Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich

I thoroughly enjoyed Louise Erdrich’s Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country. This book is as much a memoir as it is a history of the Ojibwe people, books, writing, and nature appreciation.

Throughout the whole book, Erdrich looks to answer “Books. Why?” Those two words, with that punctuation, are repeated over and over. It seems to me, for Erdrich, books complete a piece of her. She is incomplete without them, just as she seems (to me anyway) incomplete if she travels without her daughter, and how she feels incomplete when she loses the ancient oaks that surround her house. I say ancient, but their age pales compared to the painted rocks and storied land of upper Minnesota and Canada that she takes us on.

I found a kinship in Erdrich. She feels the same way about traveling with books, reading in hotels and libraries and bookstores that reflect their owners (she owns the really cool Birch Bark Books in Minnesota, by the way.)

The value of Books and Islands goes beyond Erdrich’s love of the written word and books. I learned so much about the Ojibwe people and their history. I really loved her chapters about staying at the writer’s retreat founded by Ernest Oberholtzer. His library, which is now serviced by a foundation, sounds incredible, and the entirety of Mallard Island sounds idyllic. There is even a bit where Erdrich swears she ran across a signed Tristan Shandy but then can’t find it. Her frustration here is something that anyone who loves books and collects books will identify all too well.

There is also a bit when one of her employees declares that Erdrich is coming into Birch Bark Books to “…love on the books again…” which is another sentiment that visitors to this site can relate to. I love spending time amongst my books, scanning a few pages, and reorganizing a bit.

Erdrich has many answers to her question “Books. Why?” and they all fit just as neatly together as a stitched quilt. Each square of bookish needs linked to the next, completing the picture of who she is as an author, book lover, mother, and Ojibwe.

Now, if I could only find some of this ‘wild rice’ she talks about…