Reading Nook: Up North in Michigan

The beautiful lake shores and rustling woods of northern Michigan have long been a favored escape for vacationers, but they've also provided a the setting for a variety of fictional escapades.

So, if you're headed up north this summer, Director Anne Hage suggests some page-turners to read during days at the cottage.

Adult books

• Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley, 2009. Journalist Gus Carpenter returns to Starvation Lake, at the northern end of the Lower Peninsula, after his career takes a dive. Shortly after his return, evidence that might explain the snowmobiling death of Gus' hockey coach is found, and Gus pursues the truth.
• Strike Dog by Joseph Heywood, 2007. Grady Service is out to avenge the murder of his girlfriend and son in this mystery novel set in the Upper Peninsula. Conservation officers in several states have been killed, so Service gets into the mind of a serial killer before he becomes a victim.
• The Summer He Didn’t Die by Jim Harrison, 2005. The title piece in this series of novellas, set in the Upper Peninsula, is the story of Brown Dog and his attempt to keep his brain-damaged stepdaughter out of a state boarding school. Republican Wives tells the tale of three former sorority sisters who were all once involved with Daryl, an abusive artist. Tracking is a story of the writer's life.

Children’s books

• The Danger Box by Blue Balliett, 2010. A boy named Zoomy who lives in a small Michigan town has a different way of seeing and a mysterious notebook.
• Mackinac Bridge: The Five Mile Poem by Gloria Whelan, 2006. A boy named Mark, whose father runs a ferry between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, is torn as he watches the Mackinac Bridge being built. He can’t help but be in awe, but the Mighty Mac also will put his dad out of business.