Books

Books Glen Young This time around, Grady Service might really be in the soup. Chasing suspicions that a long-time government contractor might be illegally mixing tainted salmon eggs in its caviar production, Service has alienated colleagues, irritated friends, and infuriated alleged foreign mobsters.
Service, the laconic Department of Natural Resources conservation officer protagonist of author Joe Heywood’s Woods Cop mystery series, is back in the sixth installment, “Death Roe.” Based on a case Heywood says he isn’t at liberty to further identify, “Death Roe” finds Service investigating allegations that a long-time, highly-paid, state contractor is illegally mixing salmon roe contaminated with the carcinogen Mirex with safe eggs, then selling the mixture to unsuspecting Caribbean cruise ship lines.
“When I write these books,” Heywood says, “I think it’s useful to use situations that will inform.” He says his books are regularly “based largely on real cases. Virtually nothing is invented in these books.”
Still recovering from the murders of his girlfriend and aspiring conservation officer Maridly Nantz, and his son Walter, Service again uses work both as focus and as distraction.
Navigating ever-changing territory, Service finds himself reluctantly coordinating with agents from IRS, FDA, FBI, as well as fisheries personnel from New York. He is working further outside the boundaries of his DNR confines than ever before.

Books Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli It’s tough to sit in judgment on your peers. I’ve been on the Michigan State Library’s Notable Books Committee for two years now, with one more to go, and it didn’t get easier this year. I doubt next year will be any different.
I don’t remember why Kim Laird, who runs the group for the library, with Nancy Robertson, head librarian, as final arbiter, first asked me to join the 14 judges from around the state. Four of the judges come from the Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries. There are librarians from as far away as Marquette, a representative from Cooley Law School, and another from Grand Valley State. There are book store people and newspaper people -- reviewers and columnists.
When Laird called, the job sounded challenging. I welcomed that, and maybe having a say in the kinds of books which would represent Michigan writing. I knew I could be impartial, only search out the very best, and grind no axes. What I wasn’t prepared for were my own biases, my own pet-peeves, and my inability—at a juncture or two—to give in when a book I didn’t think one of the best was close to making the final 20. I found I’m a lousy team player. I can be intractable. Dogmatic. And a few other things I don’t wish to confess to here. But all in the name of honoring the best writers among us.

Books Rick Coates The buildings of the former Traverse City State Hospital (Northern Michigan Asylum) are among the most photographed in the region. The stunning architecture captures the eye of the professional and amateur photographer alike. For Geoffrey Vail Brown, just moments after setting foot inside one of the buildings yet to be restored, he visualized a photographic project of capturing “the ruins” by contrasting the gradual decay against the beauty of the nude body.
“I walked through a section of Building 50 a year ago and I was immediately struck by how the building’s architecture was such that it captured optimal lighting,” said Brown. “I saw an opportunity showcase the contrasts in the architecture by using nudes, so I have described this work as a celebration of the beauty within the ruin.”
That celebration will come this Friday night as Brown will host an opening reception at the Inside Out Gallery, located in the Warehouse District of downtown Traverse City. The evening will feature 20 originals from Brown’s collection as well as a book launch of Beauty in Ruin – The Asylum Nudes.
This is Brown’s first book of photography, which he self-published. His decision to publish a collection of photographs was driven in part by economics.
My thought with this project is that people are more likely to buy a book than go out and spend $800 to $1,200 on a print,” said Brown. “So essentially, I am testing that theory.”
As for choosing nudes versus clothed models, Brown sees it this way:
“Most of my photographic work is figurative. Had I used models with flowing dresses, that would have been a fashion shoot ,and that is something I do not do. What I wanted to accomplish was to show the contrasts, and with nudes I am able to do that. The bodies flow with the architecture and the lighting showcases the contrasts, whereas with clothed models, the focus would end up being on the fashion.”

Books Robert Downes Who knew? Akron, Ohio was at the epicenter of the punk rock movement at the dawn of the ‘80s, churning out some of the greatest bands of the era.
That’s one of the revelations in Punk Rock and Trailer Parks, a new graphic novel by Derf, the artist whose comic, The City has run in the Northern Express since the early ‘90s.
If anyone would know, it’s Derf Backderf, a resident of Cleveland whose work appears in alternative newspapers across the nation. Derf’s noir viewpoint is almost gothic in his approach to trolling the gritty, banal bottomlands of life in the Midwest -- an Ohio frozen in a New Dark Age and locked in medieval attitudes.
Nowhere is that exploration more evident than in his high school haunts of Akron, a town known as Rubber City for its tire factories, which also happens to be stalled by a Rustbelt recession as the book opens.
Yet there’s one bright spot for the trailer park kids doomed to life in Akron: by some odd confluence of fate, rage and despair, the town gave rise to a dynamic punk rock scene, starting in 1979, with acts such as Devo, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and other raw & ragged groups swept up by punk’s power. A lively club scene took root in a ruined bank, bringing in such iconic acts as The Ramones and The Clash. The punk rock eruption prompted Melody Maker magazine to dub Rubber City as “the new Liverpool.”

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli An Uncrowded Place: The Delights and dilemmas of life Up North and a young man’s search for home
by Bob Butz
$21.95 - Huron River Press

Review by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

So many who come to Northern Michigan have faced the challenges Bob Butz has faced. Sometimes it’s that dark night of the soul, when you look at yourself in the mirror one morning and ask “Is this who I want to be?” Sometimes it’s simply the journey to be true to oneself. Sometimes it’s about things not yet discovered.
In An Uncrowded Place: The delights and dilemmas of life Up North and a young man’s search for home (Huron River Press), Butz’s search has brought him north to become the writer he wants to be, the father and husband he hopes he is, and a man at one with the natural world. What he achieves, as the essays—originally published in Traverse Magazine —progress, is an uneasy acceptance of life as it really is. All of this while engrossed in fly fishing, bow hunting, hunting for writing assignments in New York City while looking like a rube, camping, and taking care of his new son. This is a book of contradictions and semi-answers. It’s a book about people like him—those who choose to live in the country or wished they lived in the country.
Some of the best writing here takes place in the dark. Night dark. Three a.m. dark. A time when the body seems to disappear and all that’s left is the mind hunting for something, unseen hands feeling along into the forest; along a stream. Somehow Butz knew to challenge himself, knew that the dark we all fear holds answers and he goes out there into the woods: hunting, fishing, in the snow, in November, on summer nights of the big hex fly invasion.

Books Elizabeth Buzzelli Some years ago I moved to Northern Michigan, to a small house on a small lake, to live a small life of eternal peace and quiet.
Yeah sure! That was before the crows got a hold of me, started directing my life and leading me from one dead body to another. Well, figuratively speaking, that is. But let me back up. It was a fall Monday, much like the days we’re having now. Monday is garbage day out where I live. so I was on my way up our drive to the road to collect the garbage can. The garbage guy had come and gone. Sometimes he would send my lid sailing like a Frisbee and other times he’d have it neatly returned to the can. I never knew what I was going to find and retrieving Frisbee shots in winter, with five feet of snow on the ground, could get treacherous.
This was a good week. The lid was in place but still the usual flock of carnivorous crows was there, squawking, bowing their awkward, aggressive crow bows, strutting up the road at me, jumping out of the burning maples. Any leftover treat could do it: a bloody meat wrapper, a wormy apple. They were brave and pugnacious souls. Sometimes I shooed them. I often threatened them. But it got to be a game. Then one day I picked up my garbage can and got hit with the big ‘What if?’ fiction writers ask themselves.
“What if there was something truly awful in there? What if the crows had reason for their hysteria? Hmm—what if there was a head in that garbage can?”

Books Glen Young Native Michigander Jim Harrison is a man of large appetites and larger passions.
The writer -- whose new novel “The English Major,” a Kerouac-like road novel with Whitman-like sensibilities, is garnering widespread praise -- is also noted for his outsized ego. And though ego can insulate against public pressures, it is little help against personal anguish.
So when 70 year-old Harrison finished last year’s “Returning To Earth,” compelled in part by the death of his older brother John, he needed a reprieve. “After I finished ‘Returning to Earth,’ which is a tale of considerable melancholy, I was trying to figure out how to levitate my spirits,” he says over the phone from his home outside Livingston, Montana, inhaling audibly on an American Spirit cigarette.
“I began (writing the ‘English Major’) four days after finishing ‘Returning to Earth.’ I usually wait months.”

Books Rick Coates Ever wonder what it is like to journey around the world? Planet Backpacker is a new release that chronicles the nearly five-month journey Bob Downes took last year at this time -- mountain biking, backpacking and hiking through Europe, Egypt, India and Southeast Asia. Downes, a first-time author, will host a book release party this Thursday, November 13 at the Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City.
Now, on the surface, some may call into question on two accounts the Express publishing this article. First, Downes is my boss and my “endorsing” comments are published on the first page of his book. So that might call into question my ability to be objective. Second, Downes is the editor and co-publisher of this paper, and so an article on his book might seem somewhat self-serving.
I’ll address the latter first. At the Northern Express we have always focused on “all things local.” Since the inception of the Express 17 years ago the paper has published numerous articles on local authors and musicians and their works of art. That has included from time to time writing about friends and colleagues. I have always disclosed my connection to my subject as have other writers here at the paper.
So with that in mind, Downes should not be overlooked because of his obvious connection with the paper. He is a local author, who coincidently owns the paper, and I am almost positive the Detroit Free Press has written with great pride about their columnist Mitch Albom’s books. Many readers of the Express followed with great interest Downes travels last year (we know from the several letters to the editor received) as he chronicled it in his columns and also on his web-blog. Now he has captured it all in book form for your enjoyment.

Books Rick Coates Louis “Studs” Terkel passed away on Halloween, a fitting day for one of the great characters of the 20th century. Studs was a celebrated author, journalist, actor, activist and radio show host. For many a journalist, myself included, Studs was an inspiration.
He died at the age of 96, still enjoying his daily cigar and at least one martini. Up to his last days he continued what he enjoyed doing most in life: “Working.” He once wrote: “I took a vacation once - it involved a beach - and to tell you the truth, I had no idea what to do with myself. It was torture. Work is life. Without it, there is no life.”
Studs built a name for himself by seeking out the ordinary people of our world and showing them as extraordinary, and certainly seeking out the famous and making them appear ordinary.
“I have, after a fashion, been celebrated for having celebrated the lives of the uncelebrated among us; for lending voice to the face in the crowd,” he wrote in the opening line of his memoir “Touch and Go.”
He had a journalistic style like no other and scoffed at the notion of the most sacred word in journalism: “objectivity.”

Books Mardi Link Share this scenario with just about any woman and you’re sure to get a shudder: A nine-year-old girl from a big city in the Midwest is orphaned after her mother is committed to a psychiatric hospital and her father is killed in a traffic accident. The country is facing economic strife, her parents were Polish immigrants and no relatives come forward to claim her. Her two teenage brothers are left to fend for themselves. They manage to make their way in life, barely, but are not equipped to care for their sister. It was as if bad luck and doom crossed paths one day and she was standing at the intersection, all alone in the world, even before her 10th birthday.
These circumstances would be dire today, but imagine now that the year is 1883. Options for women are few–for girls even fewer–and for orphaned girls like this one, there are none at all except for this: the convent.
This hypothetical lost little girl was a real person. In the end, the Catholic Church in Detroit took her in, and the Felician Sisters there –many of them Polish–fed her, clothed her, educated and even loved her. Not surprisingly, she became a nun.

Books Rick Coates For most of us, changes in life’s direction is a direct result of some monumental crises. A destructive relationship, a health tragedy, job loss, depression or substance abuse will often lead us to revaluate our path in life. Author and spiritual director Janice Lynne Lundy wants to encourage readers of her new book, Your Truest Self: Embracing the Woman You Are Meant to Be to start the process of a spiritual journey of seeking inner peace before such calamities arise.
Lundy found herself 15 years ago in pursuit of trying to have it all, and then some. Her desire to be the perfect wife, mother, employee, friend and trying to do it all for others led her down a path of exhaustion and facing her own major health issue.

Books Robert Downes Summer produced a slew of new books by Northern Michigan authors. In particular, local writers were absorbed with local history this season. Here’s a look at what you’ll find on area bookshelves:
Old Mission kids enjoying a trip by goat cart -- circa 1900, from A Century of Service.

A Century of Service -- The People and Places on Old Mission Peninsula
Edited by Jack and Vi Solomonson Photo editor Mary Jo Lance

Largely a picture book, you’ll find over 300 photos in A Century of Service, many of which are from the family albums of the residents of Old Mission Peninsula and have never been seen by the public.
Many of the photos date back to the early 1900s, with glimpses of farm life at a time when horses were still used to plow the fields and pull buggies to market.
Here too are photos of the “bustling port” of Old Mission Harbor, with steamships docking at the town. There are histories of prominent families as well as the Indian residents and humble postmen.
The reader will also find tales of how memorable sites on the peninsula came to be. Did you know, for instance, that Marion Island -- once a gathering spot for Indians -- was acquired by the Chicago Yacht Club and was later sold to Henry Ford for $100,000?
Published by the Peninsula Telephone Company, this book is full of such nuggets and is a must-have for any resident of the Old Mission Peninsula.
The Unraveling Thread
By Priscilla Cogan
$26.95

Books Rick Coates The Epicurean Classic, September 11-13, has become one of the top culinary events in the country. It attracts “foodies” and wine and beer enthusiasts from all over (even overseas) to the Great Lakes Culinary Institute on West Bay in Traverse City. Anchoring the event and setting it apart from similar affairs is its connectivity cookbooks.
Each year, a dozen or so cookbooks are released at the Epicurean Classic, with another dozen recently-released cookbooks and the authoring chefs on hand. Each chef offers a class or seminar based on recipes from his or her book. Wine and beverage experts are also present with their books, and also offer tasting seminars.
Each year, several cookbooks that were released at the Classic have gone on to win major awards. In addition to the seminars and classes, the chefs will appear on Saturday night to prepare recipes from their new cookbooks at the Grand Reception (see ‘Tastemakers’).
New this year at the Epicurean Classic is a pass program that allows for access to daily seminars and the tasting pavilion. Passes are available by the day or for two days. There is also the Gourmand Pass that gets the pass holder into the opening night reception, the Grand Reception, both days of the tasting pavilion, and all the seminars. Note that tasting classes are sold separately and not part of the new pass program. It should also be noted that tasting classes are now priced at $29 versus $39 last year.

Here is a sampling of cookbooks and classes
offered at the Epicurean Classic this week:

Books Robert Downes Ed Lee has lived a life of adventure, working in some of the most dangerous countries in the world as a security consultant. Riots, bombs, bullets and kidnappings -- he’s dealt with it all -- and he’s used his wits to keep himself and others out of harm’s way.
But today, Lee, 64, is relying on more than 30 years of experience as an international security consultant to help keep readers out of trouble overseas with his new book: “Staying Safe Abroad -- Traveling, Working and Living in a Post-9/11 World.”
The 327-page book, published by his own Sleeping Bear Risk Solutions press, is packed with hair-raising stories, timely statistics and common-sense tips that will rate as valuable cargo on your next foreign vacation. In fact, if there’s any fault to the book, it’s that you may not want to venture much farther than your back porch after reading its cautionary tales, much less across the U.S. border.

Books Rick Coates As the final beach days wind down for 2008, consider taking Great Lakes For Sale From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps along with you for that final beach read.
Now at first glance this might seem a little bit of a heavy read for a leisurely afternoon at the beach. But there is really no better place to read this book than gazing over the miles of Lake Michigan.
First of all, author Dave Dempsey has taken one of the most challenging and often misunderstood issues in Michigan and the surrounding Great Lake states and put it all in layman terms. Dempsey has made this an easy read, not one full of scientific mumbo-jumbo, but rather he has written a 100-page essay (easy to read in an afternoon) that puts forward the issues at hand and offers solutions as well.
Dempsey is one of the leading advocates and experts for the future of the Great Lakes Water Basin. He is a senior policy advisor for the Michigan Environmental Council and well known for his writings on environmental issues in the Great Lakes region. He is author of Ruin and Recovery: Michigan’s Rise as a Conservation Leader and William G. Milliken: Michigan’s Passionate Moderate.