Reading Fool…
Being laid up with the various maladies I’ve had recently has had me reading like a fiend! As some of you may recall I had decided that this summer was going to be dedicated to reading some of my old favorites from my childhood. I started out with the Anne of Green Gables series because they were on a bookshelf rather than in a box somewhere so it made it a logical place to start. The first two went really, really slow for me. I’m not sure why. I just wasn’t making time to read and I think since I knew the story so well there wasn’t the suspense of what might happen next to keep me reading. But, once I got through Anne of Avonlea I’ve been plowing through. I read Anne of the Island in two days. I should be finishing Anne of Windy Poplars today I believe. I wish I was as witty and optimistic as Anne!
I did take a break and read a mystery by an author who is new to me, William Kent Krueger. I read about this author on Renee’s blog, A Good Yarn. He is a Minnesota author (what is it about Minnesota mystery authors?) and I read the first book in the Cork O’Connor Series, Iron Lake. It is set in northeastern Minnesota between Duluth and the Boundry Waters Canoe Area. Cork O’Conner is a half Ojibwe former sheriff who is estranged from his wife following the incident that cost him his job as sheriff. The book was sprinkled with Anishanabe lore and practice and the mystery itself was quite compelling.
This was Krueger’s first book but it garnered him several awards, including the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, Barry Award for Best First Novel, Minnesota Book Award, and the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award. I think I may deviate from my plan following the conclusion of Anne of Windy Poplars to give the second book in the series, Boundry Waters, a read. I found it great to read Iron Lake because I checked the hardback version out from the library and it had been read enough that the book would sit open and I could knit while I read without pages moving of their own accord (at least when I wasn’t sitting in front of the fan).
I do have a particular soft spot for Minnesota authors. I love that I can pick up a book set in Minnesota and *really* be where it is set. Even these books that aren’t set in the metro area or near where I grew up feel like home because I’ve traveled to nearly every area of Minnesota. If you know of a Minnesota author you think I maybe am unfamiliar with please feel free to give me some recommendations. Colorado-set books/authors would be highly welcome as well (though I know about the knitting ones by Maggie Sefton and I have no interest in those for a personal reason) but I do love Kent Haruf!
