(Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories)

It's not that I don't give Hemingway any chances. Last time I started with the traumatizing "Indian Camp" and gave up after "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife".

"Big Two-Hearted River" is making me rethink my wish to read "The River Runs Throught It".

• a big trout shot upstream in a long angle, only his shadow marking the angle, then lost his shadow as he came through the surface of the water, caught the sun, and then, as he went back into the stream under the surface, his shadow seemed to float down the stream with the current unresisting, to his post under the bridge where he tightened facing up into the current.
• As far down the long stretch as he could see, the trout were rising, making circles all down the surface of the water, as though it were starting to rain.While he was picking up the hoppers the others warmed in the sun and commenced to hop away.
• He had wet his hand before he touched the trout, so he would not disturb the delicate mucus that covered him. If a trout was touched with a dry hand, a white fungus attacked the unprotected spot.
• He did not want to rush his sensations any.
• He ate the sandwiches and dipped his hat full of water to drink, the water running out through his hat just ahead of his drinking.