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Mashkiki Rapids
By Anne Rud Miller.
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Two Bucks and a Can of Gas
By Robert R. Olson.
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Isle Royale Families Cookbook
By the Isle Royale Families & Friends Association.
Mashkiki Rapids
by Anne Rud Miller
Little Big Bay • ISBN: 978-0-9892822-0-8 • $14.95 Softcover
Nothing is better on a cold night than a warm tale, and with her first novel, Anne Rud Miller weaves a lovely heartwarmer.
Anne, from Ashland, Wisconsin, uses a north woods setting for the town of Mashkiki Rapids, named with the Ojibwe word for “medicine.” Healing is what young Elaine Reilly, single and pregnant, most needs as she heads to a home for unwed mothers in Duluth. On the train, she is befriended by a Korean War hero, and her life takes a dramatic turn in place and direction. She ends up working in a resort and with a life unimaginable when she boarded that train.
Anne creates characters with whom you enjoy spending time. Small towns, too, have their human intrigue and you get to know the virtuous and the villainous qualities of these residents. Most importantly, you grow to care about what happens to them.
It’s great to read a book with a deep sense of place and a benevolent sense of people. This book is a pleasureable excuse to ignore the subzeros outside and to spend time in a comfy chair reading away an afternoon.
Two Bucks and a Can of Gas
by Robert R. Olson
North Shore Press • ISBN: 978-0-9740207-5-4 • $14.95 Softcover
This story, as my dad might have said, is a hoot and a holler. Robert Olson’s reminiscences reflect the spirit of us who love to call our north woods region home.
In 1950s northern Minnesota, what could call to a teenage boy more than the wilderness north of Duluth and a Model A Ford to get you there? Robert’s written storytelling is much what you’d expect if he were knocking off a tale or two in the living room. It has moments of poetry and a fair bit of unsophisticated adventure. Just what you’d expect in the life of a teenage boy with the whole wilderness to explore.
Isle Royale Families Cookbook
A collection of recipes from summer residents 1886-2013
Isle Royale Families & Friends Association • $19.95 Softcover
This fundraiser book serves up generations of memories and the down-to-earth recipes you’d expect to come from a place with few amenities but intense love of land and water. The recipes are homestyle, and the diary excerpts, personal observations and photos are homespun.
The book is organized by the different islands in the archipelago that today makes up Isle Royale National Park. The land remains the spiritual center for descendants of fishing families who migrated there each summer to make hard-scrabble livings and family-rich lives. Proceeds support the Isle Royale Families and Friends Association, dedicated to preserving and continuing ties to the islands. It can be purchased on the association Facebook page or at our outlet store.
Books reviewed here, unless indicated, should be available through local booksellers by using the ISBN number.
