For the Dogs

The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs is a compendium of essays, cartoons, and articles spanning the New Yorker's impressive back catalog.  From the good and the bad to the top dogs and the under dogs, works by James Thurber, John Updike, Roddy Doyle and E. B. White (to name but a few) explore our sometimes rocky but always entertaining relationship with man's best friend.  Includes a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell.  HM

All Good Things Come to Those Who Shoot Straight

It's deer season unlike any other, eh!

Ruban Soady is cursed. Unlike his famously outdoors-y relatives before him, he's never gotten a buck. But this year could be different. This year at deer camp mysterious things happen: Strange lights appear in the sky (UFOs?), the Euchre cards change face, the camp's supply of homemade sweet sap whisky turns to maple syrup, and the DNR stops for more than just a casual visit. Terrifying! Strangest of all, this might be the year Ruban finally gets his buck!

Adapted from a play written by Jeff Daniels, Escanaba in da Moonlight has become a (deer) seasonal favorite--especially among Michigan natives. But you don't have to be a deer hunter to appreciate this feel-good comedy about believing in your dreams and making them come true. --AJL

da Buck Stops Here

Escanaba in da Moonlight is an hilarious film that celebrates one of Michigan's three seasons: Winter, Construction, and Hunting.

At the age of 43, Ruben Soady is dangerously close to being the oldest member of his family to never hang a buck on da buck pole. That status may be fine for the average Troll (someone who lives south of the Mackinaw Bridge) coming to the Upper Peninsula on an annual hunting pilgrimage, but for a Soady... Well, it's enough to bring the highest level of shame to Ruben and his family. No longer content to endure being called "Buckless Yooper" by friends and neighbors, Ruben is determined that this year will be different. In a last-ditch effort to change his luck for the better, Ruben convinces his fellow hunting buddies to participate in an ancient Native American ritual guaranteed to draw every buck in the state to the front door of their rustic backwoods cabin. What happens instead is a series of strange, terrifying, and unexplainable events, including: An exploding Chevy, UFO sightings, haunted Euchre cards, and a surprise visit from the most dreaded of dreadful visitors, a DNR officer. Will this night before Opening Day ever end? And, when the sun finally rises, will Ruben be prepared to face the inevitable?

Written by and starring Jeff Daniels and featuring Harve Presnell, Joey Albright, Wayne David Parker, and Randall Godwin, Escanaba in da Moonlight is a regional comedy that can be enjoyed by both "Yoopers" and "Trolls", deer hunters and their "widows".

Rated: PG-13 for some crude humor.

Some Like it Hot

Bumbling Bounty Hunter Stephanie Plum is no stranger to dangerous situations. But things hit a little too close to home in Janet Evanovich's 16th Plum installment, Sizzling Sixteen ,when Stephanie's sleazy boss, Vinnie, is kidnapped and held for ransom because of outstanding gambling debts. As much as Stephanie would like to leave Vinnie to the dogs who nabbed him, no Vinnie means no work. And no work means paycheck. And no paycheck means no new shoes (or no food or rent payments, for that matter). And, oh yeah, Vinnie is family... Stephanie teams up with former 'ho, Lula, and trigger-happy office manager, Connie, to find Vinnie--and in the process anger the wrong people. In the end, the good guys win and the bad guys are put behind bars for a long, long time. Add to the mix a Hobbit convention, a hungry alligator, a sexy male bounty hunter, and plenty of firepower. While Plum adventures aren't particularly deep, they're a fun way to pass an afternoon. And Sizzling Sixteen delivers in a big way!