Common Good Books welcomes Jeannette Walls to discuss her book\, Half Broke Horses\: A True-Life Story\, the story of her no-non sense\, resourceful\, and spectacularly compelling grandmother\, Lily Casey Smith.
By age six\, Lily was helping her father break horses. At fifteen\, she left home to teach in a frontier town riding five hundred miles on her pony\, alone\, to get to her job. Lily survived tornadoes\, droughts\, floods\, the Great Depression\, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy. She raised two children\, one of whom is Jeannette's memorable mother\, Rosemary Smith Walls\, unforgettably portrayed in "\;The Glass Castle."\; Rosemary always told Jeannette that she was like her grandmother\, and in this true-life novel\, Jeannette Walls channels that kindred spirit.
"\;Half Broke Horses "\;is Laura Ingalls Wilder for adults\, as riveting and dramatic as Isak Dinesen's "\;Out of Africa "\;or Beryl Markham's "\;West with the Night."\; Destined to become a classic\, it will transfix readers everywhere.
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END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE:20100906T032429Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100915T003000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100915T003000Z UID:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/jc-hallman-utopia URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/jc-hallman-utopia SUMMARY:J.C. Hallman\, In Utopia DESCRIPTION:\;
Common Good Books welcomes author J.C. Hallman for what promises to be a fascinating discussion of his latest book\, In Utopia\: Six Kinds of Eden and the Search for a Better Paradise.
The book chronicles the author's search for the meaning of utopian ideas in today's world. Among other modern utopian projects\, Hallman explores a plan to introduce lions and rhinoceroses into the American landscape to fulfill the ecological functions of extinct animals such as saber-toothed tigers. In another instance\, he tours a $30 billion megacity being built from scratch on an artificial island off the coast of Korea. Perhaps the strangest utopia he encounters is The World\, a co-op cruise ship for the wealthy\, endlessly traveling the seas.
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END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE:20100906T032429Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100916T003000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100916T003000Z UID:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/william-kent-krueger-vermillion-drift URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/william-kent-krueger-vermillion-drift SUMMARY:William Kent Krueger\, Vermillion Drift DESCRIPTION:\;
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Common Good Books welcomes Minnesotan author William Kent Krueger for a reading and discussion of his novel Vermillion Drift\, the latest in the Cork O’Connor series. In this nail-biting suspense\, O'Connor investigates a series of decades-old murders and their connection to his past.
"\;Vermilion Drift "\;is a powerful novel\, filled with all the mystery and suspense for which Krueger has won so many awards. A poignant portrayal of the complexities of family life\, it's also a sobering reminder that even those closest to our hearts can house the darkest--and deadliest--of secrets.
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Fall is here\, folks. And it's time to resume the Common Good Book Club. Join us every first Monday of the month for good conversations about very good books. To kick start the series\, we will be reading Stephen King's Under the Dome.
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On an entirely normal\, beautiful fall day\, a small town is suddenly and
inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible
force field. Planes crash into it and rain down flaming wreckage. A
gardener's hand is severed as the dome descends. Cars explode on
impact. Families are separated and panic mounts. No one can fathom what
the barrier is\, where it came from\, and when--or if--it will go away.
Now a few intrepid citizens\, led by an Iraq vet turned short-order
cook\, face down a ruthless politician dead set on seizing the reins of
power under the dome. But their main adversary is the dome itself.
Because time isn't just running short. It's running out.
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END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE:20100906T032429Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100923T003000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100923T003000Z UID:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/sharon-chmielarz-jp-white-and-mary-rose-o%E2%80%99reilly-poetry-reading URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/sharon-chmielarz-jp-white-and-mary-rose-o%E2%80%99reilly-poetry-reading SUMMARY:Sharon Chmielarz\, J.P. White\, and Mary Rose O’Reilly (Poetry Reading) DESCRIPTION:\;
Common Good Books welcomes local poets Sharon Chmielarz and J.P. White. Chmielarz\, a seasoned author\, has two new books\: Calling and The Sky is Great\, The Sky is Blue and White’s new collection is entitled All Good Water. The poets will be joined by Mary Rose O’Reilly\, the author of The Love of Impermanent Things (2008) and Half Wild\: Poems (2006).
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END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE:20100906T032429Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100925T190000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100925T190000Z UID:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/will-weaver-last-hunter URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/will-weaver-last-hunter SUMMARY:Will Weaver\, The Last Hunter DESCRIPTION:\;
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Common Good Books presents an afternoon with Will Weaver\, the Minnesotan author best known for his short story collection\, A Gravestone Made of Wheat and Other Stories\, which spawned the adaptation into the independent feature film\, Sweet Land. Weaver will be reading from his latest book\, The Last Hunter\: An American Family Album.
Weaver has been a hunter since he was a young boy\, following in the footsteps of his father\, a dedicated and seasoned outdoorsman. Hunting frames Weaver's childhood memories\, his relationship with his father\, and his own definition of self. And although one side of his family lineage includes men who would not hunt\, or go to war\, or carry a rifle\, Weaver is caught off guard when his son and daughter show no interest in upholding the tradition of the hunt.
"\;The Last Hunter "\;is a twenty-first-century collection of deeply personal tales--a truly American story. Weaver's heartfelt rendering sweeps us along on a family journey from an isolated North Dakota farm "\;built around a fork and shovel"\; to postmodern America. Grounded in telling and luminous detail\, "\;The Last Hunter "\;is an examination of family\, life on the land\, and those things we hold dear enough to want to carry along\, one generation to another.
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END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE:20100906T032429Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100930T003000Z DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20100930T003000Z UID:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/peter-smith-porch-sofa-almanac URL;VALUE=URI:http://www.commongoodbooks.com/event/peter-smith-porch-sofa-almanac SUMMARY:Peter Smith\, A Porch Sofa Almanac DESCRIPTION:\;
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Common Good Books welcomes Twin City based essayist and humorist\, Peter Smith\, for discussion his book A Porch Sofa Almanac.
A Porch Sofa Almanac is the first collection of Smith's essays for MPR-stories that keep close to the ground and reflect on the common experiences of being a Minnesotan. Small-town football\, stacks of Hudson Bay blankets in an antique store\, ice fishing\, and even those soggy gloves that emerge from melting snow banks each spring. Following the calendar year\, Smith's reflections are the perfect season-by-season companion for that chair by the fireplace\, a bench by the campfire\, a seat on the bus or train-or\, of course\, a porch sofa.
The book ultimately casts Minnesota in a wholly unique light. As Smith writes\, "\;The entire state comes across as some wonderful\, slightly quirky treasure unearthed at a church basement rummage sale."\; Much loved-perhaps a little rough around the edges-and absolutely ready to be shared.
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