I routinely visit the virtual Coch-y-Bonddu, Anglebooks.com, Paul Morgan's Welsh bookstore, which is an excellent web site with a whooping 60 pages of bargain books.

It's my usual game: I click my way through the pages, add the interesting books to the shopping cart and when I'm done I usually have some 2-300 US$ worth of books accumulated. Even though it's tempting, I usually avoid clicking the checkout-button right away.

The next part of the ritual is going through every single book and assessing it again, checking value-for-money and picking the best and most interesting titles. That usually brings the bill down to about 100 dollars, which is my sweet spot. It leaves me with about 4-8 books depending on what I have selected. At that point I'm ready to press checkout, virtually swipe my credit card and then wait for the Royal Mail bag to arrive. Since Paul's shop is in Wales and I'm in Denmark, that is usually only a question of a few days.

One such bag arrived today, containing seven books. Perfect to accompany a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and as always a treat and something to look forward to reading in detail. I always get a kick out of these first looks at new books.

I noticed a thing by the way: all books are from about 10 years ago 1999-2003. I bought them all from new, so they are in mint condition (one had a bit of damage from moisture), but none of them are brand new, which may be one reason that they are in the bargain bin.

I'll do as I did last and cover each with a short description as I add it to our review queue.

I have become more and more interested in biographies and fishing stories compared to earlier where patterns and photography was my thing. This is yet another book to bring to bed to read just before I sleep. At 5£ or about 8US$ it can't go all wrong.
Trout at Ten Thousand Feet
By John Bailey
This book starts with the lines: "If you're even thinking of embarking on the life of a traveller - an angling traveller or not makes not a jot of difference - there are plenty of things to get straight in your head." and tells about the travels and fishing experiences of the author in a humorous way, easy to read and illustrated with nice little B/W vignettes.


This is a really charming and beautiful book that I really look forward to go deeper into. And it's beautiful too with meticulously drawn color plates. At 3£ or less than 5 USD it's a steal. There's a second volume out, “More Flies, Flowers...” which I may have to acquire.
Flies, Flowers, Fur and Feather
By John Cawthorne
A really beautiful little book about insects, flies and flowers, At first glance it reminds me a lot of the books from my biology and botany studies at the University of Copenhagen, but with a very distinct poetic and aesthetic style in layout and illustrations.


Nice pictures of nice flies always get me, and even though I rarely tie salmon flies, I enjoy books about them. 8£ for this one.
Century end
By Paul Ptalis
Beautiful flies, beautiful pictures. Classic salmon flies at their best.


Not the most exciting book of the bunch but at 10£ the most expensive - but still cheap for a nice big book with lots of pictures and flies.
Guide Flies
By Dave Klausmeyer
Klausemeyer's style is impeccable although not very exciting. The book is a catalog of US flies, mainly trout flies for stream use, illustrated with a photo and accompanied by a materials list and a short description of the fly, the guide behind it and a bit about where and how to fish it.


I'm a sucker for photo books and this one is mostly photos. Good book for 8£
Casting illusions
By Tom Rosenbauer
A beautiful book with fairly short texts about fly fishing experiences in general accompanied by lots of really nice pictures by some of the best photographers in the business.


Destinations but also lots of photos. Not much to think about when the price is 6£ or less than 10 USD.
Streams of Dreams
By John Ross
A book about fishing destinations, mainly streams, all over the world with nice pictures. I read the short chapter on Denmark with a slight smirk on my face. Not much in-depth information, but a recommendation of one of my flies! A recommendation I'm almost sure must come from GFF...



I also bought Poul Jorgensen's Dry-Fly Patterns for the New Millennium which Bob Petti has already reviewed. Just nice book with lots of dry fly patterns.




Part of the blog chain "Books"


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