At dinner with friends the other night, I talked about Louise Erdrich's Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country.

Published as part of  National Geographic's Directions series, the book is 150 pages of absolute beauty. Instead of trying to describe it anew, though, I'm just going to reprint the review I wrote for the Star Tribune back in 2003 when it was first published.  Here goes:

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Bestselling author Louise Erdrich's new nonfiction book, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, is deceptively small — just four chapters running a little under 150 pages. Don't let it fool you: This book contains enough stories, questions and observations to keep a reader occupied for months. Part of a series sponsored by National Geographic, the book is a travel narrative of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake portions of the state — but it is much, much more.

At age 47, Erdrich finds out she is pregnant. She goes from being “peri-menopausal to violently pregnant,” and in response to the news, she weeps, snarls and laughs “like a hyena.” Nearly two years later, Erdrich's 18-month-old daughter is her traveling companion to Lake of the Woods, a place which holds great meaning for the father of her baby. As Erdrich puts it, “I'm a dry-land-for-hundreds-of-miles person, but I've gotten mixed up with people who live on lakes.”

The father of Erdrich's baby is from the Canadian side of Lake of the Woods, and as a traditional healer and teacher, he knows the lake. According to Erdrich, “He and the lake are one person.” Erdrich's own ancestors probably traveled the area. And Lake of the Woods, it turns out, is filled with “books” — islands and small rock outcroppings bearing pictographs painted by Ojibwe Indians anywhere from a couple hundred to a thousand years ago.

This book is a vivid and rich reminder that there are sovereign nations just hours away, with their own rich and complex history. Through Erdrich's retelling, the reader learns some of the background, teachings and stories of this watery area. For instance, we learn that Ojibwes had sturgeon farms long ago, and that tea made from wikeh, a kind of green-gold reed, is good for the immune system.

One of the most intriguing stories in the book illustrates just how thoroughly the lake and the land surrounding the lake provided the Ojibwe with all they needed:

“When the water is high, large pieces of bog pull free of the lake bottom and drift all through the bays and channels. Looking at these bogs it is easy to see how, once, when a raiding party of Bwaanag Sioux had camped in Ojibwe country, they were driven out by use of a floating bog. The warriors entered the bog from underneath and swam it to the shore like Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane.”

Throughout the book, Erdrich attempts to answer the question, “Why are books important?” Throughout her journey, she comes up with different answers: books are hope; books allow those who came before to talk to us even after they are dead; books free us from boredom.

Erdrich finally answers the “Why books?” question, “So that I will never be alone.”

This book is a treasure and a delight. It is filled with hope as strong as the wikeh — the water reeds — that Erdrich writes about. It is a talisman for the times.