I hope you’ve satisfied your wanderlust this spring with an adventure to come or one already under your belt.
Here are three novels that sweep you far, far away with settings that will inspire you to go.
I’ve told everyone about Tara Menon’s “Under Water.” Although the novel builds to a tragic conclusion, Menon’s description of the wondrous seas off the coast of Thailand and the humid, teeming rainforests inland are irresistible.
Give me a good contemporary Greek tragedy set on an olive tree and ruin-studded island, and you have my attention. Alex Michaelides’ novel “The Fury” unfolds in five acts, complete with high drama, old friends and, of course, a murder.
And since I’ve recently returned from Morocco, I’m including a book we read together on the adventure. Tahir Shah’s “The Caliph’s House” tells the story of the acquisition and renovation of an historic manse in Casablanca and the spirits that inhabit the house.
Mystery character of the month answer: Tarzan in “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Email sstroozas@mpr.org to have your literary event added to the list. After reader feedback, we have extended our bookworm list to include the next 10 days of local events, instead of seven. Enjoy!
🤔 What's the newsroom reading?
I just finished “Last Witnesses” by Svetlana Alexievich. In the 1970s, Alexievich interviewed Soviets whose earliest memories included World War II and the brutal occupation by German forces. The subjects recount watching their parents dig their graves. They learned, driven by hunger, which grass was edible.
As 5-year-olds, they begged strangers to take them in and share meager food and supplies. Alexievich simply transcribed their stories, adding no contest or history. Most of the brief memoirs run just two pages. Together, they render a searing portrait of inhumane conditions and survival. Conditions children in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and other regions are living through now.
— Stephanie Curtis, MPR News
📰 Bite-sized Minnesota book news
We talked with local romance author Abby Jimenez about her latest book and how she decides to write about Minnesota. Watch the video here!
Congratulations to the Minnesota Book Awards winners. Sun Yung Shin won the Kay Sexton Award and Christopher P. Lehman won the Hognander Minnesota History Award.
Read the full list of winners.
Our theme this week is all about family: novelists who mine their own histories for inspiration, authors who use storytelling as a kind of open therapy, writers who uncover and then share their family secrets.
The library includes an indoor walking loop, an entrepreneurship center and a playground. Most of the project was funded through a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in years prior.
Looking for a read that's complicated, gutsy and entertaining? NPR's Maureen Corrigan recommends “Yesteryear,” by Caro Claire Burke; “American Fantasy,” by Emma Straub; and “Enormous Wings,” by Laurie Frankel.
Brittany Lewis explains in her new book, "Building a New Table: A Community-Centered Handbook for Transformative Social Change,” how to be inclusive in a research setting.
