Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons: A Novel

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons: A Novel

by Lorna Landvik

The women of Freesia Court are convinced that there is nothing good coffee, delectable desserts, and a strong shoulder can’t fix. Laughter is the glue that holds them together—the foundation of a book group they call AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial “club” that becomes much more. It becomes a lifeline. Holding on through forty eventful years, there’s Faith, a lonely mother of twins who... (more)

Your Oasis on Flame Lake (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Your Oasis on Flame Lake (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Lorna Landvik

Best friends fast approaching forty in the small Minnesota town of Flame Lake, Devera and BiDi were recently voted "Least Changed" at their twentieth high school reunion--a label neither one finds very appealing. For each craves a change in her life: Devera desires a break from her humdrum marital routine; BiDi longs to connect with her distant fourteen-year-old daughter, the only girl on the high school hockey... (more)

Staggerford: A Novel

by Jon Hassler

"A writer good enough to restore your faith in fiction." THE NEW YORK TIMES It is only a week in the life of a 35-year old bachelor school teacher in a small Minnesota town. But it is an extraodinary week, filled with the poetry of living, the sweetness of expectation, and the glory of surprise that can change a life forever.... "Absolutely smashing....An altogether successful work, witty, intelligent,... (more)

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir

by Kao Kalia Yang

In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable... (more)

So Brave, Young, and Handsome (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)

So Brave, Young, and Handsome (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series)

by Leif Enger

A stunning successor to his best selling novel Peace Like a River , Leif Enger’s new work is a rugged and nimble story about an aging train robber on a quest to reconcile the claims of love and judgment on his life, and the failed writer who goes with him. In 1915 Minnesota, novelist Monte Becket has lost his sense of purpose. His only success long behind him, Monte lives simply with his wife and son. But when... (more)

North of Hope (Loyola Classics)

by Jon Hassler

Father Frank Healy unexpectedly encounters his former high school girlfriend, Libby, at a time of crisis in his vocation. He is drawn into the lives of Libby, her criminal husband, her troubled daughter, and other characters living in and around an Ojibway reservation in northern Minnesota where Frank pastors a mission. This absorbing, realistic and faith-filled novel explores the territory all of us find... (more)

Green Journey

by Jon Hassler

"Hassler's characters have old-fashioned values and typical human failings; they make this a novel to restore your faith in humanity." LOS ANGELES TIMES Agatha McGee is following a dream, though it might be late in the game. She's just retired from a career of teaching and travels to Ireland in search of the romance she never had time for. And along the way, she not only discovers people she would never have let... (more)

Grand Opening

by Jon Hassler

A small town in Minnesota is the setting for this strong novel about the moral awakening of a child in 1944.

Dear James

by Jon Hassler

Agatha Magee, the feisty, quick-witted, fiercely Catholic doyenne of Staggerford, Minnesota, confronts crises large and small in her 70th year. She is forced to retire from her beloved teaching, she's crushed to learn that her Irish pen pal James is a priest, and she's faced with the evils of the world -- from Irish terrorism to the petty jealousies that tear apart life in a small town. Jon Hassler... (more)

Children of God Go Bowling

by Shannon Olson

We first met Shannon Olson—our semifictional heroine—in the enormously popular Welcome to My Planet . Now, in Children of God Go Bowling , we find Shannon in her mid-thirties and still besieged by reminders that her life is anything but normal. As everyone around her blossoms in marital bliss and home ownership, Shannon embarks upon a feng shui–inspired campaign to make room for a future, from joining... (more)

That Camden Summer

by Lavryle Spencer

"A modern fairy tale, complete with a deserving heroine, a prince of a guy, and a happily-ever-after ending." ( People )

Morning Glory

by Lavryle Spencer

"A superb book." ( New York Daily News ) On the eve of World War II, two people are brought together by fate and discover an unexpected passion.

Sweet Land: New and Selected Stories

by Will Weaver

In this paperback original, a stable of fresh stories by award-winning writer Will Weaver ( Full Service and Barns of Minnesota ) are complemented by a hand-picked selection of favorites from his original collection, A Gravestone Made of Wheat , to offer a fresh, vivid portrait of the changing midwestern landscape. New highlights include “Blaze of Glory,” an enchanting tale of an RV road trip and a senior... (more)

Welcome to the Great Mysterious (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Welcome to the Great Mysterious (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Lorna Landvik

Megastar of stage, screen, and television, Geneva Jordan now has a command performance in Minnesota, where she agrees to look after her thirteen-year-old nephew, a boy with Down syndrome, while his parents take a long overdue vacation. Though Geneva and her sister, Ann, are as different as night and day ("I being night, of course, dark and dramatic"), Geneva remembers she had a family before she had a star on her... (more)

The Tall Pine Polka (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

The Tall Pine Polka (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Lorna Landvik

In the small town of Tall Pine, Minnesota, at the Cup O’Delight Cafe, the townsfolk gather for what they call the Tall Pine Polka, an event in which heavenly coffee, good food, and that feeling of being alive among friends inspires both body and soul to dance . There’s the cafe owner, the robust and beautiful Lee O’Leary, who escaped to the northwoods from an abusive husband; Miss Penk and Frau Katt, the town’s... (more)

Rookery Blues

by Jon Hassler

Rookery State College in the late 1960s is an academic backwater if ever there was one--until the Icejam Quintet is born. With Leland Edwards on piano, Neil Novotny on clarinet, Victor Dash on drums, and Connor on bass, the group comes together with the help of its muse, the lovely Peggy Benoit, who plays saxophone and sings. But soon isolated Rookery State will be touched by the first labor union in the college's... (more)

Home Song

by Lavryle Spencer

"Like hot chocolate in the dark night of the soul."( Kirkus Reviews ) LaVyrle Spencer explores the fragile bonds that exist between family members, the strength it takes to hold them together, and the true meaning of unconditional love in this engrossing bestseller.

Waiting for White Horses

by Nathan Jorgenson

Waiting for White Horses , set in the tall pines of northern Minnesota's spectacular lake country,is a story of trusted friendship,loss and redemption,love, and rediscovery. The enduring friendship between Grant and Will is all that sustains Grant through a series of painful losses as the seasons pass.When Grant finds love in the arms af a beautiful woman it seems that happiness is once again within reach for him.... (more)

News from the Border: A Mother's Memoir of Her Autistic SonJane McDonnell

News from the Border: A Mother's Memoir of Her Autistic Son

by Jane Taylor McDonnell

The author explains the complexity, heartbreak, and drama of raising and attempting to understand a developmentally disabled child, while her son, a high-functioning autistic, provides a look into his own troubled world. 12,500 first printing.

Back to Mississippi: A Personal Journey Through the Events that Changed America in 1964

Back to Mississippi: A Personal Journey Through the Events that Changed America in 1964

by Mary Winstead

Mary Winstead grew up in Minneapolis, captivated by her fathers tales of his boyhood in rural Mississippi. As a child, she visited her relatives down South, and her nostalgia for that world and its people would compel her to collect her fathers stories for her own children. But Winsteads research into her family history led her to a series of horrifying revelations: about her relatives ingrained racism, their... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: minnesota author

by Lorna Landvik

by Lorna Landvik

by Jon Hassler

by Kao Kalia Yang

by Leif Enger

by Jon Hassler

by Jon Hassler

by Jon Hassler

by Jon Hassler

by Shannon Olson

by Lavryle Spencer

by Lavryle Spencer

by Will Weaver

by Lorna Landvik

by Lorna Landvik

by Jon Hassler

by Lavryle Spencer

by Nathan Jorgenson

by Jane Taylor McDonnell

by Mary Winstead