Summer Reading, Reading List XIII
Full disclosure, I have only been the Upper Peninsula of Michigan a few times, but as a long time fan of Jim Harrison’s writing I have a fondness for the place. Well, for the idea of the place…much of Harrison’s work is set in his native UP and the quintessential Jim Harrison hero–an angst-ridden native of Northern Michigan estranged from a love he is not entirely over on the cusp of a mid-life crisis hard drinking male–is one of the great heroic types in contemporary American literature. In paddling across that Lake Superior otherwise known as the Internet, I came across this list of 2017 Bestsellers from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I couldn’t resist. So here, without further ado, are the top UP books of 2017:
- The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan
- Exit Strategy: A Nick Mason Novel, The Second Life of Nick Mason, and A Cold Day In Paradise by Steve Hamilton
- The Things We Do that Make No Sense: Stories by Adam Schuitema
- A Really Big Lunch by Jim Harrison with an introduction by Mario Batali
- 100 Things to Do in the Upper Peninsula Before you Die by Kath Usitalo
- Goat Fish and Lover’s Knot by Jack Driscoll
- LaRose: A Novel by Louise Erdrich
- The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway
I must confess to being a little unsure why the Hemingway collection makes the list, and while all the titles not in the SLU Libraries are attainable through Interlibrary Loan, give your favorite Interlibrary Loan office a little time to chase down the Kath Usitalo title! Happy reading…