New Books: The Alaska Chronicles

An engaging new book — which I was fortunate enough to read an advance copy of — just appeared on electronic shelves. Miles Nolte’s The Alaska Chronicles (216 pages, hardcover) is derived from Nolte’s three seasons as a guide in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, and it is a nice departure from formulaic essays of the “my experiences as a fishing guide” type, perhaps because the author’s text began as entries posted live on The Drake message board. The first project out of Tosh Brown’s new Departure Publishing, the book is a guileless narrative of time spent catering to the needs of destination anglers, but it’s hard to tell who’s more dysfunctional or entertaining — the clients or the guides themselves. A fun read for sure.