The former Current DJ gets personal 
Book of the week
 
The Thread
 
'What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Weirder & Harder to Relate To' by Mary Lucia

Ask some of literature’s most accomplished memoirists about the endeavor of putting their lives to paper and they’ll talk about dropping their disguises, painful truths and the risk of telling it all.

Isabel Allende wrote about confronting her demons.

There are demons aplenty in the slim but revealing new memoir by Mary Lucia, a former Dj at MPR's music station, The Current: Her fears, her pain, her anger and her loves. Don’t get her started on her dogs!

Significant portions of the book detail the three years that she was stalked by a mentally ill man who evaded security cameras, restraining orders and even arrest to continue his criminal activity.

But some of the most compelling parts of the memoir are when Lucia is writing about why she loves the music she loves, the artists she knows and admires and her ambivalence about the vulnerability she brings to her on-air work.

Lucia writes at one point: “Meet me. It is I, rogue DJ. The cilantro of radio.” She’s polarizing. She gets it!

Mystery character of the month: Toto from The Wizard of Oz

— Kerri Miller, MPR News
 
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🐛📚 Local bookworm events

  • Drury Lane Books meet and greet with Kelsey Oseid, Dec. 13 at 11 a.m., Grand Marais
  • Once Upon A Crime meet and greet with Mike Faricy, Dec. 13 at 12 p.m., Minneapolis 
  • Next Chapter Booksellers holiday signing with Lori Sturdevant, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m., St. Paul
  • Poetry book launch featuring Jane Dickerson, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m., Roseville
  • Zenith Bookstore jammies storytime with Kathy Levine, Dec. 14 at 11 a.m., Duluth
  • Comma, a bookshop holiday party and book swap, Dec. 14 at 4 p.m., Minneapolis 
  • Wildflower Bookshop blush-worthy book club, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m., Grand Rapids
  • Minnesota Mystery Night with author Tracy Clark, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., Mendota
  • Big Hill Books Jane Austen birthday celebration, Dec. 16 at 6 p.m., Minneapolis
  • Zenith Bookstore book launch for Marie Zhuikov, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m., Duluth
  • Moon Palace Books "Pride and Prejudice" book club discussion, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m., Minneapolis
  • Pride & Prejudice book club discussion hosted by Moon Palace Books at Arbeiter Brewing, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m., Minneapolis
  • Indeed Brewing books & brews trivia night,Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m., Minneapolis
  • Content Bookstore the new romantics book club, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m., Northfield

Do you have an event you want included? Let me know sstroozas@mpr.org

— Sam Stroozas, MPR News
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The art of movidas: New book looks at how Minnesota Latina/x artists resist oppression

A new book traces a decade of Latina/x arts activism in the Twin Cities, revealing the artists who have been quietly safeguarding their communities and reshaping the region’s cultural future.

 
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