Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Carol Bosman over the phone. She had called our editor to pass along her number. Bosman does not have a computer but said I could call her if I wanted a good book recommendation.
She answered from Grand Marais, where she has lived since 1994. When I apologized for taking a while to ring her up, she teased, “Well, I didn’t sit and wait for you.” I liked her immediately, and the longer we talked, the more I liked her. Bosman is not just a reader. She has stories.
When I asked if she was from Cook County originally, she said she grew up in the Cities but always had a connection to the North Shore that began before she was born. Her mother, at age fifteen, had a boyfriend working at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp up the shore. She would hitchhike to Duluth, then ride with the milkman to Grand Marais. The boyfriend later died in World War II.
Once Bosman’s mother had children, she began bringing them north as often as four times a year. They regularly stopped to visit an Ojibwe woman who ran a birch bark souvenir stand on old Highway 61. The families became close, thanks to her mother’s gift for talking to anyone.
“My mother could talk to anybody. I’m sure if she talked to a tree, it would answer her,” Bosman said.
Her mother eventually earned enough trust to drive the woman to Grand Marais for groceries and mail. When the woman died in 1964, Bosman’s brother served as a pallbearer. When I mentioned that her mother sounded like quite a character, Bosman added, “My mother was a story.”
The story she wanted to recommend was an old one I had never heard of, but quickly wanted to read. Crazy‑White‑Man by Richard Morenus is a wilderness memoir, and if you have read this column before, you know that is right up my alley.
The book follows Morenus, a New York businessman who fled city stress for the Canadian bush. He learns to snowshoe, cut ice, and takes cues from local Indigenous people.
“His doctor told him he had to get away from all the traffic and noise and stress,” Bosman said. “So he bought an island up at Sioux Lookout. It came with a cabin that he said, after he lived there for five or six years, the roof never stopped leaking.”
Bosman worried I would not be able to find the book, but I located used copies online and “added to cart” while I was still on the phone with her. But before checking out, I checked the Arrowhead Library System’s website. The library in International Falls had a copy, so I ordered it. If you have not used this system, I recommend it. It broadens your selection and makes hardto-find books accessible. Many bookstores can also special-order titles or help track them down.
I am grateful for Bosman’s conversation about one of her favorite books. She read it in the 1970s, and it still resonates. Not only did I hear about a book I am sure I will devour, but I also heard the stories that shaped her life. That is what happens when people talk about what they read. The books open the door, but the stories behind them are what stay with you.
In other Reading Roundup followups, my mom finished The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth, which I mentioned I found good but predictable. She said it seemed familiar and thinks she may have read it before. Maybe I did, too, and that is why it felt predictable.
A friend who was reading a different Hepworth novel, Mad Mabel, reported, “I finished my book and now I’m sad.” When I asked her to elaborate, she said it was “poetically good, like really, really good. The ending was perfect, and I usually feel meh about endings. Now there’s no more story to read.”
We are going to mail our Hepworths to each other, which remains one of my favorite small rituals.
I finished a book I am not going to mention yet, as I am planning to interview the author or translator soon. I started A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, published in 2022. It is a psychological thriller and already promising to be a twisty one. I will let you know how it goes.
Book lovers, I want to know what you are reading. What is keeping you up past your bedtime, turning one more page and then one more? What book did you hate in school but love now? What stories do you carry around the books you love? Tell me what you are reading and the stories that come with it. Write to sarahwritesnsj@yahoo.com. You can remain anonymous if you would like. Your stories are what keep North Shore Reading Roundup growing.
