Lake Country: A Series of Journeys [Paperback]

Kathleen Stocking (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1994

One writer's quest to locate herself within the wet, wild, and diversely human cultural heritage that has shaped her

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stocking's first collection of personal essays, Letters from the Leelanau , proved her an exceptional observer of our last primitive human impulses. Michigan's sparsely populated LeelanauPeninsula, where the author has lived most of her life, served as a metaphor for such remaining vestiges as our need to escape to simplicity. In her second collection of personal narratives, Stocking broadens her exploration to how a people and a place coexist while also broadening her geographical purview to all of Michigan--"as an attempt to get beyond what's known into something or someplace that will shift perspective." The result is 21 lucid essays that tightly weave together nature, spirituality and humanity's connection to each. Some, like "The Deer," lament our ever-dwindling wildlife populations; others, like "Michigan's Oldest Living Synagogue," attempt to put religion and nature into perspective. "Tent Ladies" chronicles the bravery of single mothers who live illegally with their children in tents to avoid rent and welfare, while in "Ann Arbor Again," Stocking takes inventory of the college town and finds a changed world from her college days. Stocking's explorations uncover a world that for all of its confusion and irony always holds some hope.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Stocking's previous book on Michigan (Letters from the Leenanau, Univ. of Michigan Pr., 1990) explored places and visited people on Lake Michigan's Leenanau Peninsula. This sequel takes the reader to places and visits people in a wider area of northern Michigan. Stocking visits a town built on an old iron mine and the oldest synagogue in northern Michigan. Her affinity for Michigan is evident in her descriptions of aspects of life there-deer, summer gardens, winter storms. She writes best when discussing trips to islands in lakes Michigan and Huron-Beaver, Bois Blanc, and Northern Fox-capturing well the essence of the isolated but special life on these islands. This well-written tour of the fringe areas of Michigan is recommended wherever good, literate travel books are requested and is essential for regional collections.
David Schau, Kanawha Cty. P.L., Charleston, W.Va.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press/Regional (June 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0472065165
• ISBN-13: 978-0472065165
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,452,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lake Country, January 5, 2011

By 

Mark Conner (Kirkland, Washington) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lake Country: A Series of Journeys (Paperback)

Kathleen Stocking took some really cheap shots at well meaning professionals in this book. I am reminded of Adlai Stevenson's quote when describing the press and journalists in general: "They are very good at separating the wheat from the chaff and printing the chaff".