In an Entertainment Weekly interview published this week, Man Booker prize winner Marlon James opened up about the epic fantasy series he is currently working on, to be known as the Dark Star Trilogy. And get this – it’s going to be based in African mythology. An African Lord of […]
Manitou Canyon William Kent Krueger Atria Books Release Date: September 6, 2016 ISBN 978-1-4767-4926-6 Cork O’Connor, former sheriff and now private investigator in the North Woods of Minnesota sure has longevity; well, for a literary character. Manitou Canyon is the 15th book in the Cork O’Connor series by William Kent […]
Dang, it’s hot. Too hot. I know you folks in Southern climates may well be guffawing at us Northerners now, like we don’t know hot, but I don’t care. Heck, I moved North to get away from all this! For those who may not know, I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota; […]
I suppose it could be portrayed as being somewhat spurious – a pale, doughy woman on the far side of middle age sitting in her living room, tears occasionally spilling down her face, listening to Prince’s “Purple Rain” through the earbuds plugged in to her laptop so she could turn […]
Since my plans for an original Gimbling in the Wabe went a bit off the rails this week, I’m taking advantage of this morning’s snow to dust off a former offering. Even though today’s snow was nothing even remotely like what came down in 2013 (when this essay was first published), it nevertheless […]
The bulk of this Gimbling in the Wabe came from one I had posted three years ago; it’s also, I think, my favorite “winter” installment of this feature. So, since I’m running short of time and inspiration this week, I thought I would run it again, albeit with a bit […]
Fishing With RayAnne Ava Finch Lake Union Publishing Release Date: November 3, 2015 ISBN 978-15-0-39476-89 At first glance, RayAnne Dahl is a typical native 30-something Minnesotan. She loves the changing of the seasons, embraces winter (even the driving), wears Scandinavian sweaters with “armorlike pewter closures and hasps”, and loves the […]
Windigo Island William Kent Krueger Atria Books Release Date: August 19, 2014 ISBN 978-1-4767-4923-5 Windigo Island is the 14th book in William Kent Krueger’s “Cork O’Connor” detective series, which follows the exploits of the former sheriff of Tamarack County, Minnesota. Cork is not only a north woods sleuth, he’s also […]
Safe from the Sea Peter Geye Unbridled Books First Edition:May 21, 2009 ISBN 978-1-60953-008-2 Duluth, Minnesota, located on Lake Superior’s North Shore, is the nation’s final inland harbor even though it is staunchly situated in the upper Midwest, accessible to ocean-going vessels via the Great Lakes Waterway and the Saint […]
Of Dogs and Books that Bind It was pretty darned chilly at the off-leash dog park this morning. The sky was overcast and a mean spitting of unexpected snow was pelleting those of us who were huddled near the picnic table as our dogs chased and romped, unconcerned with the […]
On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.