BIBLIOFILE
There's More to Fishing (Than Catching Fish)
by Tom Alkire
(Frank Amato Publications, 179 pages, $24.95)

It's been years since I've landed a wily smallmouth bass, but within a few pages of Tom Alkire's first book, I could feel the unmistakable tug of the line. Riding on the westbound MAX, I felt my pulse quicken and I swear I could smell the sweet jack pine pollen blowing across Alton Lake, 2,000 miles away in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. Such is the power of fishing--and Alkire's ability to translate the experience to the page.

Alkire, a Portland business writer and former WW contributor, has crafted a book that is full of practical advice and fly-fishing history (including a wonderful section on the Deschutes River). The book's strength, however, is Alkire's thoughts on what makes angling such a powerfully evocative avocation. Drawing largely on his own experiences in the Pacific Northwest waterways, Alkire manages to tell stories that are not only personal, but universal as well. In the process, he says quite a lot about the camaraderie of sportsmen, the unwritten code of the river and our relationship with nature.

"Truth takes a back seat on any angling journey," Alkire writes in a passage explaining why anglers' perpetual optimism isn't often matched with accuracy. "But real yarn spinning begins when you communicate with others, especially strangers. Seldom has there been a truthful answer to the streamside query: 'How's fishing?'"

The shift between instruction and reflection is jarring at times; it may frustrate fly fishermen seeking a how-to manual and baffle readers who never advanced beyond bamboo and bobber. But overall, the book's tranquil pacing and alluring imagery are sure to hook the addicted angler and occasional worm-wetter alike.
John Schrag

The Brewpub Explorer of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition
by Hudson Dodd, Matthew Latterell and Ina Zucker
(JASI, 256 pages, $16.95)

Cataloging the multitude of breweries and brewpubs in the Northwest is a gargantuan task, and the Brewpub Explorer does a commendable job considering the problems it's up against. In the rapidly changing craft-beer scene, with breweries opening and closing in revolving-door fashion, it's hard to keep ahead of the pack.

Much like a computer program manual, this book borders on being out of date already, though just published. It still lists the likes of Lake Oswego's dear, departed Saxer brewery, and the Hollywood district flash-in-the-pan The Old World, but it skips over the fabulous Crannóg Ales brewery in Sorrento, B.C., in operation since January.

That aside, the Explorer is a great resource for the beer tourist. The reviews are well written and completely capture the atmosphere of the pubs. Histories of the various brewing companies are given, as is the heritage of the buildings they occupy, whether they were auto shops, power stations or rope factories. There's also an informative history of Portland's microbrewing revolution, giving due credit to the Horse Brass Pub for its early promotion of English and German beers.

Broken down into regions, the book suggests some epic pub crawls or great beer tours. But the most valuable feature of the Brewpub Explorer is the listings of breweries off the beaten path, such as Eliot Glacier, in the hamlet of Parkdale between Hood River and Government Camp.

Craft-brewing has truly inundated the Northwest. No matter where you go within the region, locally made beer is not far off. The new edition of the Brewpub Explorer will help lead you to these fine watering holes. Abram Goldman-Armstrong

Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin
by Mel Gordon, designed by Sean Tejaratchi
(Feral House, 267 pages, $29.95)

We live in a sexually bold society--or so we are pleased to believe. Prudes rue our moral decay while libertines revel in the processed potty-talk of Sex in the City. But as Mel Gordon's stunning collection of photographs, art, slang, slander and pop-soc pondering proves, we are as lambs compared to the libidinal wolves that stalked 1920s Berlin.

After its defeat in World War I, Germany shucked both monarchy and mores. A desperate sexual euphoria swept the former Reich, and the ever-decadent urban swamp of Berlin offered a prime habitat for infestation. During the Weimar Republic, Berlin throbbed with erotic intensity, from quasi-fascist nudism to a singular fascination with Lustmord, or sexual murder. Panic's lushly illustrated pages map a steaming Gomorrah of free-market pleasure; a quagmire of sex clubs, brothels and thug dives like the Blue Stocking, the Moustache Lounge, Cabaret of the Nameless.

Berlin was a haven for queers, transvestites and other sexual non-conformists. Gordon's accounts of these communities are sympathetic but thankfully unsentimental. His fast and hard-boiled tone celebrates Berlin's freedoms without overlooking its deformities. Ultimately, Voluptuous Panic is as much a snapshot of a society flying apart as a celebration of a libertarian Valhalla. Of course, fascism's gangster politics and orgiastic violence forms the book's sad coda. Gordon is unsparing in depicting the death of his piratical paradise.

Aside from a clutter of typos, Gordon's book should satisfy urban history junkies and those intrigued by collisions of sex, politics and subculture. People who dig high-quality vintage smut might take a look as well. It's far sexier than anything on TV. Zach Dundas