Lake Wobegon Days (55 page)

Explore Lake Wobegon with these titles from Viking and Penguin

Pontoon

A Novel of Lake Wobegon

“Keillor has always been a great cataloger, equal parts Homer and Montgomery Ward, and rarely to better effect than in
Pontoon.
”

—Thomas Mallon,
The New York Times Book Review

Garrison Keillor makes his long-awaited return to Lake Wobegon—replete with bowling ball-urns, a hot-air balloon, giant duck decoys, a flying Elvis, and, most importantly, Wally’s pontoon boat. And as the wedding of the decade approaches (accompanied by wheels of imported cheese and giant shrimp shish-kebabs), the good-loving people of Lake Wobegon do what they do best: drive each other slightly crazy.

ISBN 978-0-670-06356-7

Lake Wobegon Summer, 1956

Lake Wobegon Summer, 1956
depicts the most harrowing time of life in Lake Wobegon—adolescence. With his trademark gift for treading “a line delicate as a cobweb between satire and sentiment” (
The Plain Dealer
), Garrison Keillor captures postwar America and delivers an unforgettable comedy about a writer coming of age in the rural mid-west.

ISBN 978-0-14-200093-9

Wobegon Boy

John Tollefson, the son of Byron and Mary of Lake Wobegon, leaves Minnesota to manage a public radio station at a college for academically challenged children of financially gifted parents in upstate New York. Though he makes a pleasant bachelor life for himself in New York, he feels rootless, restless, joined in no struggle, with nothing at stake. Can a romance with a historian named Alida Freeman give his life the nobility and grace it lacks?

ISBN 978-0-14-027478-3

Leaving Home

“
Leaving Home
is a book of exceptional charm … delightful … genuinely touching.”

—
The Wall Street Journal

In this collection of Lake Wobegon monologues, Keillor tells readers more about some of the people from
Lake Wobegon Days
and introduces some new faces.

ISBN 978-0-14-013160-4

More of Garrison Keillor from Penguin

Homegrown Democrat

A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America

In this thoughtful, deeply personal work, one of the nation’s best-loved voices takes the plunge into politics. With great heart, supple wit, and a dash of anger, Garrison Keillor describes simple democratic values—the Golden Rule, the obligation to defend the weak against the powerful—that define his hardworking Midwestern neighbors and that today’s Republicans seem determined to subvert. A reminiscence, a political tract, and a humorous meditation,
Homegrown Democrat
is an entertaining, refreshing addition to the rancorous political debate.

ISBN 978-0-14-303768-2

Good Poems

Here is an anthology of poems from
The Writer’s Almanac
, chosen by Keillor for their wit, their frankness, their passion, their “utter clarity in the face of everything else a person has to deal with at 7 a.m.”
Good Poems
includes verse about lovers, children, failure, everyday life, death, and transcendance. Featuring the work of classic poets, such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost, as well as the work of contemporary greats such as Howard Nemerov, Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Billy Collins, Robert Bly, and Sharon Olds, it’s a book of poems for anybody who loves poetry—whether they know it or not.

ISBN 978-0-14-200344-2

Good Poems for Hard Times

In
Good Poems for Hard Times
, Keillor has pondered over the archives of his beloved
Writer’s Almanac
radio show to select a batch of consoling, rousing, and truthful poems guaranteed to raise flagging spirits. But these poems are not about suffering. They’re intended to inspire those in need of a dose of wisdom or honesty by holding out a picture of the grace of ordinary life.

ISBN 978-0-14-303767-5

A Prairie Home Companion

The Screenplay

Foreword by Robert Altman

The companion to Robert Altman’s popular film,
A Prairie Home Companion
features a special eight-page photo insert, as well as an interview between Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor, who once again showcases his unique style of wit and humor in this fantastic crowd-pleaser.

ISBN 978-0-14-303823-8

Love Me

A Novel

Aspiring writer Larry Wyler leads a quiet life with his wife Iris in Minnesota, but he wants more. When his literary debut becomes a hit, he departs for a Manhattan apartment, and a job at the
New Yorker.
But when his second novel bombs and he finds himself in the grip of writer’s block, Wyler discovers that success is a fickle mistress, indeed. Creatively barren, nearly destitute, and longing for Iris, he accepts a job writing “Ask Mr. Blue,” a column doling out advice to the lovelorn. Slowly, painfully, Wyler finds a measure of clarity for his own life, and then sets out to win back his wife’s affections.

ISBN 978-0-14-200499-9

The Book of Guys

Stories

“Guys are in trouble these days,” says Garrison Keillor. “Years ago, manhood was an opportunity for achievement and now it’s just a problem to be overcome. Guys who once might have painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling are now just trying to be Mr. O.K. All-Rite, the man who can bake a cherry pie, be passionate in a skillful way, and yet also lift them bales and tote that barge.” This collection confirms Keillor’s reputation as an ingenious storyteller and a very funny guy.

ISBN 978-0-14-023372-8

WLT

A Radio Romance

In the spring of 1926, the Soderbjerg brothers plunge into radio and launch station WLT (With Lettuce and Tomato) to rescue their failing restaurant and become the Sandwich Kings of South Minneapolis. For the next quarter century, the “Friendly Neighbor” station produces a dazzling array of shows and stars. Francis With, a shy young man from North Dakota, entranced by radio, quickly becomes the Soderbjerg’s right hand. Soon Francis is a budding announcer adored by Lily Dale, the crippled nightingale of WLT kept hidden from her fans, whose firing contributes to the downfall of the station. And then comes television.

ISBN 978-0-14-010380-9

Happy to Be Here

“Keillor’s best stuff is clean (in the sense that lines are clean), down to earth, exquisitely good-hearted, highly ludicrous, and as labored as nitrous oxide … This book will either leave you dumbfounded or happy—almost deservedly happy—to be anywhere”

—
The New York Times Book Review

ISBN 978-0-14-013182-6

We Are Still Married

Stories and Letters

“The shock, for a radio fan leafing through this collection, is to discover, perhaps not for the first or fifth time, that his hero is even more gifted as writer than as entertainer … If Kafka were writing this spooky stuff, you would call it Keilloresque, but it wouldn’t be nearly so funny.”

—
Time

ISBN 978-0-14-013156-7