Minnesota Reads

The ever-awesome Girl Detective points out F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “A Night at the Fair” a story about the great Minnesota State Fair. “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” by Kate Braverman is one of those stories where you think you know what’s going on and then WHOA something totally different is going on. It’s [...]

A few weeks ago over at How Was The Show, the musicgeeks were getting all hopped up about all the great music coming to Minnesota in October, I mean Rocktober. I was just updating the Minnesota Reads calendar and noticed that booknerds can have just as much fun in Rocktober as their musicgeek brethren. Here [...]

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is, without question, one of the most moving books I’ve ever read. I remember in college, when Dorris committed suicide, everyone was reading this book. My favorite professor held a book discussion about it at her house, and I just couldn’t manage the read at that time. It is [...]

If you ever wondered where Stephen King would be after having the road of horror paved for him by, well, himself, Joe Hill is your answer. He’s also the answer to whether or not the “apple falls far from the tree”: it doesn’t. Hill is King’s son, and his writing is an homage to his [...]

Ben Kimball is a father of two who works full-time, recently graduated from Augsburg with a degree in Theology (I think), and will start Luther Seminary in the fall (which is next week, I guess). Yeah. Besides doing all that, he’s also made it his goal to read the 1001 books you must read before [...]

The weird world of book signing: Now, though, an American publisher is short-circuiting the process. His company has posted an advertisement on Craigslist, the internet listing site, asking for 14 volunteers who can fake the signatures of two big-name authors of a forthcoming book; each successful applicant will be paid $25 for every 200 books [...]

Keith Gessen’s All the Sad Young Literary Men is the story of three Ivy League educated bumbly fumblers who wander around talking about Russian history and trying to juggle complex adult women with another woman on the side. They have aspirations: a dissertation! a Zionist epic! more google hits! And they seemingly have a sort [...]

The other day Mighty Girl, Maggie Mason wrote about the eight books that changed her. Since I read the post I’ve been thinking about what books have changed me, the ones that shook my foundation or rocked my world. It’s a tough question and I’ve been pondering it for a few days. My go to [...]

Christa is one of my favorite writers and I’m so honored that she’s going to participate here. Her blog blah-blah-blahler should zoom to the top of your must-read list. Not only is Christa the funniest woman in Duluth, but she’s also wry and observant, and she sees life a little bit differently than everyone else [...]

The Strib’s new Book Editor Laurie Hertzel introduces herself to readers. The Internet Writing Journal complies a list of the the best author blogs. {via} This week’s New Yorker features “Awake” a story by Tobias Wolff that I haven’t read yet, however I did make the mistake of reading the Joshua Ferris one from last [...]