Like a CSI television drama, Find the Girl captures our full attention. The poems deal with the death of and lurking danger to girls and young women.
Author, Lightsey Darst’s verses urge the reader to tap into the days of innocence when running through fields was brave exploration and lips were stained red by Kool-Aid, not [...]

MN Authors, Poetry Lightsey Darst

Minneapolis’s own Hell’s Kitchen is no relation to the television show of same name but it is just as intense, and reading the story behind its success is even better than watching Chef Ramsay yell. The vivacious chef and owner of our local hellish hotspot is Mitch Omer. He joins literary forces with Ann Bauer, [...]

MN Authors, Non-Fiction Ann Bauer, Cookbook, food memoir, Mitch Omer

Writer’s block, obsessive authors, and drunken arrests, don’t begin to describe John McNally’s novel, After the Workshop. Main character, Jack Hercules Sheahan, is a writer that had a chance to make a name for himself as a novelist and let it slip through his fingers, finding himself years later as an ill-paid, often disrespected media [...]

Novel John McNally

Ruby and the Stone Age Diet is a classic Martin Millar novel with a jumble of sub-plots, twists and turns, and an unnamed narrator. Millar, once again, explores the world of Britain’s underclass filled with dreamers, tweakers, and lovable misfits. Threads of storyline intermingle to create a literary fog that is great to get lost [...]

Novel Martin Millar

Never Trust a Thin Cook is best described as an epicurious travelogue. It focuses more on the joy of food and cooking traditions than on specific recipes. Essentially, it is a diary of an American living abroad. Author, Eric Dregni puts this tale in play when he walks away from the popular south Minneapolis eatery, [...]

MN Authors, Non-Fiction Eric Dregni, food memoir

Alex Lemon’s memoir, Happy, is filled with blood, sweat, and courage. It is a raw and brutally honest look at overcoming what fate throws at you. Happy is a nickname and a personality Lemon shows the world as his body deteriorates in illness. The moments in this book are so personal; it will make you [...]

Non-Fiction Alex Lemon, Memoir

1. Ray of the Star by Laird Hunt: Loved everything about this book! The writing is dynamic, the setting is exotic, and the plotline is filled with beauty and tragedy. [review]
2. The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis: This book is currently making the rounds with the ladies of my family. It is a moving [...]

Best of A.W. Hill, Alan Deniro, Anne-Marie Oomen, Best Books of 2009, Carolina DeRobertis, Debra Ollivier, Isobella Jade, Janet Skeslien Charles, Laird Hunt, Miriam Toews, Norah Labiner

Toss The Rules in the trash-bin, put on your sexy lingerie, and welcome this new French mindset. This novel is an ultimate woman’s guide to getting what she wants. Author Debra Ollivier, a born-again French woman, knows enough about her own country and her husband’s homeland to be instantly relatable to gals on both sides [...]

Non-Fiction Debra Ollivier

Total Oblivion, More or Less is a fantastical voyage down the Mississippi that would make Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer proud. The only difference with this trip is: there’s no going home.
“There were tall white birches lining the eastern shore, their bark like an albino’s skin. They seemed like trees from a different place [...]

MN Authors, Novel Alan Deniro

Big Noise by Jen Wright is a Northwood’s thriller you can curl up with on a snowy night. Main character, Jo, is in need of a vacation from her stressful work dealing with troubled and sometimes dangerous teens. She and her new love interest, Zoey, head to the town Big Noise to visit friends, explore [...]

Novel Jen Wright, Mystery, suspense