Minnesota Reads

Do you remember way back in August when Kurtis Scaletta asked Steve Brezenoff six questions? Well, it’s payback time. Like Steve, Kurtis has already answered the questions we always ask and the questions we hardly ever ask. Before we get to the questions, you should probably know that Kurtis has a new book out today. [...]

I cried when I finished reading Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff. While I’m generally a crybaby, I wouldn’t need to use my toes to count how many times a novel has made me cry. But there I was, snuggled into bed turning the last page of this brilliant, profound young adult novel my face wet. [...]

What’s a blog editor to do when a certain author has answered the 6 questions we always ask AND the 6 questions we hardly ever ask? Here’s what you do, you leave it to someone else to ask the questions. This was an idea born one night over tator tots at Grumpy’s. I wish I [...]

William Kent Krueger is the author of the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Cork O’Connor series. He also has one of the more charming About pages I’ve ever read. You should go read it, especially the ‘Flameboiled fiction’ section. Anyway, the eleventh volume in his wildly popular series, Northwest Angle, will be released at the [...]

Before I blatantly steal the ‘about’ section from Ellen Baker’s website you should know that her latest novel I Gave My Heart to Know This got a pretty sweet rave in the StarTribune this weekend. So here comes the ripoff portion: “Ellen Baker was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and grew up in Wisconsin, Illinois, [...]

Back in the olden days of the early 1980s, “The Wizard of Oz” was event TV. My sisters and I would flop belly-down in front of the TV, chins propped on our hands and watch with rapt attention as Dorothy wound her way through the wonderful land of Oz. Every year, without fail, I would [...]

Besides being an award-winning TV new producer, Julie Kramer is the creator and author behind the wildly popular Riley Spartz mystery series. In fact, the fourth installment Killing Kate, was just released today. In case you need to play catch up the series also includes: Stalking Susan, Missing Mark, and Silencing Sam. And if you [...]

Rebecca Fjelland Davis is a novelist and YA and children’s book author. She’s also a serious cyclist and loves to write about her passions: bicycling, dogs, farms, family, and friendship. She currently lives in farmhouse near Good Thunder, Minnesota, where she writes, rides her bike, has bonfires with her friends, plows snow in the winter [...]

Back in February, I bought my ticket for the Gala celebration of the MN Book Awards, which are held in April every year. Last year I had gone for the first time. This year, I wanted to be a little more prepared. And I wanted to vote intelligently in the Readers' Choice Award, for which [...]

When you’re an adult a weird and mild form of multiple personality disorder overcomes you when you read Middle Grade Fiction. When you’re reading a really good book, in this case Mamba Point by Kurtis Scaletta, part of your personality is overtaken by the twelve-year-old you once were. You revel in the danger and intrigue [...]

The front cover is a bit confusing. It says the book is a literary diary and also a novel. I guess it can be a made up diary, but Ghellow Road by T.H. Waters reads like a book of creative nonfiction. There are also quite a number of people to whom this book is dedicated, [...]

A peaceful cabin resort in northern Minnesota which is owned by an eccentric woman and her sister ~ add a corrupt judge who believes one of the cabins on the resort should belong to him ~ throw in a baby kidnapping ring ~ a couple of souls needing to complete a task before entering the [...]

The quest to feature as many MN Book Award nominees before the April 16 ceremony marches on! You can play along at home, and watch as a link to each author’s answers are added to this post Today we’re featuring Paul Kilgore who is either the sixth or seventh author from Duluth we’ve featured. What [...]

The quest to feature as many MN Book Award nominees before the April 16 ceremony marches on! You can play along at home, and watch as a link to each author’s answers are added to this post Today we’re pleased to feature Linda Glaser whose book Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty [...]

The quest to feature as many MN Book Award nominees before the April 16 ceremony marches on! You can play along at home, and watch as a link to each author’s answers are added to this post Today you’re in for a treat. Not only can you read Amie Klempnauer Miller’s answers to our 6 [...]