The Round House, by Louise Erdrich

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

Louise Erdrich did not set this book in Minnesota, but it was in North Dakota (hi, Neighbor!); and we of course want to celebrate all Minnesota-connected authors! For our map, we are locating this book in the town she was born: Little Falls, Minnesota. (The fact that this town is in the CMLE system, and all their local libraries are CMLE members, is just a wonderful addition!!)

From Goodreads:

“An exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family.

One of the most revered novelists of our time – a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life – Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with The Round House, transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever transforms his family.

Riveting and suspenseful, arguably the most accessible novel to date from the creator of Love Medicine, The Beet Queen, and The Bingo Palace, Erdrich’s The Round House is a page-turning masterpiece of literary fiction – at once a powerful coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a tender, moving novel of family, history, and culture. “

A Year in the Wilderness: Bearing Witness in the Boundary Waters

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

This husband and wife team plan to spend a year canoeing, hiking, and camping around the Boundary Waters. It is a fun book – lots of planning, lots of adventure. And the photographs are just beautiful; this is an amazing place to see, and the photographs alone are worth the time you can take to browse through this book.  The Boundary Waters is a treasure of the state of Minnesota, and you will enjoy this opportunity to have an adventure through this book!

From Amazon:

“Since its establishment as a federally protected wilderness in 1964, the Boundary Waters has become one of our nation’s most valuable―and most frequently visited―natural treasures. When Amy and Dave Freeman learned of toxic mining proposed within the area’s watershed, they decided to take action―by spending a year in the wilderness, and sharing their experience through video, photos, and blogs with an audience of hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. This book tells the deeper story of their adventure in northern Minnesota: of loons whistling under a moonrise, of ice booming as it forms and cracks, of a moose and her calf swimming across a misty lake.

With the magic―and urgent―message that has rallied an international audience to the campaign to save the Boundary Waters, A Year in the Wilderness is a rousing cry of witness activism, and a stunning tribute to this singularly beautiful region.”