I just finished Jim Harrison’s latest full-length novel, Returning to Earth. It is the sequel to True North.

There was a time in my late 20s when I gobbled up Harrison’s novels like his characters go through brook trout and bourbon. The Road Home is in my permanent Top 10 Favorite Novels list and Harrison will always be high on my list of favorite authors — probably at the top of a list of Favorite Underappreciated Authors if I ever made one.

But True North and Returning to Earth didn’t “rattle my brainpan” (to use a Harrison expression) like the earlier books did. They were repetitive and a little tired. Still, I enjoyed them the way I enjoy music from a favorite even if some of the songs sound the same. Variations on a theme can still sound sweet.