The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

Joe Talbert is in college at the University of Minnesota and he has been just given a writing assignment that is going to change his life.  He has been assigned to write a biography of a complete stranger.  Fate leads him to a nursing home and nurses point him toward a resident who is dying of cancer.  The nurses don't really like this patient, because he is a convicted rapist and murderer who spent 30 years behind bars.

Throw in an autistic brother, a cute girl who lives next door and who won't make eye contact with you, an alcoholic bi-polar mother and you have a really big problem that is sure to keep you up late at night.

Carl Iverson's life is coming to an end and he needs a confessor. Someone who will listen to his side of the story.  In walks this kid, who wants to interview Carl about his life's story.  Carl isn't sure he can trust him with the truth but he is going to take a chance.  What the heck, at the very least this kid can learn a little bit about his experience as a Vietnam Vet and give him something to do during the day.  It will feel good to rid himself of the guilt that has been plaguing him all these years.

Allen Eskens has written a page turning mystery with characters you care about and who grab you and won't let go. The Life We Bury is the type of novel that everyone will enjoy, full of complex characters, a kickass storyline, with a little love and a lot of crazy thrown in.   This debut novel will grab you right from the first page. The Life We Bury is full of grit and guilt, twists and turns and I could not read it fast enough.

The Life We Bury has been nominated for a Edgar Allen Poe Award, the Minnesota Book Award, and the Rosebud Award.  So many awards, so little time.  I predict he wins all of them.  I also predict a movie.  The Life We Bury would make a great movie.

The Life We Bury has taken my school, South High School, by storm and word of mouth has everyone reading it.  So get with the program.  

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

Brooklyn, Burning is the type of book that only comes along once in awhile and burns its beautiful story into your heart.

Kid is a teen runaway and so is Scout.  They meet outside of Fish's bar in Brooklyn and develop a relationship while they try and survive on the streets.  Both play instruments and make beautiful music together that is raw and creative.

Kid used to sleep in the old warehouse down by the river but it burned.  The authorities suspect arson and Kid is their prime suspect.  Kid is reeling from the loss of first love and is trying to find the strength to move on and is thinking maybe jail would be the right punishment.  Yet Scout is always there when needed and maybe the truth will actually set you free.

The story is narrated by Kid whose gender is undefined, in fact for both Kid and Scout, you don't know whether they are boy or girl, gay or straight.  Brooklyn, Burning is written without pronouns for the main characters.  It is an interesting way to read a novel and I loved it.  I love how Brezenoff experiments with gender and makes a statement about love and transcendance.  At its heart Brooklyn, Burning is a love story.  Yet this love story makes you think about gender stereotypes and how teens and people define themselves.

Brezenoff's writing is poetic and original.  I like a writer that takes risks and gets creative.  The characters of Kid and Scout are endearing and you will fall in love with them as they throw off societal labels.

I loved this story of non-conformity.

Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi

Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi
With Graphics by Craig Phillips

Chasing Shadows blends genres between its pages of prose and graphic art.  It begins with Holly, Corey and Savitri freerunning on the streets of Chicago and little do they know that their lives are about to change forever.   Holly and Corey are twins and Savitri is Holly's best friend and Corey's girlfriend.  They are intimately connected.  As they drive home, the unthinkable happens.

A Gunman.
Bullets.
Blood.
Screams.
Tears.
Silence.
Sirens.
Trauma.

One loses their life.  One is in a coma.  One is the only witness to the crime.  Changed forever in an instant.

Chasing Shadows is completely different than Avasthi first novel SPLIT.  It is a type of different, that I love.  I loved the fresh style of this novel with the juxtaposition of prose and graphic novel twisted together in the mind of the characters.  The artwork by Craig Phillips is amazing!  The artwork pops in black and white and the Shadowlands come alive.  Holly and Corey are caught in the Shadowlands and it was cool to see what Holly was visualizing in her mind in graphic format.
The Shadowlands is a place somewhere between life and death.

According to wikipedia, Freerunning (or free running) is the art of expressing oneself in his or her environment without limitation of movement.  This is a super cool part of this book.  A sport that combines gymnastics with daring athletics, fast movements and death defying heights.  I'm curious to see this sport in action.

Avasthi is a great writer and her characters are so beautifully flawed that you can't help falling for them as she leads you through a plot that you don't expect.  Chasing Shadows brings you to the brink of death, through mental illness and grief and into the bonds of friendship.  Chasing Shadows is bold and strong and daring like its characters.

Chasing Shadowa is nominated for the 2014 Minnesota Book Award.

I will definitely read everything Avasthi writes as she is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA writers.

The Fallout by S.A. Bodeen

The Fallout by S.A. Bodeen

Eli and his family have just gotten out of The Compound where they lived for six years, thinking the world had suffered a nuclear attack.  Eli's father, one of the richest men on earth, tricked the family into a experiment they didn't know they were a part of.  The father didn't make it out alive.  Now they just want to forget and live normal lives.

Eli feels like a freak and is having trouble trusting people.  He feels like he is paranoid yet he has caught people following them.  His twin brother, Eddy, just wants to have fun and his sister, Lexie is crying all the time.  The family is slowly falling apart and their multi-million dollar company is being run by their insane father's trusted man, Phil.  Yikes.

The Fallout is a riveting conclusion to The Compound.  The story line begins right where The Compound left off.  The Fallout is the story of a very rich family whose patriarch thinks he can do anything because he has money and is privileged.  The plot is fast moving and full of twists and turns and plenty of What?! and No!?* and OMG!  It is story that takes you on a wild rollar coaster ride.  Buckle up, cross your fingers and wear your helmet.  Oh and seriously Don't Trust Anyone!  You never know what characters you can trust and I love that!

This is a great book series for Middle and High schoolers.  A quick paced, plot driven story that will  shock them a bit and get them thinking.  Great for boys!!

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

The Compound by S. A. Bodeen

The world suffers a nuclear attack and Eli and his family are rushed into The Compound late one night, leaving behind Eli's twin brother Eddy and his grandma.  Eli's father happens to be one of the richest men on earth and has created The Compound as a safe place for his family of 6 to live safely underground for 15 years.  He has thought of everything, an abundance of food, clothing supply through the years, all their favorite things in their own replica underground bedroom.

They have been living underground for six years and boredom, and despair are setting in.  Eli's father is acting strange, everyone wants out, their food supply is dwindling and their father has begun experimenting with a different food source known as the supplements.  Eli wonders if things are OK in the world now and if they could safely leave.  Except here is no internet, or phone and they are locked in by a special code.

Bodeen has written a thriller that slowly unfolds to reveal a shocking situation in The Compound.  The Compound is a compelling and intriguing page turner.  Once I started reading The Compound I couldn't stop and devoured it in just 2 days.  The Compound is a book that will make you fall in love with its characters and then slowly cause you to question their trustworthiness and question all you know.

The Compound is thought provoking.  It made me really think about what I would do in a nuclear situation. Obviously I don't have a underground compound but I also don't have a plan for a disaster of huge proportions like this.  This is probably because I'm not paranoid but I'm also skeptical that something like a nuclear attack would ever happen.  Maybe I'm just in denial.  This is scary to think about.  Do you have plans for a nuclear attack?

Bodeen does a great job of creating suspense.  I can't wait to read the sequel!  The Fallout, here I come.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Cloud Atlas is a uniquely written book.  It tells the stories of six individuals in different time periods from the 1850 to far into the future.  Each story is loosely connected to the others and each story has an element of it that survives for another to find.  It is probably the most unique and original book I have ever read.  The stories of the novel end abruptly and reach a crescendo in the middle of the book and then the individual stories are finished in reverse order.  Ending the book with the same of the same individual whose story started Cloud Atlas.  It's kind of hard to explain so I hope it makes sense.

David Mitchell plays around in Cloud Atlas with style and genre as well as with the language and characters.  This may frustrate some readers but its effect is dazzling and interesting.  The movie of Cloud Atlas enhanced the book for me and I was able to make more connections.  Cloud Atlas is a literary puzzle and you the reader must put it together in your mind.

I've had Cloud Atlas sitting on my shelf for about 9 years because I bought it when it came out in paperback.  I finally made the attempt to read and finish this unique and puzzling book this winter.  I read this book slowly in big chunks and took several 2 week breaks from it.  I'm not sure there is a right or wrong way to read this book because it is not super easy to read.  There are different dialects and language that cause you to pause and read slower.  I found the text challenging but well worth the time and effort I put into it.

Cloud Atlas is a literary tour de force!

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

When Ethan Wate falls asleep at night, he dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met.  He knows they are connected and longs to find out who this mysterious girl is, when lo and behold she walks right into the high school he attends.  The bad news is, that Lena, the new girl, has just moved into the oldest plantation house in town and her uncle is the town recluse.  So of course, Lena is dismissed as being untouchable and unworthy by the popular girls yet Ethan is drawn to her.

Lena and Ethan soon become friends with potential possibilities of the relationship kind.  Ethan soon discovers Lena is different from other girls because she is a castor.  A castor is a type of witch.  Lena's 16th birthday is approaching and all castors from Lena's family find out if they will be become dark or light.  Lena is fretfully worried and rightfully so.   One day Ethan and Lena find a powerful talisman on the land of a burned down plantation called Greenbriar and they are transported back in time to the Civil War to witness the house being burned down by union soldiers and the events of their two families 150 years before they were born.

There is a dual storyline in Beautiful Creatures.  The first storyline is the modern paranormal high school drama that goes like this; boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, girl needs protecting, boy tries and fails, the adults want to keep them apart and so on.  The second storyline takes place during the Civil War.  The interplay of the two story lines is what kept me turning the pages.  Beautiful Creatures is interesting and unique and it appealing to history buffs and lovers of literature.

Beautiful Creatures is a southern gothic that contains a curse that has lasted generations, a town with a group of people who are a little bit stagnant and a secret that promises to change the status quo.  Of course there is a budding romance and creative characters and creatures.  With a spooky cemetery, a labyrinth of books and just enough crazy thrown in to keep you guessing.  The authors do a good job of slowly revealing the mystery in bits and pieces and keep you coming back for more.  Garcia and Stohl write in tandem and are both educators.

This book has been sitting on my shelf for awhile and since the film release is in a week or so, I thought it was about time to read it.  Read the book and then see the film tends to be my motto.  So I have big plans to see the film and I think Beautiful Creatures has intrigued me enough that I will read the second book and probably the third and maybe the fourth.  Will there be a Fifth?

To all the Beautiful Creatures out there who love to read and write, you make my world a better place.
Thank You!

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Are you brave? Reynie is a child genius who lives in an orphanage and is not allowed to attend school, so he has a personal tutor.  One day Reynie and Miss Perumal see an advertisement in the local paper, "ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD LOOKING FOR SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES?" pg. 3 Reynie wasn't looking for opportunity but since it came knocking, he thought he would see what the advertisement was about.

This special opportunity was very mysterious.  It involved a series of tests asking him various mind bending questions.  Only four special children will pass the tests, and they will be asked to go on a secret mission and become spies to save the world from impending doom.  Kate, Reynie, George and Constance will go undercover to the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.  This is a school where the only rule is, there are no rules.

Television poisons the minds of those who watch it because it contains hidden messages.  The kids must constantly memorize needless nonsense and crazy sayings like, The doors are always open, unless they're locked.  There is adventure, creative characters, crazy antics and wild imaginative undercover work.  Children Everywhere will love it!


The Mysterious Benedict Society is full of riddles, puzzles and lots of entertaining action as these four "gifted" children become sleuths.  You will laugh and wonder at the weird and strange antics of the Learning Institute and enjoy figuring out the riddles to the mystery.  Stewart has created the perfect, entertaining book if you are between the ages of 10 and 13.  It would probably make a great read aloud.
This is the first book in a series and I'm giving my copy to my 12 year old daughter.

Time is shorter than we thought.
Thus to get what must be got
You must become what you are not. pg. 219

You will probably love this book, unless you don't.

In the Woods by Tana French

In the Woods by Tana French

Twenty years ago, three preteen children went to out play in the woods near their home and mysteriously disappear.  After frantic emergency calls, one child is found left alive with blood in his shoes and no memory of what happened to his friends.  Needless to say the event haunts the remaining child yet his mind is sealed against the tragedy.  He moves away, changes his name and is forever changed.

Fast forward twenty years and another child is found murdered in the same neighborhood, in the same woods and the main detective on the case, Rob Ryan, just happens to be the child who was found alive clinging to a tree all those years ago.  Detective Ryan, along with his partner Cassie Maddox must solve the mystery of the murdered girl.  Yet it affects Ryan deeper than he knows, as his mind begins unraveling, as images and memories from his past come flooding back.

In the Woods is a psychological thriller that left me anxious to find out what happened to Detective Ryan 20 years ago.  The most recent murder in the book was rather easy for me to figure out and about half way through the book, I told my book club my guess and it happened to be right.  Unfortunately In the Woods offers no resolutions to the reader and I was left confused and bothered that I didn't have all the answers.  I felt mad and cheated because the book is 429 pages and I wanted a neat ending.

On the positive side Tana French is an excellent writer who provides exquisite detail and description.  Her crime detail is well researched and interesting.  It was not scary but a little mind bending and definitely disturbing.  In the Woods is the first book in a series.  I will not be reading any more of French's books but I know the other members of my book club plan to.  So if you love mysteries and psychological thrillers, In the Woods just might be the book for you, even though it wasn't the book for me.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Nell's life has been a complete lie until now and she has no idea who she is.  On what she thinks is her 21st birthday, her father, the man who Nell thought was her father, told her the truth about her life.  He told Nell that she arrived in Australia, abandoned on a ship with a little suitcase that contained a dress and a beautifully illustrated book of fairy tales. He estimates that she was about four years old, in the year 1913.  

Telling no one about the family secret, Nell continues to live her life focused on the past and sets off on a quest to find out who she truly is.  Unfortunately, she doesn't find the answers to her life's questions but what she does find is a cottage in England with a forgotten garden on the Cornish coast.

Nell passes away in 2005 and her granddaughter Cassandra inherits her assets, including a cottage in England and a family secret she knows nothing about.  Cassandra's destiny is to search for her grandmother's history, put together the puzzle pieces of the past and unlock the family secrets.

The Forgotten Garden is a sweeping mystery with a fairy tale backdrop.  The book travels between two continents and through many generations of woman in the same family.  It is beautifully told and imaginative as the stories intertwine and unravel the past.  The Forgotten Garden is an ode to fairy tales.  The book contains a wicked woman (lets just call her a witch), a beautiful princess, secrets, foggy nights, murder, crazy carriage rides, a mysterious man, a ghost ship, pirates, a maze, a locked garden hidden behind a door and so much more. The Forgotten Garden is a place to lose yourself, smell the roses and try to solve life's mysteries.

Kate Morton wove a mysterious tale that will make readers beg for more.  Morton is able to lead the reader where she wants and thus remains an author in control of her story. I was able to figure out the mystery in The Forgotten Garden early on but Morton successfully led me off track.  Morton neatly ties up all the loose ends in the story and as you sit back and digest the book you realize, everything is connected. 

The Forgotten Garden is a perfect summer book, it has the power to take you to interesting places in your imagination.   What is your perfect summer book? 

Chasing Alliecat by Rebecca Fjelland Davis

Chasing Alliecat by Rebecca Fjelland Davis

It is summer in Mankato, Minnesota and Sadie is stuck spending it with her Uncle Scout's family.   Her only consolation is the mountain bike she brought with her and her goal to enter a race.  Then she meets an unlikely friend named Allie and they begin a unique friendship racing through the woods on their bikes.  Soon Joe enters Sadie and Allie's life.  Joe just moved to Mankato for the summer and now lives in Uncle Scout's very crowded house.  The three are fast friends and all begin training for a mountain bike race on the 4th of July.  That is, until they find the bloodied and beaten body of a priest in the woods and Allie disappears. 

When Allie disappears,  Sadie and Joe realize they don't really know her at all, even though they rode together every day.  Sadie has no idea where Allie lives and she wouldn't give out her phone number.  Allie admitted her father is in prison but she never mentioned her mother.  Allie is one powerful, mysterious young woman and Sadie can't help but admire her strength and fortitude but she is really worried.  Thus begins the heart pounding race to find Allie and discover the true meaning of friendship.

Chasing Alliecat is a wild ride through the woods where the main characters are chasing a killer, chasing Allie and chasing their dreams.  The story is compelling and takes the reader for a daring ride through the pages.  The characters are bound to each other through circumstance, become life-long friends and protect each other through life's dangers.  In short, they ride through the chicken.  They do what they are afraid of, support each other and grow stronger.

Every once in awhile a book comes along where the reader has a lot in common with one of the main characters.  Allie is the character that I related to the most and we had so much in common that by the end of the book I was crying.  I can't give you all the details because it would spoil the book for you but know that Chasing Alliecat does not shy away from difficult issues. 

Chasing Alliecat is a suspenseful mystery and a page turner.  My advice is to chase down this book.  It would make a great read for the gym while your riding the stationary bike.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Before I go on a trip, I like to read a book or two that takes place in the area I am visiting.  It helps me get to know the city, country or place from a literate point of view.

The Lost Symbol takes place in Washington D.C. and I am fortunate to be visiting there soon.  The Lost Symbol is literally a tour of the D.C. area and it includes the symbolic history of the monuments complete with connections to the ancient world.  This book has introduced me to places I now want to visit and awakened my excitement for traveling.  Places like The Library of Congress, The National Cathedral (Darth Vader gargoyle), National Archives, Alexandria, Virginia and so much more.

The Lost Symbol is the 3rd book in the Robert Langdon series.  The first two are Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code.  This book continues the saga of Langdon, with murder, mystery, misconceptions, and the race to save the world from an unknown fate.  It includes ancient languages, history, religion with particular focus on the founding fathers and Masonry.  Brown never fails to surprise me with his plot twists and turns.  Just when I think I figure the mystery out, something unexpected happens.  Love him or hate him, a book by Dan Brown is an entertaining read especially if Robert Langdon is the main character.

I read the special illustrated edition of The Lost Symbol and it is beautifully done with real photos that enhance the learning and understanding of the reader.  I wish more books were illustrated, so readers could see the connection to the real world the novel contains.  Brown is an excellent teacher of  hidden history and this book is a gem waiting to be discovered by those who love adventures in reading. 

Centuries of June by Keith Donohue

Centuries of June by Keith Donohue

You got time for a story?
Centuries of June is a novel that takes place during the wonderful, sensual month of June.  My favorite month of the year.   In the middle of a hot June night, a man got up to go to the bathroom and was hit from behind with an object.  He fell to the floor and thereby tries to figure out what happened.

In his house are seven scorned women with a plan for revenge.  Each of these women has a story and our victim must listen to their tales of adventure and woe.  Each woman has been hurt by a man in the month of June.  Every story is unique and entertaining and keeps your mind working to figure out how all the pieces fit together.   While these women and stories are told in sequential order (sort of), the novel takes place over hundreds of years in history.

Now add to the mixture of the house, an eighth and silent women, a talking cat, a strange man in the bathroom who is vaguely familiar and a baby boy that appears quite strangely out of nowhere and you've got one crazy, wild ride of a story.  Throw in a few ghosts, some reincarnation, singing, dancing, films, tattoos, baseball and possibly murder.  Fasten your seat belts and hold on, something strange is going on here.

This novel is a mixture of genres and reminded me of so many great books that I have read.  You can tell the author is well read and he plays with important works of literature and important events in history.  I was reminded of Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, Scott Pilgrim (OK, maybe not great literature but really fun to read) and many more. 

You got time for a story?

I've got nothing but time, though I'd feel a little bit better if you would point that piece in another direction. (pg. 283)

Whiteout by Brian Duren

Whiteout by Brian Duren

It's cold outside and the snow is falling fast, you can't see much beyond your window pane as the wind howls and the snow blocks out the daylight.  Night is coming and the temperature is dropping, while the snow threatens to erase the landscape.  Brrrr.

Spring is the perfect time to read WHITEOUT on the deck with no threat of snow in sight for months.

Paul returns home to Minnesota after his mother dies.  He has always felt disconnected from his family and has recurring bad dreams.  His father died in a Whiteout when Paul was three.  When Paul finds out that his family was once very happy, he sets out on a personal quest to find out the truth about the parents he never really knew.  What he finds buried deep in the past will haunt you.

Paul finds the love letters between his parents before they were married and reading them is voyeuristic.  I think it was one of my favorite parts of the novel.  I felt like I was reading over the character's shoulder and I couldn't get through the letters fast enough.

WHITEOUT is a multi-genre book.  It is a mystery, love story, and literary thriller that will keep you guessing till the very end.  The novel has a great geographic and historical backdrop, taking place during the 1930's through the 1980's.  WHITEOUT travels from Paris to the northern woods of Minnesota where it mainly takes place in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  Duren evokes the physical landscape of northern Minnesota with stark reality.

Reading WHITEOUT reminded me of my experiences in the Boundary Waters.  If you have never been to Minnesota to canoe in the wilderness, you need to come here and do it.  It is such an amazing experience. This area contains over a 1000 lakes and is so beautiful.  The area borders Canada and contains around a million acres of land that contain hiking trails and backwoods campsites.

I always say; the best way to travel is in your armchair while you read a good book.  So let WHITEOUT take you to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) where you will be able to stay dry and warm by the fire.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo begins as a legal thriller that reminded me of John Grisham's The Firm.  It is about 100 pages of complete business talk and legalese and I seriously got lost in translation.  I probably would have quit reading at this point but since it was picked by my book club, I kept on reading.

Lisbeth has to be my favorite character, mainly because she rides a motorcycle, doesn't take crap from anyone, especially creepy men, she is an awesome computer hacker and has an super cool dragon tattoo.  What is not to love? 

If you love psychological mysteries and suspense, you will probably love this book.  My mom adores these books.  It is definitely multi-genre, combining business, law, murder, mystery, sex, journalism and family saga all in one.  The family saga is particularly entertaining.  The novel takes place in Sweden and I love to visit other countries in the books that I read.

My book club met at IKEA in the Mall of America to discuss the book.  I had a delicious plate of Swedish meatballs with ligonberries.  The discussion was good and we all applied Dragon tattoos somewhere on our body.  We were a book club of women all sporting dragon tattoos.  I felt invincible, ready to kick ass and hop on my motorbike in the freezing cold winter snow.  Anything is possible if you have a dragon tattoo. It was a lot of fun and I think ligonberries are my new favorite food. 

This book is beloved by many who go on to read the second and third books in the trilogy.  I wanted to love it, I really did but all I can say was it is OK.  I guess I was turned off by the sadism and had a hard time stomaching the brutal violence towards women in the book.  Basically the book had me seriously stressed out probably because I was a victim to a sex crime when I was a child.  I had a few bad dreams.
 

The Master Butchers Singing Club

The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich

The Master Butchers Singing Club draws you into the story with its unique title and keeps you reading because of the emotion packed mysteries that unfold throughout the story.  This story is like peeling back the layers of an onion, you may cry a bit, bleed a little, smile sometimes, all while you taste the flavor of comedy meets tragedy.  Each layer of the onion, like the layers in the story are related and intertwined.  Truly this story of Fidelis Waldvogel, a WW1 vet from Germany who immigrates to North Dakota and becomes the town butcher will really get under your skin. Delphine Watzka is the daughter of the local town drunk and she becomes best friends with the Butcher's wife.  Delphine and Fidelis's destinies are immediately affected by the sands of time. And yes, there is a singing club in the book that includes two butchers and several other men.

Louise Erdrich is an excellent storyteller.  Her stories interweave and mingle with each other and each book contains strong, memorable characters.  If you haven't read a book by Louise Erdrich you are truly missing a unique reading experience.

This is the fourth book I have read by Erdrich.  Erdrich is a well known Native American writer from Minnesota whose books mainly take place in her native state of North Dakota. Many of her books are semi-autobiographical where she details and fictionalizes some of the extended members of her family.  Native American themes are strongly represented in most of her books and in The Master Butcher's Singing Club she figuratively represents the German side of her family coming into contact with the Native side. 

  Louise Erdrich currently lives in Minneapolis and owns a bookstore called Birch Bark Books.