Join me in Reading The Round House

the National Book Award winning book by Louise Erdrich

Remember back in February when I said we were going to read The Round House? Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.

If you have the book, that’s awesome. If you don’t have it, you still have time to buy it or check it out from your local library. Make sure you’re subscribed to “ET Book Club,” which is part of this newsletter, so you can receive any messages after this one regarding The Round House and other books we’ll read.

In the first week of April (next week!) I’ll send out an annotated bibliography I’ve made for The Round House. This is essentially a list for further reading and investigation, with some commentary from me. Then we’ll start reading! Each week, I will check in and share my reading experience. I hope you’ll join in through the comments! Depending on participation, we may meet via Zoom to discuss the book as a whole near the end of the month!

Louise Erdrich is a multi-genre writer. Read her poem, “Captivity,” on the Poetry Foundation’s website.

“Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota in 1954. As the daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father, Erdrich explores Native-American themes in her works, with major characters representing both sides of her heritage.” (From the Poetry Foundation)

I’m going to be reading Erdrich’s The Round House both as a work of fiction and a novel, but I’ll also be focusing on the ways in which the book engages with legal concepts and legal marginalizations (and margins) and histories, specifically pertaining to Indigenous/Indian rights in the United States.

Although the book is fiction, its concepts and events are based in an ongoing reality.

I am super excited to (re)read this book! And I am really excited to hear your thoughts and interpretations, whether they’re about the craft of writing, the content, or the context. I’m here for it all.

Will you be joining me? Let me know in the comments!