AMIND LAW

It is raining at last in Minneapolis, saving the new trees that the city has planted, filling the storm sewers, giving us all a moment to step inside. The latest read -- American Indians and the Law by N. Bruce Duthu, published by Penguin Books. Not all of you may find this a mesmerizing subject, but I do. The book clearly sets out the foundation for the most recent legal decisions by the Supreme Court, and manages both to appall and give some hope. This may not be a thriller summer beach read, but it has got me thinking.

We have the most beautiful bird books in the store right now, and notebooks that just make you want to write down your secret thoughts.

Every time I walk into the store (wearing baggy running pants and an ancient Hendrix T), I meet some interesting people. A lovely woman from Leech Lake with her artist man on their way to Chicago, some high school seniors making an actual visit to pick up a book they were assigned, exotic and dangerously handsome men in J. Peterman hats . . . not really. The exhibit just a few doors away at Bockley Gallery takes a person's breath away. To stand before the Norval Morriseau paintings is to fall into an instant perception vortex. The colors! You've got to spend time with them, take them in, and even when you leave the colors will remain, eidetic images, in your rainy day mind.

Yours for the books, Louise