In Winter's Kitchen Giveaway Winners!

In Winter's Kitchen Giveaway Winners!

Beth Dooley was the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob for the months of Nov/Dec.  Beth and her publisher, Milkweed Press, are giving away two copies of her fabulous book, In Winter's Kitchen to two Booksnob readers.  Drum roll please...And the winners are...

Lucy from Fictional 100 book blog
Holly from 2 Kids and Tired book blog

Congrats Ladies!!!
I hope you enjoy your new book and love it as much as I did.

Here is an excerpt from my book review:

Beth writes about her family and meets with local farmers at the farmers market and even meets them at their farms.  She talks about conventional food and organic and details the path from farm to table.  Beth connects our love of food with our love of family and love of the land. She reminded me that buying food is making a choice for a better world and a healthy body which is very important to me.

You can find Beth at her website:  http://www.bethdooleyskitchen.com/

In Winter's Kitchen by Beth Dooley

In Winter's Kitchen.
Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland
by Beth Dooley

Books and Food go together well.  In fact, they are two of my favorite things so I was thrilled to get a chance to read this book.  I adored, In Winter's Kitchen and read it slowly, one chapter at a time, to savor it.  Each chapter is about a particular food that thrives in the Midwest, like apples, wheat, potatoes, cranberries, corn, wild rice, turkey and many more.  Beth writes about her family and meets with local farmers at the farmers market and even meets them at their farms.  She talks about conventional food and organic and details the path from farm to table.  Beth connects our love of food with our love of family and love of the land. She reminded me that buying food is making a choice for a better world and a healthy body which is very important to me since I have a food allergy to corn and most canned, packaged store bought food contains some form of corn. So I have to make most of my families meals from scratch everyday.  In Winter's Kitchen has taught me so much about the food I eat and the companies I buy from.

In Winter's Kitchen is part memoir, part food history and part midwest guidebook with really good recipes tucked inside.  There is one recipe per food chapter so for example the Apples chapter has a recipe for applesauce, which I made and it was delicious. This is the first time I made homemade applesauce and it was super easy and super good.  I haven't eaten applesauce in years. Here is a picture.

This is a great book to read this winter.  Read it and then make some great food.
In Winter's Kitchen was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in 2016.

Here are some links to help further your reading experience.

Visit Beth at her website where you will find lots of information and delicious recipes
http://www.bethdooleyskitchen.com/

Listen to Beth on the Splendid Table podcast.
https://www.splendidtable.org/story/beth-dooley-on-the-joy-of-cooking-and-the-future-of-wheat

Gardens, Kitchens and the Great Midwest.  U of MN episode of Read This Book features Beth Dooley and another of my favorite authors Ryan Stradal.
https://youtu.be/_pLrg10D-Lc

Listen to this story from MPR which includes two recipes from the book.
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/11/18/books-appetites-beth-dooley

An awesome book review from Heavy Table
http://heavytable.com/in-winters-kitchen-by-beth-dooley/

The Firebug of Balrog County Giveaway Winners

The Firebug of Balrog County Giveaway Winners

David Oppegaard was the October, Minnesota Author in the Spotlight on Booksnob and he is giving away 3 copies of his awesome Young Adult novel, The Firebug of Balrog County to three lucky winners.

And the winners are...

Rachel from Minnesota
Courtney from Alabama
Lauren from New York


Congratulations Ladies.  I hope you enjoy your new book.

Here is an excerpt from my book review:

The Firebug of Balrog County is a well-written novel that was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in 2016.  The story is told in short chapter bursts and full of wry wit and angsty humor.  You will fall in love with the main character and his family and even the small town. I was laughing and crying and rooting for Mack with all my heart.  Mack is charming and quirky and never been kissed and in desperate need of a girlfriend. In some ways Mack reminds me of Duckie form Pretty in Pink and David Oppegaard reminds me of a modern John Hughes.

Beth Dooley Guest Post + Giveaway

Beth Dooley Guest Post + Giveaway

Beth Dooley is the November, Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob. She is a foodie and has written several cookbooks and she has written a guest post about two books she could not live without.
Read on to find out more.

Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch and Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard, by Nigel Slater (Ten Speed Press)

If my kitchen caught fire, Nigel Slater’s two volumes – Tender and Ripe – are the books I’d grab exiting the backdoor. These hefty, beautiful volumes are written in a quiet and deeply personal voice, and the prose is as sumptuous as are his recipes. The photos alone are worth the price. In each short chapter, Slater relays, in great detail, the pleasure he takes in tending the small garden of his London home. He shares memories, a little food history, and provides practical information about planting and harvesting the vegetables and fruits. As he moves into the kitchen, his advice is whimsical and engaging with suggestions for flavor pairings, quick preparation tips, and simple, homey recipes.
Never self-righteous or preachy, Slater’s love of our earth’s bounty and it’s benefit to our health and environmental shine through. His ascetic is comforting and inspiring and these pages transport me to
a gentler time and more civilized place.

If you would like to enter to win a copy of Beth's book, In Winter's Kitchen please click here:

In Winter's Kitchen

Good Luck!

Thanks Beth!

In Winter's Kitchen Giveaway

In Winter's Kitchen Giveaway

In Winter's Kitchen is one of the best books to read this Holiday season and Beth Dooley and Milkweed Press are giving away two copies of her delicious foodie memoir, In Winter's Kitchen, Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland.
Beth is the November Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on BookSnob so check back for a guest post and author interview as well as a book review, later this month.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The explosive growth of the local food movement is hardly news: Michael Pollan’s books sell millions and the spread of farm-to-table restaurants is practically viral. But calls for a “food revolution” come most often from a region where the temperature rarely varies more than a few degrees. In the national conversation about developing a sustainable and equitable food tradition, the huge portion of our population who live where the soil freezes hard for months of the year feel like they're left out in the cold.

In Winter’s Kitchen reveals how a food movement with deep roots in the Heartland—our first food co-ops, most productive farmland, and the most storied agricultural scientists hail from the region—isn't only thriving, it's presenting solutions that could feed a country, rather than just a smattering of neighborhoods and restaurants. Using the story of one thanksgiving meal, Dooley discovers that a locally-sourced winter diet is more than a possibility: it can be delicious.

Giveaway Rules:
Enter on the from
U.S./Canada residents only
Ends Dec 19th at midnight
Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Firebug of Balrog County by David Oppegaard

The Firebug of Balrog County by David Oppegaard

I'm in love with a firebug. David Oppegaard's novel is set in a fictional small town in Minnesota. The main character is a high school senior named Mack who is grieving the loss of his mother to cancer. He feels the need to start fires and at first he starts out small but then things spiral out of control quickly like a rapid burning flame.  Mack has a great family and a interesting set of grandparents, all who are wounded and grieving. His grandpa is the mayor who is trying to catch the culprit who is setting fires and begins a cat and mouse game between the two of them.

The Firebug of Balrog County is a well-written novel that was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award in 2016.  The story is told in short chapter bursts and full of wry wit and angsty humor.  You will fall in love with the main character and his family and even the small town. I was laughing and crying and rooting for Mack with all my heart.  Mack is charming and quirky and never been kissed and in desperate need of a girlfriend. In some ways Mack reminds me of Duckie form Pretty in Pink and David Oppegaard reminds me of a modern John Hughes.

The Firebug of Balrog County needs to get into the hands of teenage boys.
I would pair The Firebug with A.S. King's- Everybody Sees the Ants.


Go Beyond the book with this link:

Listen to a 4 min interview on Minnesota Public Radio of author, David Oppegaard.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/10/01/books-thread-david-oppegaard

David Oppegaard Author Interview + Giveaway

Author Interview with David Oppegaard + Giveaway

David is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob for the month of October. I had a chance to ask him some questions about his Young Adult novel, The Firebug of Balrog County.  I want you to know that I'm in love with the firebug.  Read on to find out more from David about his inspiration, what he's reading right now and what he recommends to read post election.  Enjoy.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I live in St. Paul with my cat, Frenchie. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was about seven years old, when I started writing little stories about aliens and ninjas. I’ve published four novels but I’ve actually written sixteen, going on seventeen. I write in multiple genres including horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and literary. Most things I do are motivated by an urge to A) feel like I earned the whiskey, beer, and cheese I consume and B) not be bored.

2. What is the inspiration behind The Firebug of Balrog County?

My mother passed away from complications related to cancer in October of 2000. Firebug is my attempt to address that loss and come to terms with it while using a proper balance of humor and swear words. It didn’t take long to actually sit down and write because the mental process behind it took thirteen years.

3. Usually an author puts some of his own life experiences in the book.  Did you do that in
Firebug?  Do you have anything in common with your characters?

Autobiography is all over FIREBUG. The setting, the story of the mother. The cranky war vet mayor. The main character, Mack, is a lot like an eighteen-year-old version of myself, except I was never that into starting fires and was generally law abiding.

4.  Can you tell us about your previous books?

I‘ll stick to the published titles: The Suicide Collectors is post-apocalyptic speculative fiction about a suicide plague and a group of survivors searching for a cure. It was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and blurbed by Stan Lee. Wormwood, Nevada is about a meteorite upending a small Nevada town and the lives of its citizens. And the Hills Opened Up is an old-school horror-western about a copper mining town that’s set upon by a murderous creature called The Charred Man.

5.  Do you like to read?  What are some of your favorite books and authors?

I’m always churning over a stack of books on my night stand. I’m a big fan of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s complete works and Don Quixote. Right now I’m reading Mindy Kaling’s amusing autobiography Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?.

6.  Name one book that you think is a must read for everyone and tell us why?
Post-election, I suppose I’d choose 1984 by George Orwell or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for their frightening portrayal of oppressive regimes opposed to knowledge, though I guess the fat orange cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it?

7.  How do you carve time out of your busy day to write?  Do you write full-time or do you also have a “day” job?
I work full time at the University of Minnesota as a staff member. I take a nap when I get home, make dinner, go for a run, then I usually write from 9-11 PM.

8.  Did you choose the title and cover for the book?  How did you come up with Balrog County?  Is it the name of a real place?

The title is mine and I was given two covers to choose from as well as feedback on the color scheme. Lisa Novak was the cover designer and she did a smashing job. Best cover ever.
Balrog County is a vague allusion to Blue Earth County in MN, though the book could be set in any Midwestern state.

9.  Have you begun working on a new book?  Can you tell us about it?
Since FIREBUG came out I’ve been working on three books. The newest one still in progress is called SUNDOWNING. It’s about a retired rancher in Montana and his family as they deal with the rancher succumbing to Alzheimer’s.

10.  In one sentence tell readers why they should read, The Firebug of Balrog County?
It’s funny as hell and there’s a dog in it named Chompy.

Thanks, David!!

If you want to win one of three copies of his book The Firebug of Balrog County, click here;
The Firebug of Balrog County Giveaway

You can find David on his website at:  https://davidoppegaard.com/ 

The Inflatable Woman by Rachael Ball

The Inflatable Woman by Rachael Ball
A Short Review.

Amazing graphic novel about one woman's journey through breast cancer and trying to find someone to love. The artwork is phenomenal, the storyline creative and heartfelt and imaginative. I can't imagine going through something like this and Iris's story is probably similar to the story of many woman who are shocked to find a lump in their breast in their 40's. The art is done in stark black and white with minimal panels or one panel per page. This book is full of dreams, magic, poetry and medical procedures. I highly recommend. I'm so glad this book found me.

Rachael Ball is herself a survivor of cancer.  The Inflatable woman is a fictionalized story about a woman named Iris who is looking for love through online chats and wakes up from a bad dream, with a lump in her breast.  

I love, love, love this huggable book.

Rachael appears at the Standard Issue UK to talk about cancer, anxiety, trauma, laughter and other cancer side effects.
http://standardissuemagazine.com/arts/blowing-up-cancer/utm_content=bufferb4830&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Book Review by the Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/book-review-the-inflatable-woman-by-rachael-ball-1.2411452

Rachael's tumblr page:  http://rachaelball.tumblr.com/

Announcing November Author in the Spotlight

Announcing November Author in the Spotlight

Happy November!
My flowers are still blooming in Minnesota and we haven't had a freeze here yet, which is strange.  My sweet dog, Titus, had a lumpectomy yesterday and we are waiting for the results.  So I took him to school with me today as we had a grading day for the end of quarter one.

October was a great month and I took some time to do some blogger soul searching, wondering how I wanted to continue this blog, knowing it needed a change.  So I decided I still wanted to feature the many amazing Minnesota authors I have met and whose books I enjoy. I then made a posting schedule and with a plan to move this blog towards short reviews, poetry, my own writing struggles and successes and more thematic posts.  I hope you will like the change and see an increase in posting.

I would like to introduce you to this month's author, Beth Dooley.  Beth Dooley is a foodie and so am I.  I met Beth at the Twin Cities Book Fair where she was signing copies of her book at Milkweed Press, which is one of my favorite presses.  I am super excited to read her book, In Winter's Kitchen. Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland.  I think it is the perfect time of year to feature Beth and her book, which has just been released in paperback.  I'm hoping to find some new recipes to use this winter in my kitchen and to put on my Thanksgiving Table.

This month you can expect a book review, an author interview, a giveaway and possibly a guest post.

Here is a synopsis from Goodreads:

In Winter's Kitchen
The explosive growth of the local food movement is hardly news: Michael Pollan’s books sell millions and the spread of farm-to-table restaurants is practically viral. But calls for a “food revolution” come most often from a region where the temperature rarely varies more than a few degrees. In the national conversation about developing a sustainable and equitable food tradition, the huge portion of our population who live where the soil freezes hard for months of the year feel like they're left out in the cold.

In Winter’s Kitchen reveals how a food movement with deep roots in the Heartland—our first food co-ops, most productive farmland, and the most storied agricultural scientists hail from the region—isn't only thriving, it's presenting solutions that could feed a country, rather than just a smattering of neighborhoods and restaurants. Using the story of one thanksgiving meal, Dooley discovers that a locally-sourced winter diet is more than a possibility: it can be delicious.

The Northern Heartland Kitchen
The Northern Heartland is governed by the seasons. The long and cold winter, bright and warm summer, and crisp and refreshing spring and fall shape our physical and emotional landscape. Shouldn’t the seasons and their harvests also shape the way we eat?

Beth Dooley’s The Northern Heartland Kitchen presents delicious and practical solutions to the challenge of eating locally in the upper Midwest. Celebrating the region’s chefs, farmers, ranchers, gardeners, and home cooks, this is the essential guide to eating with the year’s local rhythms. Recipes are organized by season: fall and winter inspire Chestnut Soup and Venison Medallions with Juniper and Gin, while summer harvests contribute the ingredients for Watermelon Gazpacho and Grilled Trout with Warm Tomato Vinaigrette. Other chapters provide instructions on pickling and preserving food, as well as tips on growing your own food and getting the most out of your CSA or farmers’ market. There are also profiles of local farmers, butchers, and chefs who are using new technologies—as well as rediscovering heritage practices—to enrich regional selections.

Dooley shows that far from being a sacrifice, eating in season and locally is a tribute to the year’s changing riches—encouraging an appreciation for the unmatched flavor of a juicy July tomato or a crisp October apple with garden salads, soups and stews, free-range meats and poultry, fish and game, farmstead cheeses, wholesome breads, pastries and fruit pies. The Northern Heartland Kitchen presents delicious recipes alongside the stories and compelling research that illustrate how eating well and eating locally are truly one and the same.

Beth Dooley was recently on the The Splendid Table podcast and you can listen here:
http://splendidtable.org/story/beth-dooley-on-the-joy-of-cooking-and-the-future-of-wheat

Find Beth, her books, delicious recipes and more on her website:  http://www.bethdooleyskitchen.com/

Happy Reading!

Dreamers Often Lie Giveaway Winner!

Dreamers Often Lie Giveaway Winner!

Jacqueline West was the August Minnesota Author in the Spotlight on BookSnob and she is graciously giving away one copy of her fabulous Young Adult novel, Dreamers Often Lie. I'm thrilled to say we finally have a winner!  Several people did not respond to their emails unfortunately and so it took awhile to get that one special winner.

Anne B of New Mexico is the winner!

Congrats Anne.  Enjoy your new book.

Here is an excerpt from my book review:

The story is full of action and twisted plots and creative characters.  There is anger and intrigue and love triangles. Dreamers Often Lie is a quote from Romeo and Juliet as well as this awesome, page-turning novel.  This is a smart book and Jacqueline West conquers serious issues and situations with ease.
I was spellbound until the very last page.

Poem in My Post- Love and Other Hand Grenades by Danielle DeTiberus

Poem in My Post- Love and Other Hand Grenades by Danielle DeTiberus

I love poetry. Don't you?
I chose to feature a poem by Danielle DeTiberus today because I fell in love with her poem In A Black Tank Top.  I wasn't able to post it on my blog but you can read it here:  http://www.rattle.com/in-a-black-tank-top-by-danielle-detiberus/  Instead I chose this amazing poem called Love and Other Hand Grenades which won the Jane Moran Prize in 2012.  She will WOW you with this poem.

Danielle also has a great article on On Being about racism and segregation. You should seriously read it. Sooo good.  http://www.onbeing.org/blog/holding-a-sacred-space-of-many-silences/7722

You can find Danielle on her website: http://www.danielledetiberus.com./about/


Love and Other Hand Grenades

Love’s mess is as explosive as
survival—spark violent as ripe
pomegranates bursting seeds in fall.
Some days I hate that I love you
this much. It’d be easier, prettier if I could
pack up my books, leave
the cats and cast iron pans behind.
Stuck to the fridge a note without
punctuation about traveling on. How would I
look as a wanderer? My hair long,
smelling of someone else’s musk. The girl
with a hundred lovers: a brunette Joni Mitchell
without the dulcimer. The lives
we have to murder for each choice. Or
imagine we must because there’s no way to know
otherwise. Each day a fuse
sizzling towards detonation. We throw
sparks to one another like flirtations, like
dares. Save the biggest blasts
for the ones we know will put us back
together again. This is why we’re so
fragmented. Why it’s so exhausting to stay
in love. The real thing—not
the passion of battle. But the bandaging, the salve.
To love you this way is to keep our wounds
fresh. To toss our fragile shells
back and forth, like mistaking
a grenade for a hot potato. No surprise that
we long for the same feeling we run from.
Here are my insides, love. Promise to make me
whole. I am the wounded that needs to be
fixed. You are both doctor and enemy.
You’ve seen the places I cannot look.
It is hardest to be loved this way—and to love as if
there were no end. A gesture against extinction:
a hand bearing fruit, sowing fire in the holes.

©2012 Danielle DeTiberus

The Firebug of Balrog County Giveaway

The Firebug of Balrog County Giveaway

David Oppegaard is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Booksnob for the scary month of October.  He is giving away 3 signed copies of his YA novel, The Firebug of Balrog County to U.S. followers.  I'm in the middle of reading it and loving it so far.  You will want to win this book!

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

A firebug has woken inside my heart.

Dark times have fallen on remote Balrog County, and Mack Druneswald, a high school senior with a love of clandestine arson, is doing his best to deal. While his family is haunted by his mother’s recent death, Mack spends his nights roaming the countryside, looking for something new to burn. When he encounters Katrina, a college girl with her own baggage, Mack sets out on a path of pyromania the likes of which sleepy Balrog County has never seen before.

A darkly comic tour-de-force, The Firebug of Balrog County is about legend, small towns, and the fire that binds.

Giveaway Rules:
Enter on the form
U.S. residents only
Ends November 23rd at midnight
Good Luck!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dreamers Often Lie by Jacqueline West

Dreamers Often Lie by Jacqueline West

Dreamers Often Lie will knock your socks off with an unreliable narrator.  Jaye suffers a Traumatic Brain Injury and is seeing and talking to Shakespeare characters, namely Romeo and Hamlet and MacBeth is there too.. She is trying to convince everyone around her she is sane, including herself, as she gets ready to play a leading role in her high school play, A Midsummer's Nights Dream.

Shakespeare lovers will adore this book.

The story is full of action and twisted plots and creative characters.  There is anger and intrigue and love triangles. Dreamers Often Lie is a quote from Romeo and Juliet as well as this awesome, page-turning novel.  This is a smart book and Jacqueline West conquers serious issues and situations with ease.
I was spellbound until the very last page.

Beyond the Book:

Here is an excerpt from the book:
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/03/dreamers-often-lie-excerpt

A review by the Minneapolis Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/review-dreamers-often-lie-by-jacqueline-west/374194111/

Twin Cities Book Festival

Twin Cities Book Festival

Saturday, Oct 15th was the annual Twin Cities Book Festival organized by Rain Taxi Review of Books. I went with a plan of action and my main goal was to meet and listen to A.S. King, who happens to be one of my favorite authors. Throughout the day I made a lot of author connections and added a bunch of titles to my TBR pile.

Here is an accounting of my day at the Twin Cities Book Fest.

10 am;  Arrival.  Filled out my contest form, got my schedule of events.

10:15 to 11:  Meet and mingle with Minnesota Authors.  I talked to Krista Tippett, Kelly Barnhill, Allen Eskins, Peter Geye, John Coy, Wing Young Huie and Su Smallen.  It was a busy and crowded space. It was nice to mingle and talk with these awesome Minnesota authors.

11 to 11:30:  Shop for books.  Went and bought books from several of the bookstores.  I bought 7 brand new graphic novels for 3-5 dollars each. A huge deal I couldn't pass up. Then I found 4 brand new children's books from 2-4 dollars each for my godson and nephews.  Then I bought two fiction books for my daughter and I to read. After I did this my bag was heavy so I had to walk a few blocks back to my car and drop them off.

Here is the list of titles.

Fiction:
Rooms by Lauren Oliver
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad

Children's Books:
Peck, Peck, Peck by Lucy Cousins
I Love Hockey board book
Good Dog Carl and the Baby Elephant by Alexandra Day
Old MacDonald had a Truck by Steve Goetz

Graphic novels and Manga:
The Inflatable Woman by Rachel Ball
Red. A Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Ghetto Brothers. Warrior to Peacemaker by Julian Voloj
Tonoharu. Part One by Lars Martinson
Time Killers. Short story collection by Kazue Kato
Gangsta by Kohske
Tokyo Ghost. The Atomic Garden by Rick Remender

11:45- 12:15:  Walked back to the festival and ran into my friend Pamela. She said I had to see the Midwestern Panel with Mary Mack, Stephanie Wilbur Ash and Geoff Herbach.  Each author read from their latest work. It was hilarious and the whole audience was laughing.

12:15:  I ran into my friend and fellow book blogger Linda White and her son.  Linda blogs at BookManiaLife.  We visited and then I was off to buy 3 new books and to get through all the displays on floor in an hour. This was super ambitious of me since there was over 100 exhibitors.

I bought a copy of The Association of Small Bombs by Karen Majajan, from Magers and Quinn and Then I bought a copy of Still Life with Tornados by A.S. King and Glory O'Brien's History of the Future from The Red Balloon bookstore.  Now I had to wait for their presentations and then I could get in line to meet them.

1:10-1:20:  I met Beth Dooley at the Milkweed Press booth and asked her to be my featured author for November.  I got a review copy of her book: In Winter's Garden.  Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland.

Then I ran into one of my favorite spoken word poets, Guante and he was there with his new book of poems, lyrics and essays and squee, I was super excited to meet him.  I am going to feature him on my blog in April, 2017.  His new book is called A Love Song, A Death Rattle, A Battle Cry.  You need to check this book out!!

At 1:30 I went to The Personal and Political author Panel.  This was a great panel, with National Book Award Finalist, Karan Majajan, and Lidija Dimkovska and Derek Palacio.  This panel was excellent. Each author read from their books and answered questions about the political nature of their books.  I was really impressed and learned a lot from Lidija Dimkovska who lives in Slovenia and is Macedonian. Her novel, A Spare Life chronicles conjoined twins who are separated as Yugoslavia goes through their bloody and difficult separation. I definitely want to read her book.  Derek and Karan were awesome too, talking about Cuba and India and the problems these countries are currently facing.

At 2:30 I got in line to meet and get Karan Mahajan to sign my book and to talk to Lidija and Derek.  I wanted a picture with all of them but the table didn't really make this possible so I left without a pic.

2:40:  I saw Mary Casanova at the University of Minnesota Press and talked to her about featuring her on my blog.  I have been wanting to read her books for a long time.  She gave me a review copy of her newest title, Ice Out. Looks super good.  Hoping to review the book in November/December.

2:50- I went in to the Teen area to wait for A.S. King and I pretty much thought it would be standing room only because the whole world should know how awesome her books are and want to meet her right?  Dang, I was wrong and this made me kinda sad but I took a front row seat next to a woman named Jolene Wilson whom I would later learn is a book blogger. She drove over 3 hours to get to the Twin Cities Book Festival and blogs at https://jolenewilsonblog.wordpress.com/

3pm.  The Books for Thought Author Panel

This panel was lead by Shannon Gibney, author of the MN Book Award for her novel, See No Color.  Lara Avery (The Memory Book), Kathleen Glasgow (Girl in Pieces) and A.S. King (Still Life with Tornado) were all present on the panel.  I think this was the best author panel I have ever seen.  All of these woman authors are amazing and I wish it would have been standing room only because many of the points they made about young women and the problems that we are facing as a society were profound.  They discussed the lack of diversity in publishing, in author panels, the anxiety and sexism girls face on a daily basis, and so much more.  I decided I need to read all of their books.  I'm planning to feature Shannon Gibney on my blog in May and Kathleen'Glasgow's Girl in Pieces in June.  You all need to read a least one of the authors on this panel.  I'm serious.

4 pm:  I got my picture taken with A.S. King and all my books signed. Talked to all the authors and lined them up to be featured on my blog.

4:15pm  Decided it was time to go home. I had a horrible headache and was exhausted and hungry and my book bag was heavy with awesome books.  Lucky for me I ran into my friend Pamela Klinger-Horn who works the Festival and is a prolific reader.  She gave me a bag of books to take home for me or my high school students to read.  There were 5 books in the bag.

The Memory Book by Lara Avery  (Yes!)
The Heavens May Fall by Allen Eskens (another Yes!)
Children of the World by Alexander Weinstein.  (signed copy of short stories)
An ARC of History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
Luck, Love & Lemon Pie by Amy E. Reichert

Oh my gosh, I had a great, wonderful, busy day.  Thank you Rain Taxi.
Can't wait for next year.

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

A short review.

A really great story about five friends living in a small Wisconsin town named Little Wing.  Told from five different points of view, one of them grows up to become a world famous rock star.  Shotgun Lovesongs is a homage to the midwestern lifestyle, a love letter to the land and small towns.  It is memorable, moving and packed with memories and music.  Shotgun Lovesongs is the soundtrack to the lives of the people who populate this beautiful story.

This book has made me feel really nostalgic for the days when I ran free with my friends and for all the times I spent on my grandparents farm in a small Wisconsin town called Shell Lake.  I wonder what the soundtrack of my life would sound like.  Hmmm.  I might have to create a playlist.

You can find Nickolas Butler on his website:  http://nickolasbutler.com/

Go Beyond the book with the links below.

You need to watch this 3 min video done by New York Times on Butler and his book, Shotgun Lovesongs.  Its excellent.

Here is a book review done by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/books/review/shotgun-lovesongs-by-nickolas-butler.html?_r=0

Here is a review from one of my favorite authors, Peter Geye, printed in the Star Tribune.
http://www.startribune.com/shotgun-lovesongs-a-true-blue-midwestern-tale-by-nickolas-butler/248913411/

Poem in my Post: The Camperdown Elm by Marianne Moore

Poem in my Post
The Camperdown Elm by Marianne Moore.

I chose this poem today because I am in love with trees. I live in the woods on a lot in St. Paul. It is rare to find an urban area where there are a lot of trees anymore.  It seems one is lucky if they have only one tree in their yard. So if trees are currency, then I am rich with trees, too many to count.  I am surrounded by Pine, Elm, Cottonwood, Crabapple, Sugar Maple and Oak.  I do not have an Camperdown Elm in the woods here but I am drawn to this poem and poet because she saved a Camperdown Elm tree with her poem that was in danger of dying of neglect in Brooklyn's Prospect Park.  She wrote her ode and it mobilized a community to care for trees in the park.
This poem was written in 1967.

The Camperdown Elm by Marianne Moore

I think, in connection with this weeping elm,
of “Kindred Spirits” at the edge of a rockledge
overlooking a stream:
Thanatopsis-invoking tree-loving Bryant
conversing with Thomas Cole
in Asher Durand’s painting of them
under the filigree of an elm overhead.
No doubt they had seen other trees—lindens,
maples and sycamores, oaks and the Paris
street-tree, the horse-chestnut; but imagine
their rapture, had they come on the Camperdown elm’s
massiveness and “the intricate pattern of its branches,”
arching high, curving low, in its mist of fine twigs.
The Bartlett tree-cavity specialist saw it
and thrust his arm the whole length of the hollowness
of its torso and there were six small cavities also.
Props are needed and tree-food. It is still leafing;
still there. Mortal though. We must save it. It is
our crowning curio.
— Marianne Moore

Here is an article from Brain Pickings about how this poem by Marianne Moore saved one of the world's rarest trees.  You just need to read it.  No doubt about it.

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/13/marianne-moore-camperdown-elm/?mc_cid=6c73834c6e&mc_eid=78ab7a7fe7

Read more of her poetry here at Poets.org
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/marianne-moore

October Author in the Spotlight

October Author in the Spotlight

Happy October!
Things are cooling down in Minnesota, I think we might get frost tonight so I have to cover my flowers.  I'm so sad to see the sun go south for the winter.  I'm already lamenting the fact that I won't be able to sit outside on my porch swing with my beloved dog and read.

Looking forward to the Twin Cities Book Festival on Saturday and I just returned from a reading retreat in the north woods run by two amazing ladies who started the Women's Press.

My life has been pretty busy lately and I have been re-thinking how to continue to write this book blog so stay tuned for some changes here. One thing I know for sure, I want to keep featuring amazing Minnesota authors, like David Oppegaard.  I just discovered David's novels last year, when one of my book buddies handed me his new Young Adult book. and I'm so glad she did.

Here are some of many books he has written and their synopsis from Goodreads:A firebug has woken inside my heart.

The Firebug of Balrog County

Dark times have fallen on remote Balrog County, and Mack Druneswald, a high school senior with a love of clandestine arson, is doing his best to deal. While his family is haunted by his mother’s recent death, Mack spends his nights roaming the countryside, looking for something new to burn. When he encounters Katrina, a college girl with her own baggage, Mack sets out on a path of pyromania the likes of which sleepy Balrog County has never seen before.

A darkly comic tour-de-force, The Firebug of Balrog County is about legend, small towns, and the fire that binds.

The Suicide Collectors:

The Despair has plagued the earth for five years. Most of the world’s population has inexplicably died by its own hand, and the few survivors struggle to remain alive. A mysterious, shadowy group called the Collectors has emerged, inevitably appearing to remove the bodies of the dead. But in the crumbling state of Florida, a man named Norman takes an unprecedented stand against the Collectors, propelling him on a journey across North America. It’s rumored a scientist in Seattle is working on a cure for the Despair, but in a world ruled by death, it won’t be easy to get there.

Wormwood, Nevada

Tyler and Anna Mayfield have just relocated from Nebraska to the sun scorched desert town of Wormwood, Nevada. They find themselves in a strange new landscape populated with old school cowboys, alien cultists, meth dealers, and doomsday prophets. Loneliness and desperation pervade Wormwood, and when a meteorite lands in the center of town, its fragile existence begins to unravel as many believe the end of the world is near, while others simply seek a reason to believe in anything at all.

The Ragged Mountains

The Hollow is a peaceful village, a farming backwater among the free cities of the Western Lands, but when a local girl named Penelope Bell is kidnapped from her home in the middle of the night, that peace is shattered.

Unwilling to accept the loss of Penelope, a young striker named Gabriel Rain joins Penelope’s brother and sister on a quest to bring her home. Their journey takes them across the dangerous Grasslands and as far as the legendary Ragged Mountains themselves, where they find themselves caught between two sides of a bloody war. Along the way, they face dark wizards, ancient gods, and discover that the Ragged Mountains always take as much as they yield.


The third novel by Bram Stoker nominated David Oppegaard (author of The Suicide Collectors (St. Martin's Press) and Wormwood, Nevada (St. Martin's Press) The Ragged Mountains is a dark YA fantasy in the tradition of The Hunger Games, The Warded Man, the Earthsea Trilogy, and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.

This month you can expect a book review, an author interview, a giveaway and hopefully a guest post.  You can find David on his blog at https://davidoppegaard.com/  

Happy Reading and Happy Fall.