Firewood Happens: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Minnesota’s Northwoods

by Mike Lein

Mike is known across the north country for many published stories of cabin life with dogs, boats, relatives, friends, and other assorted shady characters. He brings all these together in “Firewood Happens.”

155 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2016

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was right up my alley - a collection of short stories, nearly prose in feeling but also straightforward and not pretentious at all, specific enough to conjure vivid imagery of this guys cabin. It honestly sounds like exactly the kind of low-key North Woods place I’d like to have one day. I will definitely be revisiting this to dog ear my favorite “chapters.”

[William Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I smiled and laughed throughout so much of this book. I almost felt like crying by the end. So many things I can relate to. From my youth and from present day. I do not own a cabin but I've visited many. I've been through or seen most that is written in this book. I've never duck hunted but I have a friend who duck hunts, has a cabin on a lake and lost his black lab to old age a couple years back. I thought about so many people I know who own or visit cabins and experiences I've shared with them or heard from them. The cabin life is what everybody should experience. Some people think that a trip to a beach on a far away place is the best thing in life. I've been there, done it and will probably do it again. But if you were to ask me if I wanted to sit on a beach looking the ocean or sitting outside a cabin looking out over a lake I would say the cabin hands down. Mike it was a pleasure meeting you last weekend at the Book and Beer Popup stand at Utepsils brewery. After reading your book I'm going to say it was an honor meeting you and reading your book.

[Kristin Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read! I keep this book by my bedside and read a few chapters/stories when needing to go to my "happy place." I don't own a cabin yet, but hope to one day. This book is a serene escape, and a touch of a guidebook for dreamers.

[Debb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable, completely relatable book, that made me smile the whole way through. I had to read sections to my husband because I knew he'd get a kick out of it too. Mike puts life in the Minnesota North woods on paper beautifully.

[Kathleen Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a lovely selection of short stories about northern Minnesota. Absolutely loved

[Lynell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received this book as a gift from an upnorth, outdoors lover. It was fun to experience that life at its fullest through his stories.

[Thomas Kalinoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy and fun read

[Jim Krotzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new is in this memoir Firewood Happens, but I identify with the author's experiences. He spent 15 years building a cabin in northern Minnesota; I have spent three years so far. We seem to be in the same circumstances. No real budget for a cabin, no carpentry skills to speak of, just an enjoyment of nature and the wild.
This book contains short essays about cabin life in northern Minnesota. Duck hunting. Fishing with red and white spoon. Gathering firewood from downed timber, the stubbornness of chainsaws. The author appreciates the beauty of the sunrise and fog and one last fall day of duck hunting. He does use many worn out cliches and similes. He does have some good advice though, “Not every outdoor experience needs to be easy to be enjoyed.” (154) “Life is not always simple, even at the lake, even at our small cabin.” (155) Electricity is a blessing; television is a curse. “Perhaps the universe is badly out of order even here in the woods.” “...to not under any circumstances, build the deck until the cabin in finished or a least livable.” (165) A deck lures one away from work on the cabin. Never leave the cabin without taking a timeout.” I recommend this book for cabin owner wannabes.