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Birchbark Blog

At Last!

Louise Erdrich - Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Dearly Beloved Customers From Minneapolis and Saint Paul,

Reading back through the logs and posts after a long (wasn't it almost endless) winter I came across Janet's comment -- have I missed thanking the customers from The Most Romantic City in the World -- and the Equally Most Romantic City in the World -- our Twin Cities?  You have brought our little ship through the doldrums of January.   Or, you know, that very quiet time in January.   I am in a twelve step Patrick O'Brian resistance program but have occasional relapses into sailor talk.  Thank you brave book lovers who set your spankers and ventured out into the one way streets paved with ice.  Thank you for coming to Birchbark Books.  
 
I had to turn to William Trevor because I was in irons with the British Royal Navy. Love and Summer is a small gem of characterization, rural self containment and quiet pain.  Again, this book the choice of March's book club, I was enthralled by those who shared a homage to the Irish meal and talked about the book.  What a pleasure it was.  The next book choice is Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel.  Our Celebrity Host will be the marvelous cookbook writer and great reader -- Beth Dooley.  With Katherine Viegel of the Kenwood Cafe, they are inventing a meal right off the royal table of Henry VIII.  I thought that everything possible had been written that could be written with wicked relish about that period of history, but no.  Wolf Hall.  Oh no.  From the Napoleonic Wars into the marital savagery of Tudor England!  Another purely addictive read.

Entirely on another note -- the language activist, Bemidji State Professor, author and all around wonderful Anton Treuer visited to read from and lecture on his book.  Recently published by The Minnesota Historical Society Press, Ojibwe in Minnesota is a distinct achievement.  This book finally, AT LAST, serves as the perfect text to introduce Ojibwe history here in Minnesota.  Treuer manages to pack a world into each sentence.  This is the perfect book for anyone curious about the Ojibwe, the perfect book for those who want to consolidate understanding of the Ojibwe, the perfect book for . . . well, everyone.  I wish that this book was required reading for living here in Minnesota.  

Mike and Niizhoo Sullivan sang a great hand drum song before the Anton Treuer reading.  Look up Niizhoo on You Tube.  His singing will blow you away and make you happy.  He is five years old.  Kudos to Mike for pursuing his doctorate in linguistics at the U and for singing with his son and passing on these moving, exquisite, lovely Ojibwe songs.

If I wrote blogs more often they would be shorter.  This has been a week of At Lasts -- health reform, after all.  Tune in to Bill Moyer's Journal this Friday, March 26, for what I am sure will be a valiant attempt to parse what just happened.

Yours for books,

Louise

Comments
Axsel Bjorklund commented on 26-Mar-2010 07:11 AM
Please continue your blog. I enjoy it. The bookstore is an oasis. I picked up a book of your poems recently. In it was a poem called "Asiniig" I've been going back to read it from time to time. A good corrective for some mistaken thinking on my part. Thank you. I am 70 years old.
Ann commented on 27-Mar-2010 08:55 AM
AT LAST, "health care reform", I think not but we will see.
Not as fortunate as Axsel to have 70 years of learning but
have had mistaken thinking, and still searching in books.
Loved Heid's writing about BEAR BUTTE and confused about government
selling and closing parks and monuments, now.
What is up with Sauke Center City Council selling Sinclair Lewis
INT center?
Anonymous commented on 08-Apr-2010 11:29 AM
Look forward to seeing you on Bill Moyers, Louise. Thanks for all you through your writing & store. My post: http://petuniagirl.blogspot.com/
Jim Bradner commented on 12-Apr-2010 09:13 AM
I was spellbound by the Moyers interview and it brought several questions to my mind, particularly since you have also collaborated with Louis Gates. I immediately wondered as to what research has been done to establish commonalities between the Athabascan dialects and the languages of the northern American and Southwestern US indian tribes. This thought is centered around the concept that all the indigenous peoples of the North American Contintent arrived via the Asian landbridge which ceased to exist several thousands of years ago. My other thoughts went to the mutually shared reverence that you and the late Tony Hillerman shared regarding the spiritual and philosphophical values of our orginal inhabitants. You both had German forebears, a Roman Catholic childhood, and attended Indian schools. And you both felt compelled to write! I wondered if the two of you had ever met, corresponded, or whatever. My other assiduously read author who hangs his hat in your neck of the woods (literally) is John Camp/Sandford. The northern Indian tribes figure either prominently or in passing in many of his novels. I have never been further north than Madison (except for a brief foray into North Dakota to see where Colonel Custer foolishly and arrogantly sacrificed his cavalrymen), but I feel the urge coming on. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on life with us. Pretty strong stuff. I was almost overwhelmed at times.
Anonymous commented on 20-Apr-2010 09:53 PM
I loved reading "Shadow Tag." Thank you for writing it. Its tone reminds me of "The Lovely Bones" in terms of how the plot develops. The tension between individual thought and perceptions of other people's thoughts can be, as the characters observe, constant chaos. Shadows are perplexing metaphors for trauma. I finished reading this novel today. The ending was like standing next to a blizzard--being a witness and observer at the same time. I loved being in this fictional family's home due to the truth of their experiences. I just found the link to the Moyers interview, so will watch it now.
Roxann Dorweiler commented on 12-Jun-2010 02:26 PM
Wwe three girlfriends from HS (St. Joseph's Academy) for lo these many years had a great visit at Birchbark in May. Swore not to buy books, just look (at 69 one;s shelves are ready for weeding, not re-supply! In any case we didn't make it through that plan...I came away with 2 absolutely gorgeously illustrated and written Navajo books for my 3 y/o Navajo great-niece. Her Daddy is an painter himself and I can imagine the pleasure the two will share on many different levels as he reads to her. She spends a day a week with her Navajo Nallee working with sheep, so the illustrations will be keenly clear to her. And Monica Ali's new book...is that diverse enough for book shopping!
PS Google's directions were less than perfect. We kept almost getting there, but not quite-we should have asked the garbage man working up the twisted block.
Rebecca Fredricksen commented on 09-Jul-2010 03:32 PM
I just completed reading the final pages of "Shadow Tag". Powerful, gut wrenching prose.Thank you.
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