Erin Lambers (daughter of Debra) Part time employee and University of Michigan student.

I was blessed with Erin all last summer while she was on break from school.  One of Erin's favorite authors is Barbara Kingsolver.  Hm...I wonder if that would have anything to do with the fact she is a biology major!  Erin spent the entire summer doing as I love to do; laughing, living on a boat and enjoying all of our great customers.  

Erin Update: Erin graduated from the University of Michigan this past December and has since accepted a position with Northwestern University as a Research Scientist.  Erin is hoping to complete her PHD with Northwestern.

The novel Beloved was written by Toni Morrison, the 1988 Pulitzer winner for fiction. Toni Morrison writes about an African American family who deals with the hardships of life during the antebellum. This work provides excellent insight into the typical lives of African Americans before and after the emancipation proclamation using a number of different characters and their particular situations in life. Toni Morrison has a unique way of telling the story without using chronological order. She leaves the reader with a sense of unknowing and anticipation and eventually fills in the unanswered through out the book. Some will be left up to you. It is a wonderful book, I highly recommend reading it but certainly not if your looking for a “pick me upper”! ****

For all you nature lovers out there, I highly recommend reading Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer . I consider this book a three in one. Barbara Kingsolver separates this book into three alternating chapters each with its own protagonist dealing with their own obstacles of life in Zebulon Valley, a small town in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Barbara Kingsolver, while obtaining her graduate degree in biology, fills Prodigal Summer with intriguing information about native flora and fauna of the Southern Appalachian Mountains as well as its farm life. Through her characters, Kingsolver is able depict a beautiful relationship between all aspects of life from love, loss, and discovery to the nature within us that is intertwined with all organisms. Prodigal Summer is a refreshing novel that notes these subtle connections that are so often missed in the passing of our busy lives.  By using her characters to explore many ethical standpoints, Kingsolver brings the reader to question the concept of man's role and responsibility in nature and addresses the recently emerging issues of cross-breeding and genetics, ecosystem conservation, and farming practices.  This is a very stimulating book that will keep you looking for underlying relationships and will give you a new sense of how each life fits into nature’s scheme.

Reviews by: 

  Lisa Bush   Reverend Everett Klein  Maddie Timmers  Zac Pawlowski

Tom Hinken   Debra Lambers    Erin Lambers   Paul Lambers 

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