Publishers Weekly
★ 05/30/2022
Journalist Hume (Trout School) recalls how he fell in love with nature as a child and how he passed that love to his daughters in this charming memoir. Born in British Columbia to a busy editor father and a mother distracted by “children running everywhere, a garden to tend, chickens to feed, and a goat to milk,” Hume recalls venturing into the wilderness with his brothers and being entranced by a creek. He eventually taught himself fly-fishing, a sport he describes throughout in illuminating detail. He also traces his marriage to his wife Maggie, a fellow journalist he met in a newsroom. The couple had two daughters, who he successfully passed a love of fishing onto; the girls became skilled fly-fishers, as well as devotees of nature, one working in environmental policy and the other as a lawyer “representing Indigenous communities fighting for environmental reparation.” Throughout, Hume excels at evoking the natural world and movingly describes his horror at the devastation humans are causing: “In my short lifetime I have seen great rivers dammed, entire forests clearcut.... And yet here on the water, reaching down to touch a cold-blooded fish, I have always found hope.” The result is an invigorating look at the power of the outdoors. (May)
From the Publisher
An invigorating look at the power of the outdoors.”
—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review
“Hume captures the poignancy of having once grasped a natural world teeming with exquisite, if all too vulnerable and fleeting, abundance. A must read for anyone who loves nature and cares about the earth.”
—Tara Neilson, author of Raised in Ruins
“A father shares the joys of fly-fishing with his daughters. In this eloquent memoir …[Mark] Hume vividly conveys the sensory details of their adventures and the stunning surroundings… A heartfelt, beautifully written celebration of the wonders of nature and comfort of family.”
—Kirkus STARRED Review
“In the tradition of Roderick Haig-Brown, and with a clear lyricism reminiscent of Wallace Stegner, Hume writes passionately about his intense connection to wild fish and the waters that sustain them. Gorgeously imagined, told with humility and grace, Reading the Water is a meditation on what it means to be a son, a father, a man wading the deep currents of his own mortality.”
—Kim Barnes, author of In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
“Lyrical, thoughtful... Reading the Water urges readers to appreciate the wild places around them and to work to preserve the beauty and diversity of rivers and the animals that inhabit them.”
—Shelf Awareness
“Rich and thought-provoking... there is much to enjoy in this celebration of family and the wonders of nature.”
—Hakai Magazine “An immensely profound look at how fly fishing has been ‘a way of navigating life’—a joyous celebration of how it has mingled with the seasons, the rivers, and the author's close family. I loved Reading the Water.”
—Nick Lyons, author of Spring Creek
“This is glorious… truly brilliant.”
—Roy MacGregor, award-winning journalist and author of A Life in the Bush
“Reading this book I found myself feeling more hopeful ... Not just about the environment, but importantly, about men as fathers.”
—Sandy Shreve, author of Suddenly So Much and Waiting for the Albatross
“I have never gone fishing and probably never will. That matters not one bit when it comes to this memoir; I was hooked. It is a lyrical contemplation of life—beautifully written, smartly observed. It was like I was out there in nature with Mark and his family; I could almost feel the mountain air, the river water, as I drank in every word.”
—Marsha Lederman, Western arts correspondent for the Globe and Mail
“We need more books like Mark Hume's Reading the Water. Potent, direct, imbued with humility and hope, this lovely story takes the pulse of the river and a man, yes, but most importantly of his unforgettable relationship with his daughters, which keeps his heart beating true.”
—Chris Dombrowski, author of Body of Water
“[Hume] invites us to wade streams, listen to the birds, cast a wary eye for marauding bears, and learn how to tie lures and practise fly-fishing... I found him among the best of literary companions.”
—Literary Review of Canada
"You don’t have to be a dad who loves to fish to connect to this meditation on the natural world. Indeed, a river does run through it.”
—The Vancouver Sun
“Profoundly thoughtful and beautifully written...Reading the Water is about fly-fishing—but it's also about life.”
—The Daily Mail
"This is nature writing at its finest."
—Ken McGoogan, The Globe & Mail
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-01-18
A father shares the joys of fly-fishing with his daughters.
In this eloquent memoir, journalist Hume captures his passion for the sport, which he has enjoyed for 50 years, and gratification in passing it on to his daughters. Growing up in British Columbia, he was captivated by nature and wildlife, fish in particular. A self-taught fisherman, Hume first caught trout by hand in his “home waters” of Penticton Creek before learning to fish with a rod. Soon, he escaped to the water at every opportunity. As a result of his family’s frequent moves, “I had begun to calibrate my life in relation to my access to water.” Seeking a stronger connection to the natural world led him to fly-fishing, and at the same time, he became aware of the countless dangers facing the natural world. In his attempt to be a better environmental steward, he employed the practice of catch and release, noting the significant moment when he “learned how to let fish go.” Throughout, Hume explores angling history and some of the ethical considerations involved as well as individuals who have guided and inspired him. Eventually, he found a partner who shared his love of the outdoors, and they started a family. As his two daughters grew older, Hume recalls, he was forced to acknowledge his own mortality, and he wanted to make sure he bequeathed his knowledge. “From the start as I guided my daughters toward a fly fishing life,” he writes, “I hoped they would grasp the meditative nature of the sport.” Hume vividly conveys the sensory details of their adventures and the stunning surroundings where his daughters learned the trade, held dragonflies, collected hawk feathers, “watched bears chase spawning salmon” and “loons swim under our canoe, dark, fibrillating shadows suddenly there, then gone in a ripple of water.”
A heartfelt, beautifully written celebration of the wonders of nature and comfort of family.
