Louise Erdrich: American Author Challenge

"Louise Erdrich is one of America’s most celebrated Native American authors. Born in 1954, she grew up in North Dakota, where her parents were teachers at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Erdrich's father is German, and her mother is Ojibwa and French. Her writing often reflects the struggle to claim a distinct identity in her multicultural world. Frequently, Erdrich’s novels deal with the cyclical nature of time, an important concept to Native Americans."

She is a writer of novels, poetry, and children's books. Some of her most popular books, are Love Medicine, The Antelope Wife and The Plague of Doves, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

**This is part of our American Author Challenge 2015. This author will be read in April. The general discussion thread can be found right here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185195

Sadly, I have only read one Erdrich novel, Four Souls and that was about 20 years ago. I've been slowly acquiring her books on shelf over the years but for some baffling reason, I have not jumped in, despite the fact that she is beloved by many of my LT pals.

I plan on reading The Plague of Doves and if time permits, The Round House.

How about everyone else?

I'm in for The Plague of Doves, which I've been wanting to get to for a couple of years at least. I haven't read anything by her, so I'm looking forward to it.

I've got The Round House off the shelf so that's the plan! :D

I've read a few Erdrich's, and loved them all. I'm thinking of going back to the beginning and reading the first that I ever read--Love Medicine...and it was her debut novel (I just looked it up).

Karen O.

I read The Plague of Doves a few years ago. I'm planning on The Master Butchers Singing Club this time. It's been on my TBR list for a while.

I'm also planning to read The Master Butchers Singing Club.

I've read several of Erdrich's novels. I love her. For this challenge I've chosen to read The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, which is highly recommended to me by Holly Wendt, whose opinion I take very seriously. I don't know how or whether it fits in among the others I've read (Tracks, Four Souls, The Beet Queen, Love Medicine), although it is listed by LT as part of the Love Medicine series. I would say they are more of a cycle of stories than a series, in keeping with the cyclical nature of time in her work that >1 msf59: Mark referred to. I don't think it is necessary to read them in any particular order.

Louise Erdrich was our chosen author for the month of January in the Monthly Author Reads group. The discussion thread of what we read that month can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185586.

>9 laytonwoman3rd: Everyone in the Monthly Author Reads group came to the same conclusion that order doesn't matter when we had the same discussion about whether or not Erdrich's Love Medicine series should be read in order.

Having read The Round House have ordered Plague of Doves from the library. Fingers crossed it will arrive in time to participate / lurk.

I have several Erdrichs on my shelf to choose from, but I'm thinking of starting at the beginning with Love Medicine.

Really looking forward to finally experiencing her work!

Love Medicine lined up and ready to go. After trying to get the e-book and failing with my library I resorted to Amazon. 1p later...(2.80 p&p I should add).

I'll be reading Shadow Tag. I fetched it from my local library this evening.

All this interest in Love Medicine has got me reconsidering. LOL.

I will be reading Love Medicine.

And the thread's now on the group wiki...

Thanks Jim! Have you read Erdrich? If not, any interest?

I haven't, but Love Medicine does sound interesting.

Go Jim! Go Jim!

I'm glad I finally figured out why Love Medicine was on my list of books I wanted to borrow from the library.

>21 MarthaJeanne: LOL.

I am actually ready for this one. Like >14 Ameise1:, I have picked up a copy of Shadow Tag from the library.

.... I just need to read my Ford book first. ;-)

I am planning to read Love Medicine. A re-read for me, but I don't recall anything from the first read, which was probably 25 years ago!

Round House for me. I've never read her before.

Go Joe! Go Joe!

>26 msf59: :-)

I love Louise Erdrich. I plan to start with a reread of Love Medicine and, if I can manage it, complete a reread of the trilogy: The Beet Queen and Tracks. Having read these works about 20+ years ago, I recall loving them all and loving Tracks best. I'm interested to see if this holds true at this stage of my reading life.

I read Master Butcher's Singing Club and liked it. It reminded me of something that Willa Cather might have written.

It's The Round House for me. Been on my shelf for a couple of years and appreciate the chance to finally sit down with her.

I'm going to give The Master Butchers Singing Club a try. I remember hearing about it when it was published.....

I am trying to keep to books I have on Planet TBR, so for me it's The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. If I have time, I'd like to read Love Medicine, too. I've been meaning to read something by Erdrich's for years so I appreciate the nudge.

I started Love Medicine last night, and it grabbed me quickly. For anyone also reading it and doing the TIOLI challenges, I've put it in challenge 16...

I hope readers new to Louise Erdrich enjoy her books as much as I do. I have read about everything she's written except for the children's books and poetry collections. I've even been to her bookstore in Minneapolis! I will be rereading her Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country which chronicles a trip she made with her 18-month-old daughter to the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Northern Minnesota to spend time with the baby's father. She writes as if she were talking to a friend. It's a good way to get to know her as a person as well as an author.

Here is a picture of me standing in front of Birch Bark Books with a signed copy of The Red Convertible. This is a chronological collection of short stories and excerpts from her books. Again, a great way to get acquainted with her writing. The second picture is of the excellent children's department in the store which also includes lots of literary fiction and books about nature and Native Americans in a very atmospheric setting.

Thanks for sharing the photos Donna! I am excited for this month. I haven't read any of her books. I have The Round House, so I am planning to start there. I really like the sound of The Red Convertible though.

>34 Donna828: Wow, you are a super Erdrich fan, Donna! I am really looking forward to read more of her work.

I hope to start the Plague of Doves today.

I have just got Love Medicine and The Round House from the library (first and most recent I think), and plan to read them early in the month, so I don't have another month I timed out for reading the books!

>34 Donna828: I'm planning to read Islands and Books in Ojibwe Country also! And I'm going to try to read all of the Birchbark House books, starting with The Birchbark House. AND Love Medicine! A veritable Erdrich festival!

Karen O.

I think I will read The Beet Queen. We will see what I actually get at the library though.

I got Love Medicine from the library this last week. I was surprised to learn that Erdrich was married to Michael Dorra he was a well respected YA author when I first started out as a school librarian.

>34 Donna828: Great pictures and story about your visit to Erdrich's bookstore, Donna. Thanks for sharing . . .
I started The Birchbark House series and am still contemplating which of her other novels I can squeeze into the month.

I've finished Shadow Tag. My thoughts can be found here.

I just started The Plague of Doves and she did grab me immediately, with her fresh, clean prose.

I picked The Antelope Wife since the e-book was available to be checked out.

I've never read Erdrich before - I'm hoping I can squeeze in The Master Butchers Singing Club.

I'm about halfway through Love Medicine and it's way more wonderful than I remembered! I'm so glad I'm rereading some Erdrich. Thanks, Mark!

I just finished Love Medicine and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know I would have benefitted immensely by a family tree! I found the relationships difficult to follow.

I do think there was a good story line and I think Erdrich tells a good story, but I'm confused by the ending. I read the last paragraph and re-read it twice more and I still don't know how to interpret it!

I finished Shadow Tag last night. My first Erdrich read and I was blown away by this one. My review can be found on the book page and on my thread here.

I finished The Master Butchers Singing Club a couple of days ago. I liked it better than The Plague of Doves, which I read a few years ago.

I think I'm finally in my groove with Love Medicine. Through no fault of the book, I was having trouble connecting with it (or any book, really, thanks to a reading funk). It's helped that I'm just reading each "chapter" as a short story. I think this is less a novel than interconnected stories. Anyway, I'm really liking it.

>50 katiekrug: I had the same problem, was in the same funk, and resorted to treating each chapter as you did. I can't say I loved it, but I'm willing to give another Erdrich story a try.

I finished The Antelope Wife.

I've temporarily set aside The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. It's very good, but it requires more attention and brain power than I have to spare at the moment. I will return to it when there are fewer distractions in my daily life.

I think that Love Medicine was enough to fill my lifetime reading of Erdrich. I also had trouble figuring it out, and all the families were disfunctional.

I'm into the 6th or 7th chapter of The Round House and finding it very good so far. It's my second book by Erdrich; I'd read The Master Butchers Singing Club last year and quite enjoyed it also.

I'm about halfway through The Round House and I'm completely sucked into the story. A couple of pages in I realized something was off about the book and that's when I realized she doesn't use any quotation marks to indicate when someone is speaking. Just curious if this is her normal style with other books or just specific to the one I'm reading?

>56 jolerie: She definitely uses quotation marks around dialog in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse.

I'm not very far into The Master Butchers Singing Club. It's ok but it seems like there's not enough time to read and, when I do have the time, more appealing choices present themselves to me.

Just finished The Birchbark House and I just loved it. It's a Juvenile-level book, but very well-written with some very adult themes. I loved the depth of history that is recounted. Very much looking forward to the next in the series.

And I've also got Love Medicine in the works. That's going very well, too.

Karen O.

I've not quite finished Love Medicine but I have found it to be more a collection of interrelated stories than a cohesive novelistic arc. It is common in the UK to do this, but as short stories are embedded in American literary culture there is less need for this slight of hand.

I really liked a lot of what I read, but someone mentioned somewhere else on LT that they thought she tended to write good books, but not necessarily great books. For me that would apply in this instance, but it was her debut for heavens sakes, so quite impressive.

My only other thoughts were there wasn't enough distinction between voices. There was little joy to be had in this community. Only in rare situations does no simple joy normally peek through over a long time span. Maybe the joy will be in the last 50 pages, but I'm not holding my breath.

I finished The Round House and gave it 4.25 stars. Definitely going to be putting more Erdrich on my reading list in the future.

>57 laytonwoman3rd: Now I'm all curious why she choose to not use quotation marks in TRH...hmmm...

^ What Valerie said about The Round House. I liked it, and will read more Erdrich.

Got my hands on Plague of Doves and it is next on my list! I have read at least 6 of her other books and she is one of my favorites. Looking forward to it.

I finished The Plague of Doves yesterday, and I just finished writing a review of it on my thread and the book's LT page. I gave it 4 stars, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the near future.

I want to squeeze Louise Erdrich in this month but I am having trouble deciding between The Beet Queen and Tracks.

I finished The Round House and liked it. :)

Mine was The Birchbark House - enjoyed it very much.

Just finished Love Medicine and so glad to reread it. So glad to have Erdrich on Mark's list this year.

Karen O.

Finished Love Medicine yesterday - I second Karen, very glad that Erdrich was on Mark's list and so glad to have read this.

I read The Master Butchers Singing Club earlier this month. While I didn't love it, I certainly enjoyed it.

Just finished my re-read of Love Medicine. She is really a good writer!

I'll be continuing into May since I've just started The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse.

>72 streamsong: I'll keep you company...I'm a little more than half way through Last Report, and I'm not finding it a fast read.

I was going to read The Master Butchers Singing Club and actually started a few chapters, but then I read Lori's (lkernagh) review of Shadow Tag and it intrigued me. I was blown away by this book. This is what Richard Ford's Wildlife should have been. It was both elegant and disturbing.

Loved it! Thanks Lori!

I followed Joe and Valerie amongst others and read The Round House. Best read of the month for me. I didn't love The Antelope Wife which I read a few years ago but this was much more accessible and grabbed me from the get go.

Only a few days late, I finished The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse...a challenging read, but a rewarding one, and one that makes me want to return to others in the Love Medicine cycle very soon.

“We passed over in a sweep of sorrow that would persist into our small forever. We just keep going.”



^The Round House

I am less than halfway in but I am enjoying this dark, mysterious, tale. I am glad I decided to add another Erdrich. Smiles...

I had planned to read The Round House as a second Erdrich, and may do so before year's end.

I read The Plague of Doves, finishing it 9/6/15. First Erdrich for me. Skimming the posts at the top of this thread, I see that I had just hooked up with LT when Erdrich Month began, and didn't get into the AAC thing until the month following. I vowed to read some from each of the first four authors before year's end. The book was excellent, and I'll keep an eye out for other Erdrich titles. Bought this one in hardcover for a buck at a library sale. (Another coming up on Wednesday.)

Here's my report: https://www.librarything.com/topic/189318#5272925