South of Superior

The book is SOUTH OF SUPERIOR and the author is Ellen Airgood. Airgood lives in Grand Marais, Michigan, and has used her home as a template for McAllister, the isolated Upper Peninsula town that is the setting of her novel. Madeline Stone, the protagonist,comes to live in McAllister in response to a request from a woman she hardly knows. But that woman is the only link Madeline has to her birth family, and she can't resist the longing to know more about her roots. As Madeline navigates the rigors of her new environment, she meets characters who will eventually change her life. Though I enjoyed the tale, I never felt immersed in it; I never completely identified with Madeline.

WINE AND WAR

The book is WINE AND WAR, and the authors are Don and Petie Kladstrup. Based on extensive research and numerous personal interviews, the authors have fashioned a highly readable story about the French wine industry during the German occupation of World War II. They use personal narratives throughout the book, weaving them with historical events and little known facts. I was sorry when the book ended. So then I read the epilogue. And then the glossary. And finally the footnotes. Someday I'll read the whole thing again.

Middlesex

The book is MIDDLESEX and the author is Jeffrey Eugenides.
In this age of transgender surgeries -- which have been publicized in books, films and even on televisions's Dancing with the Stars (thanks to Chaz Bono)--- I thought I was ready for anything. But I was totally knocked out by Eugenides' book, which is narrated by a hermaphrodite. I had seen pictures in historic and medical textbooks, but it never occured to me to wonder about such a person's interior, emotional life. Eugenides takes on this neglected subject and runs with it. First of all, he thoroughly educates the reader on the condition without ever becoming dry or pedantic. But more important, he takes us inside the mind of a young woman who hits puberty in a maelstrom of confusion as she realizes that she is different but doesn't understand how or why.
As I read, I became so involved with this young person that the act of violence committed on her/him in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was heart- breaking. After 529 dense pages, the author fashions something more than we could hope for -- a happy ending. In my humble opinion, Eugenides is a genius.

The Yellow Brick Road

The book is FINDING OZ and the author is Evan Schwartz.
It would be hard to find anyone in this country who has not seen the movie "The Wizard of Oz" where Judy Garland sing "Over the Rainbow" and gets transported to the colorful land of Oz.
The movie came from a play and the play came from a book written by L Frank Baum in the very early 1900's. I knew all of this since I grew up reading the "oz books" and have a complete collection. But Schwart'z book told me some things I didn't know about Mr.Baum.
For one thing, his mother-in-law, Matilda Gage, was an ardent and active feminist, campaigning for the vote for women. This might explain why the protagonist is a spunky, resourceful girl rather than a boy. Secondly, Baum was a emember of the Theosophical Society -- a group which brought tenets of Eastern religion and philosophy to the U.S. One of their studies involved the four paths to enlightenment -- through cultivation of the mind (intellect) development of the emotions (love) or through withstanding tests of courage. There you have it -- the scarecrow, the tinman and the lion. The fourth way is serenity -- finding home. This children's story became an American myth because it embodies a very real and helpful road map for becoming an adult.

Medieval Murders

The book is Medieval Murders and the author is Aaron Stander. Stander lives in Michigan in the Traverse City area and is associated with the Interlochen Arts Academy.
This is Stander's fifth book with Ray Elkins as the teacher/cop/sleuth. In this case, the book is a prequel to the other four -- which might be confusing for anyone following Elkins' personal life but I did not find it so. Each of Stander's novels can stand alone, as mystery novels should.
The title refers to the deaths of three women, all of them teachers of Medieval Studies at an unnamed midwestern university. As Elkins says, it is statistically impossible for all of the deaths to have been accidents or even suicide. And he proceeds to prove his point.
When the killer is revealed, the motive seems a litle less than plausible, but that's just nit picking on my part. It's still a fun read.