Erie Reader Book Club: April 2025

Random House

SUNDAY, APR. 27

The Erie Reader Book Club will be reading and discussing the novel North Woods by Daniel Mason in correspondence with the Earth Day Erie Reader issue.

The genre of this book is difficult to pin down — within it there are elements of historical fiction, climate fiction, nature writing, mystery, and magical realism. Essentially, North Woods tells the story of a single plot of land throughout the entire colonial history of America, beginning with an absconding pair of young Puritan lovers who settle on this land (somewhere in Massachusetts), followed by a legacy of inhabitants throughout American history including an indigenous conflict, a British soldier turned apple farmer, a pair of spinster twins, a crime reporter, a painter, a conman — all alongside natural characters from the surrounding woods like an ubiquitous puma and a beetle searching for a mate.

The book is at once grand-sweeping while remaining inherently readable — as it barrels through the generations, it eventually moves into the near and subtly apocalyptic future in which the Earth's climate and the titular landscape changes because of human activity, human history, weather events, and invasive species.

"...the only way to understand the world as something other than a tale of loss is to see it as a tale of change." The changing landscape, cast of characters, and history of the land is at the crux of this unique novel, and the Erie Reader Book Club will, among other things, discuss all three of these sources of change at their April meeting. The club is free to join (cost of book not included), and anyone is welcome with no commitment to join in the future.

1 p.m. // Werner Books and Coffee, 3608 Liberty St. // For more info: wernerbooks.com