Category Archives: Books

The Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg (1978. Popular Library. ISBN 978-0873513210) Not as much sex but lots of its aftermath. That’s a glib way of saying that The Settlers, Moberg’s third novel in this four-part series of Swedish immigration to Minnesota … Continue reading →

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015. Penguin Audio. ISBN 9781611763731). Alright. My wife Rene’ and I didn’t actually listen to the entire story on our way to Lake Sakakawea State Park to spend a long weekend with … Continue reading →

Ulysses by James Joyce (1990. Vintage Classics Edition. ISBN 9780679722762) October 4, 2014 through July 26, 2015. That’s how long it took me to plow through Joyce’s so-called “masterpiece” of modernist fiction. I’m sorry, but I must be a dullard, … Continue reading →

The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman (2013. Quercus. ISBN 9781623651312) My friend Ron McVean, an avid reader and sometime pre-reader of my manuscripts, handed me his autographed copy of this Freeman thriller with the admonition, “I read it but didn’t … Continue reading →

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009. Henry Holt and Co. Kindle version. ISBN 978-0312429980) Let’s be honest. I will never write a book that makes it to No. 3 on the Amazon sales list. Hilary Mantel’s tome about the English … Continue reading →

Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg (1954. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0873513203) This second novel in the “Emigrant” series written by Swedish author, Carl Artur Vilhelm Moberg continues the story of a small band of Swedes who leave their … Continue reading →

The Emigrants by Vilhelm Moberg (1951. Simon and Schuster. Translated by Gustaf Lannestock. ISBN 978-0873513197) There is a lot of sex in this book. I mean it. For a novel published during the more sedate and less titillating 1950s, The … Continue reading →

  Vacationland by Sarah Stonich (2013. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816687664) Cautionary note: I consider the author, Ms. Stonich, to be a literary friend. Not a close personal friend, someone who has been to my house for dinner, but … Continue reading →

Marrow, Muscle, Flight by Gary Boelhower (2011. Wildwood River Press. ISBN 9780984377749) Disclosure: I have written poetry, mostly as an adjunct to courting my wife 37-plus years ago, but I am not a poet and know little, if anything, about … Continue reading →

  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (2015. St. Martin’s Press/MacMillan Audio. ISBN 9781427212672) I am deadly serious. By the time I was on the final disc of this terrific audio novel, I was crying so hard, I had a difficult … Continue reading →