Tales from the Book Tour

The beautiful events room at the Kzoo Library

I was honored to be part of Kalamazoo's Reading Together program. I was asked to give my Great Lakes Walk lecture to tie in with the book chosen: 

The Living Great Lakes, by Jerry Dennis.

Over a hundred people came out to hear about my adventures...

and my three books.

My book tour schedule is filling up as I add engagements with my new book:

A 1000-Mile Great Lakes

 ISLAND 

Adventure

Available at select indie bookstores May 1, 

then everywhere books are sold June 1.

Happy INDIE Holidays

I visited many indie bookstores today in Southwest Michigan as they were gearing up for Small Business Saturday.

The Nature Connection in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo's indie, Kazoo Books

Great Lakes books at Kazoo Books

 Kalamazoo has chosen 

The Living Great Lakes 

by Jerry Dennis as their Community Read for 2015. 

Great choice!

Great indie in St. Joseph

AND, I was able to visit Lake Michigan 

on this wintery day.  

Snow dunes...

Lake Michigan!

Lake Michigan in motion

Yep. This is my lake.

South Haven's Black River Books

Reader's World in Holland

Support your local indies on Small Business Saturday AND all year long!
All of these stores will take part in the May 2015
 pre-release of my upcoming book.

The Windward Shore

I have settled into a little cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan for a time. The season seems disjointed, though, with the unseasonably warm weather. We've had a stretch of seventy degree or higher days -- with two days pushing up against eighty degrees -- so it feels more like June and summer than October and fall. I just finished walking the beach for several miles, then turning back to retrace my steps back to my cottage.

It is odd for me to retrace my steps.

I am used to walking on and on and on...

It's been good hammock weather and I've been doing a lot of reading and writing here.


The first book I took with me to the hammock was just released by The University of Michigan Press.

It is by Jerry Dennis, the brilliant essayist whose work best captures the Great Lakes. This book is called THE WINDWARD SHORE: A Winter on the Great Lakes. It was a wonderful read and I'm glad I read it while the waves played background music along the shore.

Dennis has lived his life on the Great Lakes, mostly on Lake Michigan. He lives within sight and sound of the lake and he says:

"Day and night by the water -- it insinuates. Seeing it in all hours and in all seasons, hearing it even in your sleep, it changes you. You're reminded that everything is fluid, that time flows and carries us along from a springlike source to an oceanlike eternity. And although I know these inland seas are not oceans, I have followed them to an ocean and know the connectedness of waters -- and the connectedness of every other thing as well. And I know the lakes are treasures worth more than all the world's gold."

For this book, Dennis spent time in winter at several residences on the shores of the Great Lakes and tried to capture this least-celebrated season on the lakeshore. There are people who summer at the lakes who have never seen the many forms the ice can take in winter: frazil, shelf ice, pancake ice, boulders of ice and more. They've never seen a storm smash up the shelf ice, then toss it up into sculptures on the shore. They've never walked out on the ice and felt the waves pulsing beneath their feet.

Dennis captures this most harsh and beautiful season in this collection of essays. It's a book I'll pull down to re-read winter after coming winter.

From My Stack of Reading...

The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Jerry Dennis is one of the best 'Great Lakes Writers.' His work has inspired me, and this account of his journey by boat through four of the Great Lakes all the way to the Atlantic Ocean is a great read.

I'm not much of a boater, but I do enjoy learning about the lakes and this book explores many aspects of the lakes.

Dennis also tells of his time as a crew hand on a sailboat in the Chicago to Mackinac Island race. I've been in Chicago for the start of this event when the lake is filled with sails. It was fascinating to be along for the ride by reading this book.

From my stack of reading...

Leelanau: A Portrait of Place in Photographs & Text by Ken Scott & Jerry Dennis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book combines the photographs of Ken Scott with essays by Jerry Dennis. And it's all about the Leelanau Peninsula, one of my favorite places in Michigan. Through all four seasons, this team portrays the riches of Michigan's 'pinky,' that spike of land jutting off the NW of the state's mitten.

Ken Scott is a master photographer and his images draw me back to this book. Jerry Dennis lives in this region; he knows it well because it's a part of him. His essays pair wonderfully with the images, rounding out each photo with stories that live.

A great holiday gift for people who love Leelanau!

I read a huge stack of books while doing research for my Lake Trek and I'll share some of them here over the next months leading up to the release of

A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach
March 1, 2011

Here's what Jerry Dennis had to say about my upcoming book:

"In her walk around Lake Michigan, Loreen Niewenhuis accomplished what many of us have only daydreamed about. Her adventure is told with verve and boldness, and she is a clear-eyed observer of the lake and its beautiful and sometimes ravaged shore. This book is a welcome addition to the literature of the Great Lakes."

- Jerry Dennis, author of The Living Great Lakes

Research and Notes

I made reference to the research I've been doing while I write the account of my Lake Trek. Well, I've been reading everything I could get my hands on for the last year or so about the Great Lakes and, specifically, Lake Michigan. I thought I'd show you the books that are threatening to push me out of my small home office.

The work of Jerry Dennis and the photographs of Ken Scott have inspired me to try to fully convey the beauty and scale of the Leelanau Peninsula area. I've read histories of the cities, both small and large, along the lakeshore. And I've collected books about all sorts of Great Lake topics: geology, history, culture, toxic sites, ship wrecks, car ferries, water use issues, travel guides, environment, ecosystems, etc.

I've also enjoyed reading how other writers have tackled the 'adventure memoir' (if there is such a category). Peter Jenkins' A WALK ACROSS AMERICA has been inspirational. And I recently discovered the British writer Robert Macfarlane and his gorgeous book THE WILD PLACES which chronicles his exploration of the remaining wild parts of Great Britain.

Independent Bookstores Near the Lighthouse

I had the opportunity to visit two independent bookstores during the week I was volunteering at the lighthouse. Brilliant Books, in Suttons Bay, was a store that I had stopped in while on the Lake Trek. This time, I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Peter Makin. We had a nice chat about his store and independent bookstores in general.

Brilliant Books was running a book fair while I was there. A percentage of the proceeds were going to local schools. At a time when Michigan's economy is struggling and school budgets are being slashed to the bone (and beyond), it was encouraging to know that Brilliant Books was pitching in to help local schools.

Peter also invited me back to do a reading and book signing during their Friday Night Series at Brilliant Books. I'm honored to be asked, and will look forward to being part of this series next year after my book has been published.

And then I stopped in at Dog Ears Books in Northport. There I met Pamela and her dog (whom I assume is the 'Dog' in the 'Dog Ears' title). This store has a large collection of used and new books and I found a signed copy of Jerry Dennis' It's Raining Frogs and Fishes.

I'm a big fan of Jerry Dennis' work, so it was great to hold this out-of-print title, then take it home with me.