cool video from MN author Scott Muskin

books coming up on RGW

MN author Scott Muskin will be on Realgoodwords next week.. I'm enjoying reading his novel, "The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Mama's Boy and Scholar". It's making me laugh!

The Star Tribune said, "That's where the delight in Muskin's writing lies, in the lightning-quick shift from micro to macro and back again....You'll see yourself, and your loved ones, in his near pitch-perfect characters."

Also next week is author Rachel Simon (She wrote "Riding the Bus with My Sister") and her new book, "Building a Home With My Husband - A Journey Through the Renovation of Love". Author Daniel Gottlieb said, "This book is a treasure the likes of which I never expected. Rachel Simon is a great writer and has incredible skill. She is a wise soul." I'm hoping this one is a how-to book!

What are YOU reading?

Wednesdays with Willard

This week on Realgoodwords you'll hear about a couple of very different books....Duluth author and judge Mark Munger talks with me about his book "Mr. Environment: The Willard Munger Story". This is a comprehensive biography about one of the most influential legislators in Minnesota state history.

Former MN governor Arne Carlson said "He unleashed the notion that the legislature could listen to and use new ideas in the areas of the environment and conservation."

My other guest is Meg Waite Clayton. I'll talk with Meg about "The Wednesday Sisters: A Novel". It's the story of a group of young mothers who meet in the park weekly and start writing. We being the story in the late 1960's in California and see the changes in history through their eyes - the first man on the moon - the Vietnam War - the Women's Movement....

"This generous and inventive book is a delight to read, an evocation of the power of friendship to sustain, encourage, and embolden us" Karen Joy Fowler, author of "The Jane Austen Book Club"

hockey and intrigue in a small town

Bryan Gruley is my guest on Realgoodwords this week. He's the Chicago bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal and he's just published his first novel, "Starvation Lake - A Mystery".

Set in small town, lower upper peninsula Michigan, Gus Carpenter is the editor of the town's paper, and a former hockey player who grew up there. We all know the importance of hockey to our towns in Minnesota, and the great holiday of the state high school hockey tournaments.... it's the same for Starvation, Michigan. Gus in fact, has always been haunted by that final game, that he, as goalie, lost for his team. Or so everyone makes him believe.

"Starvation Lake" is a dark mystery. There's humor and friendship and family and hockey, but at the core, there's a sinister story here that keeps you turning pages. Critics have said,

"Smashing debut thriller … a story so gripping that you’ll probably devour it in one gulp—like the heavenly sounding egg pie served at Audrey’s Diner." Chicago Tribune

"Outstanding… a tale of violence and betrayal that will remind many of Dennis Lehane." Publisher's Weekly.

To get a sneak peek, check out Bryan's cool website for the book here.

MN author Nancy Crocker

I "met" Minnesota author Nancy Crocker through facebook. I know, I know, the dreaded facebook. What would Mark Bauerlein think? But here's the thing: facebook is not all quizzes to see which superhero you are or that girl you sat behind in Mrs. Kramer's 5th grade math class. It's a good way for authors to get their books out there...and for people like me to find them.

"Billie Standish Was Here" (a finalist for the 2007 MN Book Award) is classified as a young adult book. But that's hooey as far as I'm concerned. A good book is a good book, even if the main character is 11 years old.

Billie Standish is a girl living in rural Missouri who badly needs a friend. When most of her town evacuates when the river threatens to crest, Billie finds what she's been needing in Miss Lydia. So what if she's 70 years older? A friend is a friend. I won't give anything away here, but pretty early on Billie suffers through a shocking event. But this isn't an afterschool special that defines her by this event. Billie grows through this experience. Tune in for my conversation this week on Realgoodwords. Heard Wednesdays from 6-7pm and Sundays 9-10am.

From Booklist
Proving that the heavily mined "child and elderly neighbor change each other's lives" premise isn't completely dry, Crocker's sturdy debut explores the deep and subtle reaches of a friendship that blooms between 11-year-old Billie and her across-the-road neighbor Miss Lydia. Set in a small town several generations ago, this is anchored by three pivotal acts—one driven by hate, one by love, and one a complex combination of the two.The story covers five years of Billie's struggles to get out from under the thumb of her spiteful, abusive mother, and Lydia's efforts to erase the guilt of two terrible secrets as, with agonizing slowness, her aging body fails. Crocker skillfully lays out the heart-deep regard that develops between these two perceptive, spirited females (Lydia is occasionally given to hilariously salty language) as life throws them severe challenges that they weather with each other's help. In Billie, the author creates a narrator whose credible mix of naïveté, resilience, and uncertain but budding sense of self-respect that will speak to young readers. This easily transcends its familiar themes and locale

Is the digital age stupefying our kids?

thanks to Karen for this picture!