BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 148: Read 'A River Runs Through It' by Norman Maclean

I guess the first time that I ever heard of “A River Runs Through It” was in 1992 when the motion picture version of the story hit theaters. Since then, I’ve seen this book listed on numerous “best of” lists, which is why I added it to my “bucket list” a couple of years ago. I finished reading it on Saturday, and it more than lived up to its reputation as a great story.

“A River Runs Through It” was originally published in May 1976 in a book called “A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.” The edition that I read was the 217-page paperback edition published by the University of Chicago Press in September 1992. In addition to “A River Runs Through It,” the book also included two other stories, “Logging and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim’ and “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook and the Hole in the Sky.”

On its surface, “A River Runs Through It” is about fly fishing and how the sport impacts the lives and thinking of a small, religious family living in Montana in the late 1930s. The story is funny in parts and very sad in parts, and I hated to see it end, even though I kind of knew how it was going to turn out. I won’t spoil the ending for anyone who hasn’t read it.

As mentioned, you’ll find “A River Runs Through It” on numerous “best of” lists. In 2002, “Sports Illustrated” magazine ranked it No. 11 on its list of “Top 100 Sports Books of All Time,” and in 2011, the Web site, “The Art of Manliness” ranked it No. 79 on a list they called “100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library.” Another of Maclean’s books, “Young Men and Fire,” was also ranked No. 19 on “Outside” magazine’s list of “25 Best Adventure Books of the Last 100 Years.”

If you’re like me, you were probably first exposed to “A River Runs Through It” thanks to the motion picture adaptation of the story. That film was released in October 1992 and was directed, co-produced and narrated by Robert Redford. The movie starred Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Before I wrap this thing up, I feel I should say a few words about the other two stories in the book with “A River Runs Through It.” “Logging and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim’” was also a good story, but I thoroughly enjoyed “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook and the Hole in the Sky.” If I didn’t know anything about any of the three stories and read them for the first time, I’d probably pick “USFS 1919” as my personal favorite. It was more of an adventure story in the vein of Jack London.

In the end, how many of you have read “A River Runs Through It”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.