Local bookworm events, a new title from Sahra Noor and a book mark design competition
Kerri's pick
Book of the week
My summer began with a mini road trip with my dog, Cookie, as co-pilot. We weathered a flat tire in the wilds of New Mexico; a storm that whipped up out of nowhere in the Dakotas; a dank old Ramada that Cookie loved (such bouncy beds!) just outside of Des Moines.
And Lauren Hough’s book “This Monster of a Land” hummed in my mind as I drove.
Hough decided a few years ago that she’d put off a bodacious road trip long enough. So she bought a creaky Dodge Ram van, and with her dog, Woody, set off to see America.
Where she went, what she saw and who she met is part of our semiquincentennial, July-long dive into the history and culture of America. Spoiler: One of her favorite days on the whole trip was the one she and Woody spent in Bemidji.
— Kerri Miller, MPR News
Talking Volumes is back!
Hosted by award-winning journalists MPR News Kerri Miller and Catharine Richert, each evening offers an in-depth conversation with an author about their latest books, their creative process and the stories shaping our lives.
Email sstroozas@mpr.org to have your literary event added to the list.
🤔 What's the newsroom reading?
"Small Things Like These" by Claire Keegan has topped my favorite books of all time list for over a year now. I just can’t stop thinking about it. With a page count of only 118 pages, it’s quite an impactful novella.
Taking place during the 1980s in an idyllic Irish town, we follow Bill Furlong, a coal merchant making his daily deliveries to the town’s residents. The town is preparing for its Christmas celebrations. All seems well in this cozy town until Furlong finds something that shakes him to his core.
The most incredible element of this book is Keegan’s prose. She has an incredibly punchy way of writing. Not a single word is wasted, and yet her straightforward style results in an extremely vivid reading experience. In "Small Things Like These," she plays with warm and cool tones in order to convey a sense of foreboding, the town’s seemingly perfect cozy atmosphere being only a veneer for something more sinister.
If you’re looking for a change of scenery from your stack of summery reads, this wintry masterpiece can be devoured in one sitting.
— Tessa Bloch, technical director
📰 Bite-sized Minnesota book news
"Salt in the Snow" by local author Sahra Noor comes out on Aug. 4. It follows the story of Noor's close-knit, multigenerational Somali household shaped by her father.
Sarah Kendzior wanted to show America to her young children. So she and her husband crisscrossed the country to visit national parks and historical sites, even as political upheaval and the pandemic remade the landscape. Her memoir, “The Last American Road Trip,” is the finale to our July road trip series.
This year's Booker Prize longlist, announced Tuesday, includes 13 books covering a wide range of genres, from thriller to dystopian sci-fi to love story.
"I'll Take the Fire" is the third book in a trilogy inspired by generations of Leïla Slimani's Moroccan French family. She is also the author of the bestselling thriller "The Perfect Nanny."
