Garrison Keillor Books

Tackling some Arthur Miller themes with equal pathos but with a much healthier dose of humor, Garrison Keillor reinforced my admiration of both his writing dexterity and his ability to capture human emotions. He touches places that you thought were unique to you... and exposes the paranoid amongst us as just plain normal people. This is a book I was so disappointed to finish... I enjoyed every page and would recommend it wholeheartedly. I'm off now to re-read Keillor's earlier work with fresh vigour!

I enjoyed Garrison Keillor's "Lake Woebegone Days," but his penchant for spewing his political opinions in otherwise non-political pieces has made me chary of his more recent work. (I notice he has a book about being a born Democrat, "from the heart:" I haven't chosen to read it. While he certainly isn't using his head, I don't know if he really speaks from the heart. Maybe more from the spleen.) I suppose Mr. Keillor is still successful enough that he does not mind alienating a large portion of his soon-to-be-outta-here audience.

The narrator of "Love Me" does not account for most of the time that passes between college and old age, a bit of sloppiness. There were some flashes of insight and amusing writing, but it could have been condensed into a short story. Not a satisfying story. Probably a true story for Keillor, in some ways. What a drag.

Let me tell you about this book. It has lists in it, and in the lists it has lists of lists. Every ten pages, it has something funny. But most of the time, it is smug. The hero if you want to call him that gets a job at the New Yorker where he is the resident bore from Minnesota. He lives on a terrace and has thoughts of new york that are incredible cliches. Garrison, I noticed that used paperbacks of this thing are going for less that rolls of Charmin. Around a cent. Too bad we dont have half penny pieces, and too bad that the publisher didnt use softer paper.

I'll be honest, I'm not necessarily into books that describe old people in a somewhat sad state of love, but this book does a fantastic job. In a sense, there are two stories going on. One an unrealistic but hilarious satire of both New York and of professional writers, where John Updike and others play a significant role in the plot. The other is an underlying theme of love between two mismatched individuals, one who desires greatness and the other who desires equality for those without greatness. The Main character, unable to write more books, takes up a job as an advice columnist named "Mr. Blue" and writes some amazingly clever and witty responses to some of the individuals who write to him. All the while he grows both further apart and closer to his wife, who remains in Minnesota I promise you that this book is not what you'd expect. It was very enjoyable, extremely witty and imaginative and worth the time.

Get this if you need to laugh.If you find yourself on the dark side of middle age and have found yourself wondering what was it all about,anyway?(your life),you need this book.Wildly romantic,immensely tender-hearted,and wickedly funny.Perfect for a read by the fire.Garrison is a wondrus human,and this book is not to be missed.

I was looking for good Garrison Keilor's monologues and I didn't like the CD of lake Wobegon as much as some of his other stuff. I am still looking for "the Young lutheran's guide to the orchestra" for exemple. That was way funier. I still really like this man, even if this Fall CD is not my favorite. Does anyone know if he made CDs of his more recent stuff?

I did not understand it. Will pas it to someone who has more knoweldge in the matter. Sorry it is very local, no apt for foreigners.

Such a joy to listen to this man tell his stories. No matter who you are or where you grew up and now live, his tales are sure to remind you of someone whom youknow.

"Fall" contains the single funniest Lake Wobegon monolgue yet written: "Bruno the Fishing Dog." It also contains a typically Minnesotan Thanksgiving recap ("Hors duerves at the Tollefson's, can you believe it?"), and a devastating 24-minute epic, "The Royal Family," that has nothing to do with the Windsors.

Owning this collection (and "Gospel Birds") is a must for fans, and a great starting place for newbies.

I received this audiobook as a gift. And what a gift it was! I thouroughly enjoyed all of the stories, especially "Meeting Famous People" and "The Babe." These are all warm, witty stories, and Keillor's voice is wonderful to listen to. I am looking forward to hearing some of his other works.

Perhaps, and indeed probably, I am greatly spoiled by Keillor's stories. As a result, I don't like changes, such as the lack of a live audience which I think Keillor feeds off of. However, it must be said that there are stories here that only Garrison Keillor could possibly come up with and that is by no means nothing.

Don't get me wrong; I would still rather listen to this than any other storyteller alive today, but there are plenty of things in my opinion that have come out of Keillor's brain that are vastly superior. Only if you have to have everything by this brilliant mind will you want this.

Garrison has a way of seeing life as it is and still giving it a humorous slant. I love his writings and I loved this book.

For those looking for PHC check out a different book or tune into NPR.

This is a quirky little tale that has a fair number on tangents in it. Yet I found it entertaining.
I also find it quotable. For example here are a few...
"Impatience is the luxury of youth. If you don't know this, life itself will teach you."
"The more you complain the longer God makes you live."
"The gains in life come so slowly and the losses come on suddenly."
"Disaster is an opportunity to change directions."
If you can get past the some of the ramblings it is worth your while.

Garrison Keillor often seems obsessed with sex. Sex is a good thing, but "Love Me" is too much of that one good thing. Stick to radio.

The first chapter is brilliant and laugh-out-loud funny (it got me several strange looks on the subway).

But "Love Me" has a huge problem: on the first chapter, Keillor tells the reader what's going to happen in the rest of the book. So after chapter 2, you know the plot. There are no surprises and not much incentive to keep reading. Also the writing is not nearly as good as it was on chapter one.

My suggestion would be to read only the first chapter; the rest of the book is a waste.

Larry Wyler is a St. Paul-based writer who gets his shot at writing for the New Yorker. Leaving his wife behind, he heads for the Big Apple where he quickly bogs down in an eight-year writer block. To fill the time and stay afloat financially, he writes, via email, a common-sense advice column for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune under the name of Mr. Blue. Of course, one thing leads to another and Larry has to make the heart-warming choice.

There is some mild sexuality in the book, so use your judgement if your Prarie Home Companion-listening children want to read it.

The book is typical Garrison, who I find cute but not rip-roaring funny. It is a quick read, and a pleasant way to spend a day.

I expected the CD to be the kind of banter Dusty and Lefty had in the movie they were recently featured in. However, if you are into this sort of thing I guess it's not bad.

My wife thought we should try this since Garrison has been around for awhile and we were driving for a few hours. Well, it sure wasnt for us. We decided to gut our way through it since we paid good money for it but whew! YOu must have to be a die hard fan of his because there wasnt one laugh in the tracks we endured. Not for us.

The reviews are mostly negative here. I just got this for my dad, and he says it's good *and* funny. He's an old-school listener though, so for newbies, the Dusty and Lefty you may have seen in Robert Altman's movie are not the Dusty and Lefty of the real radio show. If you're familiar with the radio show, and the 'Lives of Cowboys' skits, you'll more than likely enjoy this CD release. As a side note I'd highly recommend subscribing to Garrison's weekly monologue, 'The News From Lake Wobegon', if you have I-Tunes. It's a free weekly podcast, taken directly from the Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts. It's updated about mid-week, and well worth your effort if you can't catch the weekly radio show.

I'll begin by confessing my ownership of more Keillor/PHC CDs than I can count. Within that context I find "APHC--It's Only a Show" above average, just like all of its children. There's some middling fare and some flashes of genius, such as "Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian" (featuring Sue Scott) and "The Ten-Minute Macbeth." If you tune into the show primarily for its music, here you're not likely to find enough of this. If your preference is GK's monologues, probably you'll not find enough of that. If you're among the 7% of the population who have never listened to the show at all, then this is a sharp snapshot of what you're missing every Saturday evening on public radio. It's only a CD of what's only a (very entertaining) show.

While "Youth" represents work not quite up to the typical magnificence of Garrison Keillor, it does represent quality storytelling that is presently unmatched in this country. The first of five stories in this series is "Blue Devils", chronicling the experiences of the Lake Wobegon High School Women's Basketball team. The second story is "Nostalgia", a somewhat forgettable but pleasant story about the pleasures and heartaches of nostalgia as they relate to one specific family. "O Christmas Tree" is Keillor's take as to the significance of the famed tree all over the world during December. "Pageant" is the story of how Karl Krebsbach was forced into taking over Lake Wobegon Lutheran's annual Christmas Pageant. Finally, "Messy Shoes" is Keillor's personal description of his love for the city of Seattle. While not even close to Keillor's best work, "Youth" still makes it easy to see Keillor's brilliance.

I am a huge Garrison Keillor fan - I buy everything I can get my hands on (on audio CD) and it makes my drive time so enjoyable. I stopped listening to this one only because it has so much inside humour that my little non English major brain didn't understand or didn't find humourous. I intend to give in to my brother who lives in Minnesota and has a PHD in English, loved Shakespeare and I know he'll enjoy it better than this music major did.

If you are unfamiliar with Keillor, but like listening to old time radio shows, then you may enjoy this cd. I liked this collection, even though it is frequently corny.

While an adult would have to be a true fan to enjoy Keillor's singing on the music cd, my uncritical toddler bounces to the rhythms and enjoys the quirky music. As an adult, the cd with the sketches is more enjoyable. "Laws concerning Food and Drink: Household Principles; Lamentations of the Father" is worth the price of the cd alone.

This is missing much of the charm of the usual Prairie Home Companion programs. The first CD consists only of songs. If you listen to the show for the music you may like this. The second cd has a few long sketches, a couple of which were entertaining, the others were simply repetitive. If you're expecting the typical Prairie Home Companion show, look elsewhere.