Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/528216
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 8 7 o o k s B Jim Casada I cannot recall when I first read something by Steve Bodio, though most likely it was either his book Good Guns (1986) or one of his incisive, entertaining, and sometimes acidic book columns in Grey's Sporting Journal. Whatever the case, I've consistently admired his work for three decades or so. Beyond his undoubted abilities as a wordsmith, his diversity of subjects and quirkiness of his fervent interests have always appealed to me. My Grandpa Joe, a strange old curmudgeon whom I greatly adored, once mused: "A man needs some grand, unusual enthusiasms." Steve Bodio possesses them in abundance. Periodically over the lifetime of this column the thought has occurred to me: "You really need to devote one issue to Steve Bodio's work." Somehow it just never happened. Finally, an inquiry from him spurred by one of my columns changed all that, and what follows is a long overdue tribute to a writer whose literary interests and sporting loves harken back to the great Victorian traveler and polymath, Sir Richard Francis Burton. Once we established contact through a letter, a lively exchange of emails ensued. Much of our correspondence, if emails can truly be styled correspondence, has focused on our respective thoughts regarding the literature of nature, travel, and sport. Early on in our exchange I learned of Bodio's book, A Sportsman's Library: 100 Essential, Engaging, Offbeat, and Occasionally Odd Fishing and Hunting Books for the Adventurous Reader (Lyons Press, 2013). Reading through its pages, I was simultaneously delighted and dismayed, at one moment scrambling to order a work missing from my personal collection and the next wondering how Bodio could possibly have the temerity to omit personal favorites such as Archibald Rutledge, J. K. Stanford, Havilah Babcock, Tom Kelly, Edmund Ware Smith, Charlie Elliott, and Townsend Whelen (many did merit mention without appearing among his top 100). Or in the case of Robert Ruark, how could he choose Something of Value instead of The Old Man and the Boy? In truth, listing favorite books can invite sharp differences of opinion among readers of sporting titles. With all of these considerations in mind, Steve Bodio's books reflect his many passions—for training falcons, coursing dogs, raising pigeons, collecting fine guns and reviewing sporting titles. Steve Bodio is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable collector of vintage sporting guns.