Book Review - Beside a Carp Water - Notes from the margins - Jon Edy-Berry
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:02 am
Let me say from the off I know the author, I fish with him, he is a dear friend and some of the recollections that can be found within the pages of his new book I have heard before. Usually whilst we have sat together water-side with a cuppa. I even feature in one of the chapters but most are new to me and are of a time before our friendship began, they speak volumes of the man I now know, respect and admire.
I met Jon shortly after he had completed his first book “A Can of Worms” which detailed the history of barbel and the men who fished for them. I was immediately hooked on his writing style. Beneath the Black Water followed, a book that for me redefined obsession and determination. His third – A Train to Catch – is one which I have no doubt would make a great TV series given the current vogue of celebrity rail adventurers.
Enough of Jon’s past prose what about this new book. The style is unmistakeable, an economy of words, self effacing, observant, witty and honest. The one thing all of Jon’s books have in common is that they possess something of his self, he puts it out there warts and all and that takes guts. Beside a Carp Water differs from the others in that the overall tone of the book is much lighter and I think that has a great deal to do with his new found contentment – the love of a good woman and fatherhood suit him.
I am not going to give anything away other than to say that the chapters relate to his boyhood and his development as an angler through to adulthood. The waters he encounters on the way provide the backdrop for two guest chapters from our very own Nigel “Fennel” Hudson and Stu “The Sweetcorn Kid” Harris, their differing styles providing an interesting counterpoint to Jon’s.
If you set the time aside you will easily read this book in one sitting, I stopped myself at the midpoint as I didn’t want it to end, so I delayed the inevitable and rationed myself to a chapter a day. It would make a great gift for any angler and for partners too, it might just help them understand what drives the carp fisher.
I met Jon shortly after he had completed his first book “A Can of Worms” which detailed the history of barbel and the men who fished for them. I was immediately hooked on his writing style. Beneath the Black Water followed, a book that for me redefined obsession and determination. His third – A Train to Catch – is one which I have no doubt would make a great TV series given the current vogue of celebrity rail adventurers.
Enough of Jon’s past prose what about this new book. The style is unmistakeable, an economy of words, self effacing, observant, witty and honest. The one thing all of Jon’s books have in common is that they possess something of his self, he puts it out there warts and all and that takes guts. Beside a Carp Water differs from the others in that the overall tone of the book is much lighter and I think that has a great deal to do with his new found contentment – the love of a good woman and fatherhood suit him.
I am not going to give anything away other than to say that the chapters relate to his boyhood and his development as an angler through to adulthood. The waters he encounters on the way provide the backdrop for two guest chapters from our very own Nigel “Fennel” Hudson and Stu “The Sweetcorn Kid” Harris, their differing styles providing an interesting counterpoint to Jon’s.
If you set the time aside you will easily read this book in one sitting, I stopped myself at the midpoint as I didn’t want it to end, so I delayed the inevitable and rationed myself to a chapter a day. It would make a great gift for any angler and for partners too, it might just help them understand what drives the carp fisher.