I don't know for sure when I bought this book. But it's a hardback, and it was published in 2001, so I'm guessing that I bought it 24 years ago. There was a bookmark on page 38. I am at a loss to understand why I would have stopped there since I know I was enjoying the book immensely, but 2001 wasn't an easy year. I had gotten divorced from my first wife at the end of 1999 and started dating the woman who would soon become my second wife in the middle of 2000...plus 2001 was the year I left Ballard High School to teach at DuPont Manual, so things were a little tumultuous. Maybe the world just swamped me. At any rate, I'm here now.
404 pages. 404 beautiful pages. As I recall, the paperback version had black and white fish pictures at the chapter headings, and only black ink was used for the text. Let's check on that.
Yep. But check out the same pages from the hardback edition:
This isn't the best example, since the colors are rather muted, but the sea horse is brown, as is the text. And exactly of the subsequent chapters begins with a lovely picture of a fish, and then the text of that chapter is in a new color. Pretty cool, huh? And here's some good news: you can get a copy of that hardcover version for $6.09 (in Like New condition) from the lively folks at Thrift Books. That's $21.41 less than I paid for it 24 years ago.
But enough about me. Its time to Light This Candle!
Day 1 (DDRD 2,856), August 26, 2025
Read to page 40.
On page 2: "Perhaps as a poor Portuguese peasant girl sees the Madonna because she doesn't wish to see anything else, I too long to be blind to my own world." (2) Was that a reference to the little shepherd Lucia at the Fatima Marian appearance? Sure, sounds like it...and my daughter and I have read over a dozen books and watched a half-dozen movies on Fatima. No need to wonder, though, as half a page later we get this: "So maybe the new Fatima is somewhere in the vast wastelands of the Revesby Worker's Club...." (3)
So yes.
How's this for a premise: man finds a book entitled Gould's Book of Fish. He reads it obsessively, but as he gets to end the pages become damp, then the book becomes a puddle of brackish water. The man becomes obsessed with "finding" it, is unsuccessful, and decides to rewrite the book. So Gould's Book of Fish is a book about a man writes a book called Gould's Book of Fish which is based on a book called Gould's Book of Fish.
That's my kind of book.
"Perhaps reading and writing books is one of the last defences human dignity has left, because in the end they remind us of what God once reminded us before He too evaporated in this age of relentless humiliations — that we are more than ourselves, that we have souls. And more, moreover. Or perhaps not." (28)
🐠
Day 2 (DDRD 2,857), August 27, 2025
Read to page 76.
Strange thing. As previously noted, there was a bookmark at page 38. Yet this morning when I was reading, there was a description of an incident on page 42 that I remembered reading. 🤫
Page 47: a mention of "Billy Blake." Ahhhh. Im pretty sure I didn't get this far before, as I'd have remembered Mr. Blake.
Page 60: a mention of George Keats reference his scheme of "running a steamboat any tiny Kentucky hamlet." As it happens(-ed), George was the younger brother of poet John Keats. George ended up in Louisville, and there is a Keats Avenue in Clifton, where I used to live. Small 🌎, ennit?
Just bumped into a short video clip of Richard Flanagan which was quite good:
https://youtu.be/UBxRJdFeApQ?si=Kskhk_3og6Vf966U
Found that on my way to finding a Complete Richard Flanagan Bibliohraphy:
Novels
Death of a River Guide (1994) LFPL
The Sound of One Hand Clapping (1997)
Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish (2001) LFPL
The Unknown Terrorist (2006) LFPL
Wanting (2008) LFPL
The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013) LFPL
First Person (2017) LFPL
The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (2020) LFPL
Non-fiction
(1985) A Terrible Beauty: History of the Gordon River Country
(1990) The Rest of the World Is Watching: Tasmania and the Greens (co-editor)
(1991) Codename Iago: The Story of John Friedrich (co-writer)
(1991) "Parish-Fed Bastards": A History of the Politics of the Unemployed in Britain, 1884–1939
(2011) And What Do You Do, Mr Gable?
(2015) Notes on an Exodus
(2018) Seize the Fire: Three Speeches
(2021) Toxic: The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmania Salmon Industry
(2023) Question 7 LFPL
Films
(1998) The Sound of One Hand Clapping (director and screenwriter)
(2008) Australia (co-writer) LFPL
So there's a respectable body of work, eh? And many of them (as noted) are available via LFPL. Just sayin', sir.
Hmmm...I'm enjoying these fish books So Much. What shall I read next?
Day 3 (DDRD 2,858), August 28, 2025
Read to page 118.
Btw, in case you (like I) didn't know...
palliasse
noun
pal·liasse pal-ˈyas
: a thin straw mattress used as a pallet
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palliasse
Day 4 (DDRD 2,859), August 29, 2025
Read to page 155.
Day 5 (DDRD 2,860), August 30, 2025
Read to page 185.
I'm not about to quit or anything...but the brilliant promise of this novel has faded to a tea candle in a very dark room. Not quite tedious...but headed in that direction. Still hoping
for Miss Ankke-Strap Wedgie to Resurge.
Day 6 (DDRD 2,861), August 31, 2025
Read to page 215.
Day 7 (DDRD 2,862), September 1, 2025
Read to page 245.
"...it had, like all events of spiritual significance when degraded through intimacy & repetition, been reduced to the sadly diminished realm of art, even entertainment." (244)
Day 8 (DDRD 2,863), September 2, 2025
Read to page 275.
Day 9 (DDRD 2,864), September 3, 2025
Read to page 305. Three days. 99 🍺 on the wall....
The discovery of the secret library has perked me up a bit, but honestly, I'm ready for this book to be over. The first chapter was great, but it's been downhill since then. Though I do still like the fish paintings. On the other hand, my need for more fish stories has definitely dissipated. I'm thinking it's time to get back to Jesus.
Day 10 (DDRD 2,865), September 4, 2025
Read to page 343.
Day 11 (DDRD 2,866), September 5, 2025
Read to page 373.
I was pretty sure that this book had a sewn binding, but I wasn't seeing any stitches. So I looked harder, and indeed, there are 6 stitches per set of pages. Well done. The quality of this book is exceptional. Unfortunately, the contents have proven to be unexceptional. Sad.
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