Month of April 2022: Celebrity Profile

Wow! How unexpected! This is now one of my top celebrity memoirs I’ve read to date. I never really cared for Henry Winkler because of the “Fonzie” stigma, from his Happy Days character, I’ve attached to him. How unfair and wrong I was judging him personally!

This book is a keeper and now belongs on my all-time most favorites book shelf. It is more of a memoir than an autobiography on his reflections and memories of his family and his photography and his yearly fly-fishing expeditions at Firehole Ranch in Montana, which he is absolutely obsessed with. Never have I enjoyed learning about fly-fishing than right here in Henry’s own, very simple and humorous, words.

His story about his photography is hilarious! He started out with a point and shoot. Then, his family purchased him a fancy Minolta with removable lenses. He admits to never ever learning how to use that camera and has never taken it off automatic. He’s read the manual and sleeps with it under his pillow. He at least has a good eye for composition. I don’t even have that.

I have a fancy Nikon with several lenses, one costing me $600…you know, so I can get those good close-ups of birds or any other kind of animal. I’ve read the manual, went through photography group classes on Facebook, purchased other books for dummies on using the Nikon, and have practiced, practiced, practiced shooting EVERYTHING under the sun and feel like I now know my camera pretty well. Still, here I am, several YEARS later…when I go out to shoot wild aquatic birds (pelicans, seagulls, great herons, etc…), I can’t remember crap. My fingers are turning every knob this way and that way, trying to get a descent light or a descent picture. You don’t get second chances when it comes to nature. I may take 500 shots on any given day and like only one or two…or none at all. Hell, even my husband can take better pictures than me when on vacation using his iPhone… ( )

Though it may appear at first that this is a book on fly fishing, it’s really so much more. Henry Winkler divulges some aspects of his life that were not the most pleasant, but he does it with humor and without complaint. Readers learn a bit about fly fishing, and even though we may never go fly fishing, it was still enjoyable to read. We meet his family, and learn of Henry’s attempts to get them to like fly fishing as much as he does. (Not possible.) Some of the book is about life lessons, but it never sounds preachy. Interspersed with the delightful prose are many full color pictures taken by Henry on his travels. These gorgeous pictures of land and water are inspiring reminders of the wonderful world God gave us. This is book you will want to peruse more than once. Wishing everyone “tight lines.” ( )

I probably would not have chosen this book to read, but it is the "One Book Billings" selection for November 2013. This program has allowed me to read some selections I would not otherwise have chosen on my own.
Henry Winkler is the author of this book. Better known to millions as "The Fonz" from Happy Days television. This book is a reflection on how his life has changed and how much he values his family, his retreats to the rivers of Montana and Idaho and now his photography. The book was a quick read, but interesting and presents a much different picture from the television persona.