Books about/set in Minneapolis
October 13, 2016 9:03 AM Subscribe
My SO is going away to Minneapolis for a course for a week, and I'd like to make her a little care package. After checking the weather, I got some posh lip balm and swanky mittens, but I'd also like to get her a fun (non-travel guide) book about the area too -- she enjoys Jonathan Franzen and David Sedaris. Suggestions for the care package are welcome too!
Garrison Keillor has a ton of novels set in MN. (Too obvious?)
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2016
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2016
The Minnesota Historical Society Press may be a good place to browse, although most of their catalog will be more earnest than what you want. I have been wanting to read Beware of Cat. Check out Kevin Kling's books; can't remember how much any of them refer to local landmarks but he has a very Minnesotan voice, imo.
posted by lakeroon at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2016
posted by lakeroon at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2016
Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow is a terrific collection of essays by an art historian about Minneapolis, art, and cities.
posted by torridly at 10:03 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by torridly at 10:03 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Peace Like a River isn't a David Sedaris type book but it's a really good novel.
How to Talk Minnesotan has a lot of cheesy humor (I mean, Garrison Keillor FFS) but it actually helped my husband understand my big Minnesotan family. I'm not kidding. Another one in that vein is Scandinavian Humor and Other Myths, which has a section called, "cuisines that hurt," which we laugh about because it cuts pretty close to home.
My family loves the movie Sweet Home, which is not a book, I know, but it's the one Minnesota story they're gaga over.
posted by Pearl928 at 10:40 AM on October 13, 2016
How to Talk Minnesotan has a lot of cheesy humor (I mean, Garrison Keillor FFS) but it actually helped my husband understand my big Minnesotan family. I'm not kidding. Another one in that vein is Scandinavian Humor and Other Myths, which has a section called, "cuisines that hurt," which we laugh about because it cuts pretty close to home.
My family loves the movie Sweet Home, which is not a book, I know, but it's the one Minnesota story they're gaga over.
posted by Pearl928 at 10:40 AM on October 13, 2016
Best answer: Care package inclusions could also be the movies "Grumpy Old Men" and "Grumpier Old Men", "Drop Dead Gorgeous", "Juno", "The Naked Man", "Purple Rain", "The Mighty Ducks"...
posted by jillithd at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2016
posted by jillithd at 10:59 AM on October 13, 2016
Monica Ferris has a cozy mystery series about an embroidery shop in Minnesota called Crewel World. Another option for cozy mystery is The Penderghast Puzzle Protectors. Goodreads has at least three lists: Set in Minnesota, YA set in MN, and Twin Cities Tales.
posted by soelo at 11:14 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by soelo at 11:14 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
Can you get her a tam hat like this one?
posted by Mchelly at 11:35 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Mchelly at 11:35 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
If she likes paranormal chick lit, MaryJanice Davidson's "Undead and Unwed" series might be fun. It's about what happens to Betsy after she is hit by a bus on her birthday, dies, wakes up, and turns out to be the prophesied Queen of the Vampires. She continues to live in the City of the Dead (Minneapolis) and have adventures. They're fun if she enjoys light prose and ridiculousness.
posted by Elly Vortex at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2016
posted by Elly Vortex at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2016
Alex Pate - The Multicultiboho Sideshow
Sinclair Lewis - Main Street (caveat: I thought this book was super boring, but people I know from small towns seem to like it)
posted by substars at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2016
Sinclair Lewis - Main Street (caveat: I thought this book was super boring, but people I know from small towns seem to like it)
posted by substars at 1:03 PM on October 13, 2016
Emma Bull's War for the Oaks is an urban fantasy deeply entwined with Minneapolis and will lead you to great places in and around the city.
posted by drwicked at 3:50 PM on October 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by drwicked at 3:50 PM on October 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'm just commenting because I'm excited that How To Talk Minnesotan is still getting recommended after all these years. That's my mom's cousin Howard who wrote that book. Oh for nice!
posted by MsMolly at 10:02 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MsMolly at 10:02 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
A significant part of Jonathan Franzen's novel Freedom is set in Minnesota, mostly St. Paul. But if she enjoys Franzen she's probably already read it.
posted by crLLC at 6:42 AM on October 14, 2016
posted by crLLC at 6:42 AM on October 14, 2016
David Lipsky's book, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace is a memoir of magazine writer Lipsky's several-day trip with author DFW on the final leg of his Infinite Jest book tour. Lipsky's book was dramatized in the recent (and IMO terrific) movie "The End of the Tour," and the trip includes a stay in Minneapolis and a trip to Mall of America, as well as an interview on NPR recorded at MPR in Mpls.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:15 PM on October 14, 2016
posted by Sunburnt at 12:15 PM on October 14, 2016
Best answer: James Lileks is a Minneapolitan writer; he is a columnist and blogger for the "Strib" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune), has a popular personal blog (which is to the right of the MeFi center, no doubt). and he has written a few novels as well as his more famous and hilarious books such as ""The Gallery of Regrettable Food," and "Interior Desecrations."
He's halfway through a self-published (Kindle only) 4-book murder-mystery serial called "Mill City," which are historical novels set in Mpls. Graveyard Special is set in 1980, about a graveyard-shift Dinkytown diner waiter working to pay for school at U of M, who somehow missed the murder of the cook.
The second book, Casablanca Tango, is mostly noir, set in post-WWII Minneapolis, about newspaper reporter covering a nightclub assassination.
Don't sweat the political slant of his blog; it's not really there in his protagonists.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:42 PM on October 14, 2016
He's halfway through a self-published (Kindle only) 4-book murder-mystery serial called "Mill City," which are historical novels set in Mpls. Graveyard Special is set in 1980, about a graveyard-shift Dinkytown diner waiter working to pay for school at U of M, who somehow missed the murder of the cook.
The second book, Casablanca Tango, is mostly noir, set in post-WWII Minneapolis, about newspaper reporter covering a nightclub assassination.
Don't sweat the political slant of his blog; it's not really there in his protagonists.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:42 PM on October 14, 2016
PJ Tracey's Monkeywrench Novels are set in Minneapolis/St. Paul and are quite fun in a crime/action way.
posted by drinkmaildave at 7:41 PM on October 18, 2016
posted by drinkmaildave at 7:41 PM on October 18, 2016
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posted by Ms Vegetable at 9:18 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]