Minnesota Reads

I haven't found a book that I love in months. It has been a dark time and all I did was scour the library looking for a book I could love. I walked through life crossing my fingers hoping I would find the perfect book that I would read in a matter of days and [...]

Dear Shevaun, You left a self-addressed envelope, the size of a note card, in the Duluth Public Library’s copy of The White Album, a collection of essays by Joan Didion. Your name as both the sender and receiver. Both address labels indicate an association with the University of Florida. One is decorated with a UF, [...]

As a nonfiction, humor-loving reader, I have heard of Laurie Notaro and her hilarious reputation. My roommate from college basically worshipped the woman, but I’ve never read any of her books. So when I picked up It Looked Different on the Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy I had high hopes. Notaro is [...]

One of the things that drive me nuts in reviews and workshops is when the critic critiques a story based not on what it is, but rather what he or she wanted it to be. Right now I have to resist the urge to become the very thing I despise. I wanted more from Ryan [...]

Tina Fey gets a lot of shit. She’s too much of a feminist, she’s not feminist enough. She’s funny, she’s not funny. The woman cannot win. The latest is that her “memoir” Bossypants isn’t revealing enough. Here’s the thing though, it’s not a memoir. I don’t know why it’s being dubbed a memoir. I’m not [...]

The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death is absurd and hilarious. This is the kind of book you will want to read aloud to a friend while giggling spontaneously and ultimately loosing the narrative, but enjoying it so much that the other person laughs along at the image of your attempts. Laurie Notaro [...]

I am going to write something here that applies to Sloane Crosley and only Sloane Crosley, and God help us all — please don’t let anyone else take this bit of advice and apply it: Sloane, you need to write more about your personal life. Dates and dudes. Relationships that lean horizontal. Getting dumped and [...]

After reading Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, I can't decide if Chelsea Handler is going to save printed entertainment or drive the final nail into the format's coffin. The arguments for her as print's savior: this is her third New York Times bestseller, so she's apparently converting viewers of her late-night cable show into Barnes & [...]

At some point we all sat around and wondered what the hell personal blogging would mean, ultimately, for the good old-fashioned world of the printed word. The kind that comes on paper, bound, with a flattering author portrait and blurbs from friends. As an anecdote to that, I present Emily Gould’s book of personal essays [...]

David Sedaris still holds the title of Best Comedy Writer in my mind, but after reading My Horizontal Life, I've decided Chelsea Handler is making a pretty strong bid to be the heir to that throne. In My Horizontal Life, the unapologetically (almost proudly) promiscuous Handler recalls her many one-night stands with a tart, dry [...]