Books

A complete lists of works, including sample excerpts

Homegrown Democrat — 2004

Homegrown Democrat — 2004

In this thoughtful, deeply personal work, one of the nation’s best-loved voices takes the plunge into politics and comes up with a book that has had all of America talking. Here, with great heart, supple wit, and a dash of anger, Garrison Keillor describes the simple democratic values-the Golden Rule, the obligation to defend the weak against the powerful, and others- that define his hard-working 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 today’s rancorous political debate.

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Love Me — 2003

Love Me — 2003

When Larry Wyler heads east from Minnesota to New York in pursuit of the celebrated life of the writers he admires and the three-martini lunch, he leaves behind Iris, the college sweetheart he married. When he abandons the rural flats of St. Paul for the fabled high-rise housing William Shawn and his famous magazine, Wyler stumbles into meteoric success as a writer and a womanizer.

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Good Poems — 2002

Good Poems — 2002

Every day people tune in to The Writer’s Almanac on public radio and hear Garrison Keillor read them a poem. And here, for the first time, is an anthology of poems from the show, 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.”

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In Search of Lake Wobegon — 2001

In Search of Lake Wobegon — 2001

In the twenty-five years since Garrison Keillor first brought it to life, the rural Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon has become a national treasure. In this lavishly produced photography book, word and image combine to illuminate the real Minnesota town-life, landscapes, and people who inspired its creation.

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Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 — 2001

Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 — 2001

The Doo Dads are singing “My Girl” on the radio and fourteen-year-old Gary is studying pictures of naked women, aware that Grandpa is looking down from heaven wondering how the boy turned out so badly. He has never so much as kissed a girl, except his rebellious cousin Kate, a sophisticate of seventeen who knows about The New Yorker and also how to swear and exhale smoke rings.

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ME — 1999

ME — 1999

Abandoned by his mother at birth, little Clifford Oxnard grows up in south Minneapolis, tormented by bullies and chased by big dogs until an encounter with the Wild Man of Borneo and a mail-order body-building course changed his life. Transformed into the six-foot-four 300-pound he-man Jimmy (Big Boy) Valente, he enlists in the U.S. Navy’s […]

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Wobegon Boy — 1997

Wobegon Boy — 1997

John Tollefson, a son of Lake Wobegon, has moved East to manage a radio station at a college for academically challenged children of financially gifted parents in upstate New York. Having achieved this pleasant perch, John has a brilliant idea for a restaurant specializing in fresh sweet corn. And he falls in love with an historian named Alida Freeman, hard at work on a book about a nineteenth-century Norwegian naturopath, an acquaintance of Lincoln, Thoreau, Whitman, and Susan B. Anthony.

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The Old Man Who Loved Cheese — 1996

The Old Man Who Loved Cheese — 1996

Wallace P.’s penchant for putrid cheese gets him into trouble. Will he ever learn to change his wheys?

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The Sandy Bottom Orchestra — 1996

The Sandy Bottom Orchestra — 1996

Twelve-year-old Rachel has always known that her parents were a little eccentric, and now she fears that their weirdness is rubbing off on her. When Rachel is given an opportunity to play with the Dairyland Symphony Orchestra, she wonders if her music will be enough to sustain her through the long, lonely summer.

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Cat You Better Come Home — 1995

Cat You Better Come Home — 1995

Tired of plain old cat food, Puff leaves home, headed for Europe and the jet-set life, living it up on beaches in Greece and in villas in France—until the day disaster strikes. Then it’s scratch, scratch, scratch on the windowsill … Garrison Keillor’s wit and style enliven this fable based on one of his popular “Cat Songs.”

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