Minnesota Books

I was interested in reading this book, due to living in Minnesota and just to look at the pictures too! Wonderful book, storyline and art work are top notch.

I own all David Geister-illustrated books. Although Kathy-Jo writes a wonderful tale, it's David's illustrations that truly bring it to life.

This is a great book- if you want to know the background to midwestern history or have little kids who like brilliant paintings- this is a wonderfully written and presented book. My kids adore the images and it generates a lot of parent-to-child discussion. It is a warm and inviting tale, and you'll spend a lot of fun time with kids pouring over the detailed images by Mr. Dave Geister. Highly recommended!

If you've ever spent a winter in the northwoods, and even if you haven't, you'll enjoy this book. He accurately chronicles living in a small town in northern Minnesota. His writing in excellent, and as you read you will feel that you are standing next to Peter as he sees the wolves and the northern lights

Peter Leschak's style of writing tales of life up north is both immediate and reflective. He starts out philosophically sounding a bit like a contemporary Calvin Rutstrum, but avoids being "preachy" by moving quickly into interesting but everyday stories of rural life. I am glad he has written other books: I plan to read them all!

Peter is one of the best authors I've read. The reason I address him by his first name is because *know* him.. Lives quite close to me. I've read each of his books several times over...and as for the feeling of "being" in the north woods, I sent a copy of this book to a friend in Texas--and she said she felt as if she were here. I promise--once you read this books, you'll be hooked, and want to go one with each of them...

This is a great book of stories. I like to read before bedtime in the evenings, and usually I take several evenings to finish a single story. However, with this book, I found myself wanting to read more than one story in an evening.

I use a benchmark to decide whether or not a story is good. If I keep thinking about it for hours (or days) afterwards, that means it was a good read. The stories in this book produced images that stand out so vividly that, in memory, it is as if I saw them in a movie or even in real life ... the boy charred by lightning, dangling from the windrower as it goes round and round ... the deer carcasses hanging from trees in the night.

No other author has produced lingering images in my mind that are any more vivid than those generated by these stories. The only other author who did as good a job of that (for me) was Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I've had the opportunity to meet Kent Meyers in person. He gave a talk for Northern Hills Writers, our little group here in Lead, South Dakota. It's amazing how much effort he puts into his work, and it has paid off in this collection of stories. Reading Kent's work is not, however, a lazy affair. Your mind's eye must be open.

This is my 3rd Kent Meyers book and I can't recommend them highly enough. What a writer! His works are as emotionally jarring as those by Chuck Palahniuk without all the violence and the craziness. This is a book of short stories and each one packs a wallop.

One of my favorites was "Abiding by Law" which speaks to the universality of human emotions, our fear of the unknown and love for the safe and familiar, the strong drive to protect those in our family. This story has a wonderful aha moment, when a man's protective shell is cracked by a smile and a bow, a gentle nudge from one of those amazing people who are able to form bridges between people, and he is able to reach out a helping hand to his neighbor.

In "Making the News" a farmer creates sculptures out of cars.
"We were in the grove. Mammouths Resurrected come into view. Ed'd turned three cars into mammoths, put thick legs and trunks on them, and tusks,and he'd half-buried one so it looked like it was climbing out of the earth, and the second one was leaping like it'd just shook free, and the third was in full run, its trunk raised. From a distance they really did look like mammoths. The rock pile of all the rocks Ed's father and Ed and Gray had picked out of the fields was in the center of the group, and second mammoth looked like she was leaping over it, her front legs curled up for the leap.

'I don't see how he does it,' Paul Alcorn said. 'Everywhere you turn, there's something new.'

We stood looking at the sculpture, the wind making light scatter through the trees.

'It's like he's trying to bring it all back,' Paul Alcorn said. 'That's what it feels like. Everything that ever happened here.
Everything that's lost, he's trying to retrieve it.'"

A fine and very satisfying collection of stories with a strong sense of place (southern Minnesota) and the people who inhabit it. Meyers' stories represent the narrative tradition found in "Winesburg, Ohio" and "The Spoon River Anthology." He has a gift for capturing the way rural Midwesterners speak, and each of the stories is a dramatic monologue in a distinctly different voice. He also has a remarkable ability to evoke in words the experience of physical sensations -- qualities of air and movement, nuances of deeply felt emotion and memory.

There are frequent references to the topography of the land and the traces left behind of geological ages past. This awareness of prehistory and the cycles of seasons, migratory birds, and extremes of weather, frame the lives of characters who live and work in rural communities and on family farms. A young man is struck by lightning while operating a combine. A crew boss at a corn processing plant must deflect the mounting rage of an itinerant employee. A young woman struggles with her father to hang onto a farm he no longer wants. A young farmer restores a section of his cornfields to wetlands, so geese will stop again on their seasonal flights. Two bored teenagers invent a death-defying game played out nightly on country roads.

Although often haunted by isolation, loss, and regret, these are richly experienced lives, lived by people reminded daily of their vulnerability by the vast, open land around them and their dependence on one another.

I've got Douglas' book today for her take on ham radio (I'm part of the Amateur Radio community) and I was very impressed with the rest of the book. Though I wrinkled my nose at the over-emphasis on the gender conflict in radio, Listening In reminded me of a time when people participate in a common culture instead of idly sitting by listening to the umpteenth Top 40 hit made by over-commercialized "plastic" bands.

The ham radio chapter was simply great and I give Dr. Douglas her due for mentioning the American Radio Relay League as the national association for hams. From this chapter, I can see why hams have a nurturing touch in their approach to life! The section on radio comedy is well done (the comedy bits are good for a chuckle or two). I recommend it to those who have a deep affinity for radio and communications.

Radio has become such a background part of our lives, we forget just how astounding an impact it has had on our culture and psyche. Susan Douglas brings it all back to the foreground in her book "Listening In." This is not just a chronicle of the development of the media, this book takes us deep into the social impacts of radio, and how it changed how we react and interact with each other. Douglas has perfectly captured the feel and "tone" of different periods of radio listening, and explores a lot of the psychological aspects of how radio let us sample and explore different parts of our American cultue in a safe and nonthreatening way.

As a present-day radio fanatic, the book gave me hope: hope that the medium hasn't been corporatized into complete blandness. Radio will continue to evolve, just like our American culture.

Whether your're a radio technology type, an old time radio fan, or just a student of American history, you'll find something to love in this book.

Please take note that Susan J. Douglas' (Times Books, 1999) is no mere history of radio. It was triggered by a request from the Sloan Foundation that was preparing a series of books on technology and American culture; and the emphasis is not on the details but on the general effect radio has on us from its beginnings. And take another note. This is too enjoyable a read to be considered a textbook.

My favorite chapter was the one called "Radio Comedy and Linguistic Slapstick." Here only a few comics are used as examples to support her several theses, one of which is the emasculation of the American male by the use of such high-pitched speakers as Jack Benny and Joe Penner. Of course there is lots of room for argument, but she does let the facts speak for themselves (pun intended).

The other chapters are "The Zen of Listening," "The Ethereal World," "Exploratory Listening in the 1920s," "Tuning In to Jazz" "The Invention of the Audience," "World War II and the Invention of Broadcast Journalism," "Playing Fields of the Mind," "The Kids Take Over: Transistors, DJs, and Rock 'n' Roll," "The FM Revolution," "Talk Talk," "Why Ham Radio Matters," and "Conclusion: Is Listening Dead?"

Which of us has not been affected in many of the ways Ms. Douglas points out in this book? Therefore, which of us can afford to miss being shown how radio has helped make us what we are? And I do hope she produces a similar book about television.

this one's good. very informative study of an area not yet touched upon by authors, modern or classical.

Throughout history, boys have always been more aggressive and prone to misbehavior than girls. At least that is the common perception. According to Kenneth B. Kidd in his new book Making American Boys, the scouting/camping movement that began in the early 20th Century was geared towards harnessing male adolescent aggressiveness in constructive directions. This movement was so successful that our contemporary ideas about boys and how to raise them came from the Boy Scouts.

This is an amazing and informative book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Kenneth Kidd's publication. "Making American Boys" delves into a variety of influences upon the typical American boy. It was rather comprehensive in surveying the past 150 years and brought all elements together nicely. I especially enjoyed the exploration of feral tales. I would recommend this book to those studying aspects of adolescent males, as well as anyone simply interested in the psychology behind boys! Two thumbs up!

The combination of poetry and photography make this book appealing for a variety of readers. The photography is especially humorous, for ex., a piece called "Second Service" pictures a chapel half full of hay. The poetry is entertaining and classic Minnesotan, covering fishing, Norwegian humor, landscape, and of course, climate.

These poems and the accompanying photos bring back memories of summer vacations spent visiting relatives in northern Minnesota. Word scultures, along with visual portraits of life "up North" will make this an enjoyable read for you. If you liked the movie "Grouchy Old Men", you will love this book. Anyone with a small town experience will chuckle at the poignant humor and sigh at half forgotten memories remembered. I bought three more copies to share with friends and family.

I lived in Minnesota for 11 years. While working on the Eastern Coast of the United States for a while I happened to find myself in a rather large bookstore in mid-town Manhattan on one of my weekends off. Upon browsing for nothing in particular, I happened upon the book Minnesota Gothic. I brought it home and read through it all in one evening (it's not big at all). Upon completion, I realized how much I missed Minnesota. The poems are simple yet heartwarming, and fun to read while the accompanying pictures add more clarity to the uniqueness of the authors' Minnesota. The authors caught the spirit of that state as well as anyone could, including the likes of the more well known Garrison Keilor. The book is Minnesota, and anyone "from here" or the upper mid-west will easily identify with it and simply enjoy it.

Greg Winter's Minnesota Quilts: Creating Connections With Our Past is a remarkable treasury of one-of-a-kind quilts and the stories of the quilters who made them. Lee Sandberg's full-color photography throughout reveals each quilt's unique features, from a quilt incorporating pages from an alphabet book to Irish Chain Quilts to cross-stitch quilts and more. The text explores the connections that quilts and quilting brought among individuals, families, and friends, as well as the histories of individual quilts and fascinating vignettes of those who owned the quilts destined to become museum pieces. A beautiful collection and the perfect giftbook for quilters of all skill and experience levels, whether as a source for inspiration or just a breathtaking assembly of style and originality that is most enjoyable to simply page through.

What a great book. It was well organized. My only sorrow was that I wish some of the quilts had patterns included because I loved them so much! The photos are wonderful, the history is even better. I definitely give this book a 5-star rating.

From the breathtaking cover to the final page, "Minnesota Quilts" is simply marvelous. Many books have been written about state quilt searches; I worked on several of the searches as a photographer and really appreciate the beautiful way the quilts are depicted and displayed.

This book is a lot a fun to read. The pictures are great. It is very well put together. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys history, Minnesota, or just for fun.

You will spend hours paging through this great, well written history of vacation in Minn. Great photos. The book brings back many wonderful memories.

I fell in love with the author's first book, "Minnesota Eats Out" and when I saw that they had written a book about Minnesota vacations, I couldn't wait to get a copy.

If you have ever spent any time in Minnesota's lake and resort areas, you are going to love this book. The mother and daughter team have really combed through the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society to present a beautiful collection of nostalgic photos. How to tell a true Minnesotan? Everyone I know who has seen the book sees at least one photo that they swear was taken from their own family photo album.

This book also includes 90 vintage recipes including some classic "at the lake" and resort recipes -- eggs on a raft, a delicious blue cheese spread, Ludlow's Campfire Corn and Eggs, and a great blueberry muffin recipe, just to name a few. One of my fondest memories of going to the lake is picking wild raspberries and blueberries in the woods. If you've never had blueberry muffins or pancakes made with wild blueberries, you are missing out on a real treat.

Even if you have never been to a Minnesota lake or resort area, buy the book anyway. It's great fun and it may just inspire you to make a visit some day. There are still many parts of Minnesota Lake Country that still retain their charm. For those of us who experienced the good old days first hand, Minnesota Vacation Days will bring back some great memories.

Highly recommended.

This is one of the best series that I have ever read. It is a must see but beware, once you pick it up you will not want to put it down.

The best part of this story moves along faster in this book than the first 2 in this series, but not so fast that you're left wondering what happened. Thorliff continues to work for Elizabeth's father at the newspaper as Elizabeth goes to medical school, and when tragedy strikes Blessing, Thorliff goes home to help and eventually convinces Elizabeth to come when a doctor is needed desparately.

I noticed a couple of earlier reviews disliked the idea of Elizabeth and Thorliff being a couple, but it wasn't unexpected - the story in Book 1 allows readers to get to know Elizabeth pretty well before she ever lays eyes on Thorliff, so it's obvious she was introduced to us for a reason. I'm sorry things didn't go well with Anji, but at least Thorliff was spared from being in a "love triangle" with both women.

My only complaint about this book is that there isn't a 4th in the series - I would love to see Thorliff start a newspaper while Elizabeth sets up a medical practice in Blessing. (Of course one can imagine their own ending but I hate loose ends in a story)

This is a fabulous ending to the triology on Thorliff. Although I might have been rooting for another ending (Anji, why'd you marry that other guy!) this one still won me over. The book made me cry, laugh and share it with all my friends! I can't wait to go back to Blessing later, I have completely fallen in love with all the characters.

On Drugs raises many fascinating issues about drugs in American society. Lenson begins by exploding the myth of a Drug-Free America, and pointing out why the "War on Drugs" has failed, and a brief history of human drug use and American attitudes towards outsiders. One of the most interesting chapters is about drug use as a regression to childhood, and the chapter on stimulant abuse is chilling. Sometimes the author's concerns about consumer society seem to reek of liberal paranoia, but for the most part an excellent book

This is simply a spectacular book. No one has written so well about drugs. Lenson is brilliant on the effects of drugs: what it's like to be high on this or that. He's marvelous on the history of the reception of various drugs--how pot came into the US and how its cultural meanings changed over time. He's also astoundingly good at showing what role drugs have played in the cultural imagination of the past twenty years, and how the war against drugs functions as, among other things, a war to regularize, normalize and delimit consciousness. The writing is very clear, but highly sophisticated, nuanced and often poetic. You gotta read it.

This book is clearly one of the best to ever address links between consciousness, drug consumption, and societal demands. It is superbly written, with entertaining references to science, literature, history, and music. The author reaches an intriguing set of conclusions linking our attitudes about people who want to alter consciousness, the ever-present desire to continue a consumerist culture, and growing ideas about multiculturalism. The tone is very friendly-- the sort of prose that makes you want to sit down with the author over a beer. I particularly like that he draws distinctions among different illicit drugs and shows an appreciation for their varied effects.