North Dakota Books

Midwest Marvels: Roadside Attractions Across Iowa, Minnesota, The Dakotas, And Wisconsin by freelance writer Eric Dregni is a handy 437-page travel guide to many of the munificent and iconic roadside attractions scattered along the highways and byways of five midwestern states. Lavished throughout with black and white photos of strange scenic wonders, Midwest Marvels is a type of entertaining curiosity tour featuring a text which is illustrated with photographs and down home folk tales. All of the attractions are real and actually exist, albeit sometimes hard to believe (Og the Gorilla, King Kong of the Prairie?). Midwest Marvels is well researched, as for example, the chapter on Peanuts Park, in St. Paul, Minnesota which has a thumbnail sketch of the famous comic artist, born in St. Paul, containing little known facts about Charles Schulz's history of leaving the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1950 for greener pastures when it decided his weekly fee of $10 was "too much for simple drawings (p. 149)." Midwest Marvels is filled with the quirky, wild, wacky landmarks of the Upper Midwest. From the Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, to the Effigy Mounds of Marquette, Iowa, Midwest Marvels presents useful information about attractive features, history, locations, hours, prices of admission, and local colour stories. It is well worth the price to the traveler unfamiliar with what the five-state Upper Midwest area has to offer the curious passerby.

As a lifelong resident, I've always found the caricatured depictions of the Midwest and we Midwesterners (e.g. Fargo) pretty entertaining in that there's an undeniable kernel of truth. This book, to my simultaneous horror and delight, does not require suspension of disbelief. The narrative, maps and photos cast crossed kino eyes on the sublime weirdness of Midwestern reality- like the Ron Schara Wooden Leg Museum in Gaylord, MN.

Read this book. It will inform your roadtrips and make for swank church-basement conversation on Saturday night.

This book was very dear to my heart as both my parents were of Norwegian descent and grew up close to where the author did in Western North Dakota. It's a wonderful portrait of what life was like in the rural Great Plains in the early part of the 20th century and a thought-provoking contrast to our lives today. And I never did get Mom's recipe for Glorified Rice so I was glad to find not one but several ingredient lists for this nostalgic dish!

Let's just put it this way, I read the whole book in one sitting. In fact, I couldn't put the book down. The author wrote short histories and included recipes to go along with the family history. Of course along the way, she told some mighty funny stories, especially about how one of her sisters managed to set the out house on fire. Really funny. I haven't laughed so hard while reading a book in sometime. A definite buy --- even if I haven't tried her recipes. Most recipes are common to Scandinavian cooking and Scandinavian American cooking.

Adrian Louis opens his Introduction with a poem named The End of the Trail Is the Beginning of the Trail which alludes to how many Native Americans, like the Sioux in the collected poems, have gone off the trail. With no idea just what the trial was like or how to find the way back, the Sioux drift aimlessly and hopelessly. A couple of lines of the poem are, "...Sleep/deep & bring us a dream." But no dream comes. Trevino L. Brings Plenty ends one of his poems, "...I don't dream anymore,/I only remember." The memories are of romanticized Plains Indians for the most part an image created by white Americans. Such memories offer no sustenance or guidance in the present; offer no ideas about adapting to the realities of the Sioux's plight in present-day America.

In his Introduction, after the poem, Adrian notes the poems of the four contemporary Sioux poets combine the public image of Native Americans who are mostly artists and educators with those who are the "grassroots people" of the medicine men and women, story tellers, and community activists.

The poems are simple in form and language; though each poet has his own voice. Many are based on simplified settings, a typical situation, a dialogue between two persons, or a monologue. Again and again they circle back to the core subjects and themes of the materially and spiritually impoverished plight of Native Americans, particularly the Sioux of the upper Midwest and the plight's diffused angers and stultifying confusions. Despite their raw emotions and dehumanizing circumstances, the poems are free of complaint. The poets realize complaint is useless. Their aim is to describe and record, and in a way to witness though in a lively, involved, not typically faceless or anonymous manner.

Joel Waters, Steve Pacheco, and Luke Warm Water with the already-mentioned Brings Plenty evidence awareness, but not much digestion of the plight they write about. It is as if they are of a generation of Native Americans that has had history dropped on it like a ton of bricks: The poets are reacting to the event and its immediate effects. This uncompromising assault of history, so to speak, occurs hand-in-hand with the flight of the protective and consoling myths and lore; a process that has been called disenchantment in other areas of the postmodern culture. As the poems relate, the Native Americans however have not naturally adopted the illusions, evasions, and blindnesses many others have been able to; thus leaving the Native Americans naked, vulnerable, and helpless in an anti-Eden.

Edited by Lovelock Paiute Tribe member Adrian C. Louis, "Shedding Skins: Four Sioux Poets" collects selected free-verse poems from four Lakota (a.k.a. Sioux) poets -- Trevino L. Brings Plenty, Steve Pacheco, Joel Waters, and Luke Warm Water. Each poet offers his own perspective upon their heritage, legacy, and the difficulties of grappling with modern social issues including homelessness, poverty, urban decay, and depression. A singularly poignant and relevant work of contemporary Native American literature. "It Is Called a Chow Line": I see them every morning / waiting for breakfast / in a line along a building / wrapping around the city block. / Homeless men and women / smoking cigarettes, / nipping at bottles, / wiping rain from brow. / They squat or stand, / then the line moves / into the soup kitchen. / The meal is free. / It is warm inside / as they sit at tables, / swiping S.O.S. with / a flaky biscuit, / and blow before / sipping on their hot coffee. / During the meal / there is laughter, / a small prayer is answered. / They stay as long as they can / until they walk the streets / and sleep somewhere out of the rain.

I read the book but it wasn't the version i needed which was my fault. good book.

Great book for the class I am taking. Not sure I would have ever read it since I am not a cowboys and indian buff.

Being an enthusiastic amateur treasure hunter myself, in years past, I diligently read each and every volume of Mr. Terry's exhaustively researched works. Although I found some the information erroneous or far from exact - for instance many locations cited as "ghost towns" are FAR from being one - there are so many intriguing stories of legends, factual evidence & stories of past recoveries that any true TH'r will be enthralled. Treasure hunting is supposedly America's fastest growing hobby: it's uniquely enjoyable for the adventure, historical aspects & healthy outdoor recreation. And when you really find something decent...Boy Howdy!! Not as easy as it sounds, though. To be a professional TH'r, one has to have patience, applying oneself with the perseverance of a detective: because that's what it takes to be successful. Exhaustive research is the key: going where people gathered long ago (old picnic grounds & abandoned schoolyards, for instance) will be beneficial for coin shooters who are after more than modern coins....for me, finding modern coins was a complete waste of time & energy. Going for the gold? Go where it is KNOWN to be & be creative: the better your equipment - i.e. a decent detector which finds gold & common sense makes this a most fascinating hobby. For some, it's a life's career. Good luck!!

Found this to be a very interesting paperback book for anyone dreaming of treasure hunting/finds. But, I wish it was updated. I'm sure there are more interesting things about Florida. Not all of Fla. treasure finds are in the sea as this book notes. Worth reading.Open anywhere and begin reading.

It was great to read a book that actually came from the person that lived it; White Bull. He should have been as well known as Sitting Bull and many other warriors, because of his fierce attributes. He was a very brave leader of his people.

In the many books written about Native Americans Sioux that lived during the Great Sioux War as a hostile this is one of the best. A bit of a braggart, White Bull also is very revealing as far as what he was thinking at the time. E.i. There was an incident when his uncle, Sitting Bull, who decided to show the young braves how brave he was and asked who would like to walk out into the middle of a battlefield and sit down and have a smoke from his pipe with him. White Bull along with three other braves not wanting to look afraid volunteered. When they sat down in between the soldiers and their fellow Sioux with bullets zinging all around them, Sitting Bull put tobacco in his pipe, lit it, and took a long slow draw. When it got to White Bull he states "Except for Sitting Bull we smoked it as fast as we could." For those that wish an authentic flavor of what the Sioux thought during the Great Sioux War this book hits the spot.

I first read this book my junior year in high school and was completely captivated by the imagery. I found myself thinking about it long after I had turned the last page. One of my favorite portions of the book reads, "We sit alone. The sun falls down the side of the world and the hill goes dark. Her hand grows thick and fevered, heavy in my own, and I don't want her, but I want her, and I cannot let go."

Years later, I have just finished rereading this book for the fifth time and I still love it: it still sucks me in and I'm swept away into Erdrich's world, her flawed characters move me, each person has a story that is unique and contributes in some way to the whole. I truly love this book and highly recommend it. On the short list of one of my all-time favorites.

First off, let me say that I might have liked this book better if I had not read other books by this same author. The problem is that, to me, they all seem the same. I see plot elements reused from title to title, and within the story itself. Even if I hadn't read other books from this author, I would be hard pressed to give this a positive review. Like others here have mentioned, it jumps around so much, it almost makes you nauseated, and not just from character to character, the story is not even written with anything even vaguely resembling chronological order. It jumps back forth from decade to decade in an almost humorous manner. Also, you'll find yourself flipping to the family tree at the beginning of the book constantly in a likely futile attempt to figure out how all the seemingly random characters tie together.

In conclusion, the potential value of this story and the morals that it is meant to portray are largely lost in its random construction and nearly cliche plot elements.

Ordered used copy for a class I was taking. It arrived promptly in the condition advertised. Great read!

I never got this text! I ordered four books, this one has yet to be delivered to me. I have sent emails to the seller and have never gotten a response, same thing when I emailed Amazon. I did check this book out of the library to read for a class...it is an excellent Novel-I highly recommend it, just not from this seller.

Simply fantastic. It is a shame though, that she is not included in the canon of literary geniuses of American history. Her stories read beautifully and her artistic ability to paint a picture with words is amazing. Read all her books, they are all wonderful.

Klosterman understands the universe, and why heavy metal had to exist to make it balanced and just.

Personally, Chuck is my top 3 favorite writer. I think he hit me hard with his styles and topics in all of his books. So if you're like me:

- Love Rock and/or Heavy Metal music*****this is very important for this book
- Enjoy reading about popular culture topics
- Love sarcastic and funny books
- is in the age range of 18-30 (I'm 24)
- Like to explore all kinds od writings and books
- is not one who tend to OVERTHINK AND OVERCRITISIZE books and writing styles
- is open minded

Then, this is probably your kind of writer too. Good luck and enjoy!

If you grew up enjoying hard rock and/or heavy metal of the 80's and early 90's, or are just a fan of that music, then you simply must read this book. It will bring back fond memories of your developing musical tastes and make you laugh out loud.

I bought this on the recommendation of Martin Popoff, and was terribly disappointed. If you want to read an insightful, entertaining, and fair review of heavy metal, this is most definitely NOT your book. Klosterman's "appreciation" of the form starts and ends with glam. He spends most of the book in postmodern smirky hipster mode, which means he continually trashes the music from a musical point of view, and chooses to battle for its "validity" in the more easily defended realm of "what it meant to me as a kid." As cultural studies, this is crap, and as a book about heavy metal it is an utter waste of time. He elevates glam (Poison, GNR, Cinderella, etc) and simultaneously slags Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica and the host of other metal bands which were the meat and potatoes of any real metalhead of the time. He has no appreciation for what most metal fans would actually grace with the term "heavy metal". As you will quickly be able to tell, this is masterfully well done, in that he affirms what most of the snobs have been saying all along about metal--all the 5 star reviews are from people who are...gasp...not metal fans--whilst and at the same time pretending to be a true fan. Hipster dreck at its worst. You are better off reading Ian Christe's "Sound of the Beast", or even Walser or Weinstein's books. Better yet, check out Sam Dunn's documentary "Metal-A Headbanger's Journey." Dunn and Christe are real fans of the music, and they don't spend all their time perpetuating all the stereotypes of the form.

While I think that this book is deservedly the black sheep of the Klosterman books, its still enjoyable. What this book lacks is any sense of flow... I never caught a real story or any purpose. It just seemed like a series of rants on liking metal (pop/ hair metal in particular) that were taped and then transcribed. Klosterman still has that really approachable style that's fun and thoguhtful.

While I'd like to laugh at him for liking crappy bands, Klosterman's experiences are similar to most any youth who feels a strong connection to music. I know that they're not unlike my feelings as a young teen becoming obsessed with hardcore records back then... though I had one up on Chuck 'cos I was living in Philly, and not rural North Dakota, back in the day.

Typical Klosterman; funny, absurd, and thoughtful... I suppose a lot of other readers are turned away by what they see as a lack of direction or movement in the book.

Based on his lock-solid niche as as a compelling pop-culture critic, Chuck Klosterman certainly didn't need to write a novel to prove anything to anyone. Nevertheless, this book serves as an important marker in the career of one of our most interesting young writers, one who seems to get better every year and who here proves himself unwilling simply to moonwalk on his own coattails. "Downtown Owl" is a genuinely affecting novel of Midwestern manners that reflects the kind of humility all great writers eventually embrace and that ultimately allows them to transcend.

Chuck Klosterman's previous four books "Fargo Rock City", "Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs", "Killing Yourself To Live" and "IV" consisted primarily of essays on modern pop culture. His first novel "Downtown Owl" is set in the fictional sleepy, central North Dakota community of Owl during the 1983-1984 school year. The third-person point of view shifts with each chapter between three main characters: high school upperclassman and backup quarterback Mitch Hrlicka, new social studies teacher Julia Rabia and retired widower Horace Jones. Julia's boss states during her job interview: "it's a down town, Owl". Most people in Owl have spent their entire life there, and everyone seems to know everyone else. Klosterman creates a vivid, richly detailed setting, probably based heavily on his own North Dakota boyhood. Fans of his non-fiction work should enjoy the witty commentary spread among the characters' conversations and thoughts.
Mitch and Horace are natives, while Julia moved to Owl from Madison, Wisconsin for her first teaching job after college. Mitch struggles with normal, universal teenage self-doubt and is frequently tormented by Owl High English teacher/football coach/student bedder John Laidlaw. Julia's sole ambition is earning a few years of teaching experience so she can move somewhere else. She soon falls in with her gregarious, fellow Owl High teacher Naomi and spends increasingly boozy nights with her as the center of attention at Yoda's Tavern. Horace's chapters center on his daily discussions with fellow retirees at Harper's Café or ruminations on his past and his long-deceased wife.
The audio book narrators shift between the three main characters: Wiley Wiggins reads the Mitch chapters, Lily Rabe reads the Julia chapters and Philip Baker Hall reads the Horace chapters. I enjoyed the first two actors but sometimes found Hall's rough "S" sounds distracting. The author and two others handle a few short chapters that are written from minor characters' points of view. The audio book spans eight CDs, each with about one hour of content. Load this absorbing work onto your iPod (and turn the shuffle to "off") before a long trip.

A modern day Peyton Place revisted should be the title of this audio book. The town of Owl is full of stories and secrets. Layered into characters, this mulei layered story tells about this town and its people in their own voices and their own ways

Things are no always as they appear, crisis hits and with different view points works well

The audio cast works this novel well and it is an amazing treat for your ears. The actors take this audio play to new heights. Think this akin to a radio show which works on all levels

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

The audio version of Downtown Owl is so addictive that I found myself driving extra miles in my daily commutes just to catch an extra chapter. Whether it's the author's dark comedic voice, the fully developed characterizations of small town denizens Mitch, Horace and Julia, or the memories he stirs of high school life in the mid-1980s, I can't be sure. But I can report that the result is a rare novel that's both truly funny and deeply meaningful.

The plot isn't the thing here. All you need to know is that it chronicles the events in football-obsessed Owl, North Dakota from mid-1983 through early 1984, as witnessed by back-up high school quarterback Mitch, curmudgeonly widower Horace, and history teacher Julia. As we learn the deepest secrets of these and other Owl residents (which include things like unrequited romances, becoming an unwitting mark in a con game, illicit student-teach relationships, and fantasies of a schoolyard brawl between hulking Grendel and diminuative sociopath Cubby Candy), we also learn a lot about human existence in general.

The meterological climax of the novel, which I can only describe as brilliantly shocking, serves as the perfect resolution of all the wackiness that precedes it. This is an author I will likely read again.

I was expecting the verge into fictional territory to be strange in Klosterman's voice, but it wasn't- it was very much like Fargo Rock City if it came to life in a fictional world, following a handful of characters instead of just Chuck. The story followed my pattern for reading his previous books, actually. Some parts (or essays) are so dull and lacking of charm I want to skip them all together, and sometimes Klosterman just finds his pace and voice and he pulls me back into his prose. I almost think this wouldn't have worked for me on the printed page- having actors read the story out filled in a bit where the characterization would have fallen completely flat, and it also gave the conversations some nice verve.

The voices for this audio book were, for the most part, very well chosen. As fine an actor of Phillip Baker Hall is, it was hard listening to him read the book aloud and I even started bracing myself when his barking voice a new section. He seems to gnaw on the words and spit them out of his gravelly throat angrily, and instead of that being an interesting personality to listen to- it really was just painful and distracting. What works in scenes in movies is grating on long passages.
Wiley Wiggins (who I have to admit I had a crush on when I first saw "Dazed and Confused" as a young teenager) does a good job and seems to have just the right voice for the characters he's reading. He does seem to occasionally read sentences in a dubious, "did this guy actually write that scenario?" voice, but on a whole it's easy and clear to listen to.
Lily Rabe was my favorite. Her voice really fit the character and she was pleasant to listen to.

Last Report falls in the category of books for me that I would term 'perfect.' The characters are richly drawn, the writing is deft and lyrical, and the storyline itself is an amazing journey. Erdrich has proven herself again and again as an accomplished writer. This is the book (imho) that puts her solidly in the 'literature' category. She explores many of her favorite issues of faith, spirituality, doubt, regret and redemption. This is a book that resonated deep in my mind (dare I say soul?) with scenes that have revisited me long after I finished reading it. Beautiful, disturbing, at times funny, haunting. In short, a perfect book.

This is the most marvelous story of a woman who felt she was needed as a man rather than as a man, so she became a Roman Catholic priest and missionary to a group of Ojibwehs (Native Americans) in northern Minnesota and North Dakota and in southern Manitoba. Curiously enough, most of the people she served knew she was a female who had a secret and compelling reason be their priest, and she was accepted by them as the priest she thought she had become.
Louise Erdich created a most unusual life with this book, one I will want to read several times.

Unbelievable story with very effective, if often disturbing, imagery. Very choppy. Quite dark.

I would only recommend this if you really had lots of time on your hands and nothing better to do.

I just picked this book up recently and was instantly drawn into the storyline. I could not stop reading it. I will not go on and on, I just want to say that I think it would make a fantastic movie - I think Louise is an excellent author (never read anything of hers before) and I was sad to see the book come to an end! Great reading! :-)

I found this book to be good but also slightly flawed.
I read it for a class (a University English class) and have been blown away by all the books so far but this one hasn't quite hit me the way some of the other novels I've read for the course did.
It started out great, I was really intrigued, but then sometime after page 100 I lost interest and just wanted the book to finish so I could write my paper and be done with it.
I really wish though that the book said somewhere on it that it is basically a part of a series. Until I came to the Amazon website and read a bunch of reviews I had no idea! Maybe reading more of her novels would have helped me get through the novel better in the first place!