Book: Fishing with My Father

Rarely do books with fishing in the title presume to be about angling, and Carolyn Keith Hopper’s Fishing with My Father (Carolyn Keith Hopper, $15) is no exception. Inspired by a stack of dust-covered letters she discovered while cleaning out her deceased father’s writing desk, Hopper pens a series of her own, grappling with what she perceived as his lack of visible affection for her. Seeking the affirmation she never received, Hopper embarks on a personal journey with her letters, taking her from late summer days casting dry flies on the Jefferson and Madison, to evenings fishing alongside bison in Yellowstone Park. Finding connection through their shared love of fly fishing, Hopper takes solace in the soothing waters of southwest Montana, as so many other anglers have done for generations. Hopper’s vivid and colorful descriptions of the landscape bring her letters to life, all the while asking her father, “Will you meet me in the river?”