Throw This Poor Dog a Minnesota Reading Bone

Um, I'm a BAAAD Minnesota writer. My novel out now takes place in 1930s Hollywood. ha ha.

Next year I have one coming out called Punk Minneapolis, but that takes place in 1989, so I'm still BAAAAD ha ha

There's so many! But you're looking for the here and now (shoos away Sinclair Lewis and Mr. Fitzgerald) so that leaves.... too many to count! There are many authors that live here, whether or not they're firmly associated with Minnesota like Keillor. And I'm not entirely certain how much of "here and now" counts.

There's Will Weaver, and Kate DiCamillo, RD Zimmerman/Robert Alexander, Judith Guest, Neil Gaiman (sort of?) ... bah, I'm listing too many. People, feel free to chime in.

Oh! Wing Young Huie's book about Frogtown is obviously heavy on images, but that might be something interesting to work into your reading schedule.

I recently read "Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger. Excellent book. Oh, and Leif was a reporter at MPR!

There's also Bill Holm...

Right now I'm reading the nonfiction book "Will to Murder," by Gail Feichtinger. It's about the Glensheen Mansion murders in Duluth.

Hi Mark. I've written before on Gather about how the Twin Cities newspapers seem to ignore local writers. I've just finished reading a great novel called After the Floods by a local writer, Bruce Henricksen. The book is set partially in post-Katrina New Orleans but mainly in a small Minnesota town. It's about disaster, hope, and recovery, and it has some hilarious moments where Mother Nature finds some very odd ways to misbehave.

Thank you so much, Victoria, for the kind words about my novel. Mark and others might also like to know about a book I've edited called From the Other World: Poems in Memory of James Wright. James was a Pulitzer Prize winner who taught at UMN and at Macalester. Many of his greatest poems are about MN locales. From the Other World gathers tributes to Wright from far and wide, and it also includes poems inspired by Wright although not directly to him or about him. A number of Minnesota poets are in the book--among them Joyce Sutphen, Robert Bly, and Barton Sutter--and also some nationally known people such as Galway Kinnell, W. S. Merwin, and C.K. Williams.

Thanks Bruce and Victoria. I know MN has a very vibrant spoken word and poetry scene as well. This will get me started. Keep them coming!

Anything by William Kent Krueger, expecially the recently released Thunder Bay

ANY book by Sandra Benitez! She's one of my most favorite authors.
You can't go wrong with any book by David Treuer (especially Hiawatha), Will Weaver (Red Earth/White Earth), Neil Gaiman (Stardust, Neverwhere and American Gods) or any book by Bill Holm.
Torch by Cheryl Strayed is great, as is The Center of Winter by Marya Hornbacher. And for a great gentle read try Dr. Roger Macdonad's books - A Country Doctor's Casebook: Tales from the North Woods, and A County Doctor's Chronicle: Further Tales from the North Woods. Both are very enjoyable.

Oh - I forgot to add if you are interested in history, try Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford (a professor of anthropology at Macalaster College)

Since Carol Bly recently passed away, it is a good time to check out her writing. Her works are great and have a strong "sense of place."

There are some good recommendations here! I'll add Evelina Chao. She has written a wonderful memoir about her Chinese roots called Yeh Yeh's House. She also plays viola for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and is a very interesting person to talk to or read about.

Another suggestion: Louise Erdrich. I especially enjoyed her novel, The Master Butcher's Singing Club. Her poetry is very good, too.

What do you enjoy reading the most, Mark? Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, biography? Minnesota has produced many great writers.

By the way, I read Gail Feichtinger's book about the Congdon murder and found it fascinating and fast-paced. I think she's writing another book. She graciously met with my book club a couple of years ago (?) and even gave us an update on the case.

If you're into cop/murder stories, try Brian Freeman's Immoral or Stripped. Freeman worked in marketing at a law firm downtown for a number of years before publishing his first novel. His third novel comes out next month.

There's Lorna Landvik, Faith Sullivan and gather's own Beryl Singleton Bissell although, admittedly, their work may appeal more to women than men.

There's also Charles Baxter (The Feast of Love), and New York Times Bestselling author Vince Flynn.

....There are so many!

Thanks everyone!! Diana, that is a great list!! A friend just loaned me Leif Enger's Peace Like a river. I have never read it. Through some connections I have I also got my hands on an advance copy of Robert Alexander's The Romanov Bride. So much to read!!

I am in Illinois and don't have any MN writers for you ;-( But I am reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and am nearly done...it is very good.

THANKS FOR SHARING, A TEN I SEND

Mark - what a great thread! I second pretty much everything I've seen here (especially Yeh Yeh's house by Evalina Chao and the Center of Winter by Marya Hornbacher). In addition I might suggest you explore not only Minnesota authors, but Minnesota PUBLISHERS. Milkweed Editions, Greywolf Press, and CoffeeHouse Press are all fabulous local publishers, as is the Minnesota Historical Society.

From them I'd recommend "Ordinary Wolves" by Seth Kantner, which won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, and "Out Stealing Horses" by Per Petterson, which made the top ten list on the New York Times Best Fiction list for last year, and was published by Graywolf. Happy Reading!

Also consider Holy Cow! Press out of Duluth.

I like Chuck Logan's suspense books.
You can find a lot of his books at your local library.

Hi, I recently finished an historical novel about the fur trade era in MN. I think you might like it. The characters are really unusual and it has a wealth of information on MN as well as some Native American lore. You can find it at www.lulu.com/lokiloki

I forgot, the name of the novel is Ripe Chokecherry Moon, by Trish St. John