A few weeks ago I had the thrill of watching and listening to a conversation between Ann Patchett and Louise Erdrich. Both women are formidable writers, and the conversation focused on Louise Erdrich’s latest book, The Sentence, but they are also bookstore owners. Ann Patchett owns Parnassus Books in Nashville Tennessee, and Louise Erdrich owns Birch Bark Books in Minneapolis Minnesota. Who better to offer us a stack of books? As writers, readers and booksellers, they offered their latest suggestions for fabulous reading. As the daylight shrinks, sustain your own writing and inspiration by entering other worlds and listening to other voices. Because I learn about life and how to write by reading, I also offer my own list in this moment of giving thanks to the voices of the first nations of this continent.
Part of our creativity comes from accidentally finding things in our writing and seeing where that takes us. Louise Erdrich Interview 11/9/21
Patchett & Erdrich Recommended Reading List:
The Sentence Louise Erdrich
A Paradise Hanya Yanagihara
Ministry for the Future Kim Stanley Robinson
Thank You, Mr. Nixon Gish Jen
The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald
Oh William Elizabeth Strout
Five Tuesdays in Winter Lily King
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating Elizabeth Tova Bailey
The Beatrice Prophecy Kate DiCamillo
A Thousand Trails Home: Living with Caribou Seth Kantner
Encounters of the Passage: Inuit Meet the Explorers Dorothy Eber
1,000 Years of Joys and Sorrows Ai Weiwei Chinese History
My Recommended Reading List:
Novels
Love Medicine Louise Erdrich Harper 1989
The Sentence Louise Erdrich Harper 2021
Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko Penguin Classics 1986
The Woman Who Owned the Shadows Paula Gunn Allen Aunt Lute Books 1984
Power Linda Hogan W. W. Norton & Co. 1999
House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday Harper Perennial Modern Classics 2018
The Marrow Thieves Cherie Dimaline DCB 2017
Winter in the Blood James Welch Penguin Random House 2008
There There Tommy Orange Penguin Random House 2019
The Heartsong of Charging Elk James Welch Penguin Random House 2001
Perma Red Debra Magpie Earling Blue Hen 2002
Waterlily Ella Cara Deloria Bison Books 2009
Crooked Hallelujah Kelli Jo Ford Grove Atlantic 2020
The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong Stephen Graham Jones
Morning Girl Michael Dorris New York: Hyperion 1999
Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger Levine Querido 2020
Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky) Rebecca Roanhorse Gallery/Saga Press 2021
Memoir
Crazy Brave Joy Harjo W. W. Norton & Co. 2013
Heart Berries Terese Marie Mailhot Counterpoint 2019
Carry A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land Toni Jensen Penguin 2020
The Education of Augie Merasty A Residential School Memoir Joseph Auguste Merasty Univeristy of Regina Press 2017
The Tao of Raven An Alaska Memoir Ernestine Hayes University of Washington Press 2017
History
“All the Real Indians Died Off” and Other Myths about Native Americans. Boston: Beacon Press, 2016
The Heirs of Columbus Gerald Vizenor Wesleyan University Press 1991
This Stretch of River: Lakota, Dakota, & Nakota Responses to the Lewis & Clark Expedition and Bicentennial. Rapid City: Oak Lake Writers’ Society, 2006.
Black Elk Speaks John Neihardt Lincoln: Bison Books, 2004
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee David Treuer Riverhead Books 2019
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History S. C. Gwynne Scribner 2011
Culture
First Nations and Native American Cookbook: Food from North American Tribes Tim Murphy Createspace Independent Publishing Platform 2016
Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World Linda Hogan W.W. Norton & Co. 2007
Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer Milkweed Editions 2014
Fools Crow Wisdom and Power Thomas E. Mails Millchap Books 2016
Maud & Addie
A small portion of proceeds from this book have been donated to the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre to honor the original and continuing storytellers of the Mi’kmaq Nation and support the survivors of the Shubenacadie Residential School.
Regal House Publishing: Hard copy & Paperback
iPg Independent Publishing Group: Paperback & Ebook
Prompt Photo
