Hey guys, which of Ruark's books has the quote about the Buf and him looking at you like you owe him money? I have never read a Ruark book but heard he was a good writer and need to get a present for my stepfather for Christmas. Lately he has been loving the Capstick books.

Other recommendations of things I might be able to track down at Borders or Barnes and Noble (or get shipped in time for Christmas I guess).

Thanks

Red

Red,

Not sure which book you want, but, Ruarks books are no way near as good as Capsticks.

In fact, I think I have never managed to finish a single book of Ruark's. I just could not get into them

Capsticks, on the other hand, are hard tp put down.

I'm just the opposite of Saeed. Ruark is my favorite writer when it comes to Africa. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I've read all of Capstick's books and I find him rather amateurish compared to Ruark, though I did enjoy the Capstick books.

Off hand, I can't remember which book has the Ruark quote about the Buff looking at you. The classic African safari book by Ruark is Horn of the Hunter. One of my all time favorites. The Buff quote might be in that one, but I'm not sure.

-Bob F.

If it's not in Horn of the Hunter it's in Use Enough Gun. Get both and solve the problem.

I enjoy both of the authors but see them as very different writers. Something of Value is one of my favorite books.

I found "Horn of the Hunter" to be a pretty good read. Haven't gotten around to Ruark's others yet.

Cheers,
Canuck

Maybe the reader must be American and probably from South of the Mason/Dixon line, but if you don't enjoy Ruark's "The Old Man and the Boy" you have no soul. I hate to fish and it made me go camping in August in Oklahoma just so I could have a fresh catch of fish to fry.

"Horn of the Hunter" is the best first safari book ever written and is a much more realistic depiction of life on safari than the adventures told by Capstick. PCH was the best at telling a tale and painting a picture with words.

Perry

One of my other favorite Ruark books is:

Robert Ruark's Africa
by Robert C. Ruark, edited by Michael McIntosh

A collection of some of Ruark's best magazine articles. A good book to read after Horn of the Hunter. If you're a Ruark fan, I highly recommend this one.

I also enjoyed:

The Lost Classics
by Robert Ruark, edited by Jim Casada

A further collection of some of Ruark's magazine articles (different ones than the Robert Ruark's Africa book).

-Bob F.

if he's liking crapstick, he would probably enjoy some of boddingtons stuff too

quote:

Originally posted by Dago Red:
Hey guys, which of Ruark's books has the quote about the Buf and him looking at you like you owe him money? I have never read a Ruark book but heard he was a good writer and need to get a present for my stepfather for Christmas. Lately he has been loving the Capstick books.

Other recommendations of things I might be able to track down at Borders or Barnes and Noble (or get shipped in time for Christmas I guess).

Thanks

Red

"Horn of the Hunter" is a great book. I could be wrong, but I believe the quote you are referring to was penned by Capstick. I have read several of his books, and, if I remember correctly, he actually uses the same quote in two of them. I think one of them was "Death in the Long Grass" and I can't remember the other book title.

Thanks guys, I thought the quote was Ruark because I saw it here in somebodies signature line and it is there as Ruark. I ordered him Horn of the Hunter.

Did the Spanish guy that is quoted as saying "we do not hunt to have killed, we kill to have hunted" write books or was a big game hunter?

There are lots of good books out there once you start looking.

Red

get the Jim Corbette collection from Safari Press......not Africa, but excellent

The Spanish guy I think you are talking about is Ortega y Gassett, Mediations on Hunting.

Capstick and Ruark are hard to compare as the two wrote during two different periods in African hunting. Ruark wrote about the old Africa where a few companies took the rich and famous out for 3-4 week hunts. His later writings lament the passing of that era and the independence of African Countries from colonial powers.

Capstick covered the period after Independence, increased travel, and the beginnning of Afican Hunting for many who thought it was out of reach.

As for the Ruark quote it comes from Horn of the Hunter. I am an unabashed fan of Ruark. The Old Man and the Boy is probably one of the best written books on the outdoors and growing up.

I was at a huge book sale this year and was able to find first edition copies of Uhuru and Something of Value in excellent condition for 3.00 each. Made my day.

I think that Ruark's best work is "SOMETHING OF VALUE" It's set in the Mau-Mau days in Kenya and also has quite a bit of hunting in it.
He was close enough to the mark that in later years, if I recall it right, Jomo Kenyatta had him declared 'persona non grata' in Kenya. Of course, that didn't keep him from going to Tanganyika.

The quote about the buff & the money is page 285 from "Horn Of The Hunter", BTW.

Rich Elliott

I heartily disagree with Saeed's comparison of Ruark vs. Capstick; in fact, I have eagerly read every book Ruark has written several times over and have finished but one of Capstick's (the biography of Richard Meinerzhagen, a truly fascinating character the tale of whose life Capstick managed to butcher and render almost unreadable). Different strokes for different folks. If your stepfather likes Capstick he may not like Ruark. One way to find out: start with either Ruark's "Horn of the Hunter" or "Something of Value".

The quote is definitely in "Use Enough Gun"

quote:

Originally posted by bulldog563:
The quote is definitely in "Use Enough Gun"

Yes, Page 96. "Use Enough Gun" is a collection of excerpts from other Ruark Books. The chapter the quote is found in is from "Horn....." The Chapter Following that one is from "Something Of Value" The main character is obviously inspired by Harry Selby. The next chapter is from "Uhuru". It's one of the best Leopard hunt stories ever put on paper.

Rich Elliott

I have enjoyed them all and have just finished Enough Gun.
Rich has it pegged.

The Old Man book was given to me by my son and I now have them all including a few copies from the magazine articles which are not used in the books.

I also have enjoyed all of Capsticks as well as Fionas' Diana files.
FRank

I agree with Frank!

The Old Man and the Boy" Is a great read. If you haven't read it you need to read it! If your son hasn't read it, give him a copy for Christmas!

43 years ago my uncle, Guy Anderson, shoved a copy in hands with his usual stern admonishment, "Read this!"

To this day I cannot read the last page without tears in my eyes!

"Use Enough Gun", along with BFaucett's list is a great start on a Ruark library!

I had been wondering which book that was in myself.

I just finished Horn Of The Hunter and could not put it down. He might have been a better shot if hadn't drank so much "aiming fluid" every day.

Yeah, Ruark's alcoholism was a real pity. I believe he died at age 49; a real shame. I wonder what books he might have written had he lived longer. But, he did leave us some great hunting tales.

BTW: two excellent biographies of Ruark are:

A View From a Tall Hill: Robert Ruark in Africa
by Terry Wieland.

and

Someone of Value: A Biography of Robert Ruark
by Hugh Foster

-Bob F.

It is both "Horn of thed Hunter" & "Use Enough Gun".

I wish I would have read "Horn of the Hunter" first.

"Use enough Gun" reprints about 1/3 of "Horn of the Hunter".

Both are good books though.

I like the term " the first scotch of the day" found in Ruark's Horn of the Hunter. bill439

Use Enough Gun. (Of Course) Horn of the Hunter, Uhuru, Something of Value (which was also produced as a movie starring Rock Hudson), Robert Ruark's Africa, The Old Man and the Boy, are all good. You can also pick up Ruark's Lost Classics as well. All of them are worth reading, especially Something of Value and Uhuru (even though they are fiction based upon real events) if you want to understand the history and politics behind yesterday's and today's Africa, and where we are headed for the future on the Dark Continent.

I like both Capstick and Ruark. Ones thing for sure though, they both have a very different feel. Sometimes I am in the mood for Ruark, other times Capstick. Ruark just has something that connects with Americans or maybe the American ideals.

I'm with Bulldog. I like both and have, and have read, nearly every book that the two of them have written. It just depends on your mood. Each writer has a distinctive style and feeling. I have also read Hemingway and Roosevelt. Again, it depends on the individual's taste in African writers.

The Old Man and the Boy is fantastic and is a must read for anyone that remembers their childhood or loves the great outdoors.

I like Horn of the Hunter better than Use Enough Gun (which was published after he died from articles he had written, wasn't it?), but think both should be read, they are classics.

My understanding was Ruark penned the famous line first from "Suicide Made Easy" published in Field and Stream, January 1954.

Quote:
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I lurched up and looked at Mbogo, and Mbogo looked at me. He was 50 to 60 yards off, his head low, his eyes staring right down my soul. He looked at me as if he hated my guts. He looked as if I had despoiled his finacee, murdered his mother and burned down his house. He looked at me as if I owed him money. I never saw such malevolence in the eyes of any animal or human being, before or since. So I shot him.
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A quote from Ruark that is not as well known (at least nowadays) but one that I think is great:

"There is a bloody brave little animal in Africa called the honey badger. It may be the meanest animal in the world. It kills for malice and for sport, and it does not go for the jugular - it goes straight for the groin. It has a hell of a lot in common with the modern American woman."

from The Honey Badger (1965) by Robert Ruark



-Bob F.

quote:

Originally posted by BFaucett:
A quote from Ruark that is not as well known (at least nowadays) but one that I think is great:

"There is a bloody brave little animal in Africa called the honey badger. It may be the meanest animal in the world. It kills for malice and for sport, and it does not go for the jugular - it goes straight for the groin. It has a hell of a lot in common with the modern American woman."

from The Honey Badger (1965) by Robert Ruark



-Bob F.

Thats the last thing I would want to happen at a remote camp..Make that anywhere. A Honey Badger running around with the family jewels in its belly is not a good thought.

quote:

Originally posted by degoins:
get the Jim Corbette collection from Safari Press......not Africa, but excellent

I have read a bunch of Africa books - Capstick, Ruark, Hemmingway, Roosevelt and many others.

The best, in my opinion, are anything written by Jim Corbett and Selous. These guys were incredible.

Do not waste any money on 'Pondoro' Taylor - pathetic. He fantasized too much for me.

Bell's book about elephant hunting was excellent.

Ruark is ok, but nothing special to me. His safari sounded like a drinking binge combined with a little hunting. His wife seemed to be a bimbo - maybe I missed something but I would rate Ruark as average.

I've read and fully enjoyed Ruark. I owe him my fascination with Africa today, 42 years after reading my first book by him. Coincidentally, while on horseback safari in Botswana spent the night in Harry Selby's tent!
I bought Capstick to read on the plane from LAX to Joburg last year. Each chapter was a carbon copy of the previous, just change the animal/location (yawn). I intentionally left it at Heathrow. Am reading Horn of tthe Hunter now. Very good so far.
Dave

Adventures of an Elephant Hunter by Sutherland, All Bell's books that I have read so far, Ivory by Sanchez are all very good.

I thoroughly enjoy all of Corbetts books as well.