Holiday books: Regional books

Legendary Homes of Lake Minnetonka by Bette Jones Hammel, photographs by Karen Melvin (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 193 pages, $49.95). Hammel's book takes readers inside estates once owned by the first families of Minnesota -- the Pillsburys, Daytons and Bells. But it gives equal time to rustic summer cabins and a funky guest house by architect Frank Gehry. - Lynn Underwood

Home by Tom Arndt. (University of Minnesota Press, 192 pages, $49.95). Arndt's world is populated by carnies, farmers and teenagers in tight blue jeans. This wonderful collection of Minnesota photographs spans 40 years. You can tell that Arndt has great affection for the people he sees through his viewfinder. That makes you like them, too. - Laurie Hertzel

Never Trust a Thin Cook by Eric Dregni (University of Minnesota Press, 240 pages, $22.95). Dregni, a Minnesota professor, lived for two years in Italy, teaching English to Italians and producing what reads like a journal of his adventures -- unpolished, but earnest and excited. - Susan Ager

Beloved on the Earth edited by Jim Perlman, Deborah Cooper, Mara Hart and Pamela Mittlefehldt (Holy Cow! Press, 256 pages, $16.95). This collection of 150 poems of grief and gratitude is a lovely, healing book, from the soothing blue-and-green cover to the last poem on the last page. You'll recognize some Minnesota names: Ethna McKiernan, Sheila Packa, Bill Holm. And some names from long ago or far away: Pablo Neruda, Rumi, May Sarton, Maxine Kumin. An Indie pick for November. - LH

The Delicacy and Strength of Lace by James Wright and Leslie Marmon Silko (Graywolf Press, 102 pages, $14). How pleasant to watch, from a distance, as a friendship unfolds. These letters between poets Wright and Marmon Silko are, indeed, delicate and strong, as each opens up to the other. Though they met only twice, they became close friends through their correspondence. These warm letters are a testament to the power of the written word. -- LH

Historic Photos of Minnesota by Susan Marks (Turner Publishing, 205 pages, $39.95). A nice book, big and heavy, with sharp reproductions of photos that have been locked away for decades in libraries and historical society vaults. Here's Minnesota through the years -- the Winter Carnival, farmers on the plains, the Twin Cities as twin babies, with muddy streets. - LH

German for Travelers by Norah Labiner (Coffee House Press, 270 pages, $14.95). Labiner's third novel bounces among various story lines, exploring the concept of lineage and the Jewish experience, butting up against Sigmund Freud along the way. It's a mix of travelogue, ghostly dreams, family secrets, psychoanalysis, feminist manifesto and -- of course! -- jokes. That's enough to keep the Minneapolitan tagged as "experimental," but it shouldn't scare off anyone who likes their fiction literary. - Stephanie Wilbur Ash

Jewel of Como: The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory by Leigh Roethke and Bonnie Blodgett (Afton Historical Society Press, 120 pages, $40). Many of the illustrations in this lovely book are antique postcards and hand-tinted photos of St. Paul's Como Park back in the day. The book documents the park's graceful glass conservatory from conception to construction, through its decline in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to its more recent very happy renewal. -- LH

Holiday Inn by Kevin Kling (Borealis Books, 224 pages, $22.95). Kling's 21 stories are sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious and often both. This collection is loosely structured around a year's worth of holidays, and it's just as delightful as his earlier book, "The Dog Says How." -- Curt Brown

Damn Good Food: 157 Recipes from Hell's Kitchen by Mitch Omer and Ann Bauer (Borealis Books, 256 pages, $27.95). Bauer, author of "A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards," and Omer, owner of Hell's Kitchen restaurant, have teamed up on this part memoir, part cookbook. It tells the story of Omer's tumultuous life and includes 157 of his recipes. Profanity alert: F-bombs everywhere, even in the recipes. - LH

The Cry of the Sloth by Sam Savage (Coffee House Press, 224 pages, $14.95). By its close, this book marries melancholy and laughter so finely that it ends as a wonder. That it has been pulled off as a marvelously slapstick tragedy says volumes about Savage's talent. - Joel Turnipseed

Subterranean Twin Cities by Greg Brick (University of Minnesota Press, 256 pages, $18.95). Brick's tour of the dark caverns and damp passageways of the Twin Cities underground isn't for the claustrophobic. Nor is it for those too squeamish to relish Brick's immersions in raw sewage and encounters with fetid air. For the rest of us, his book is an enjoyable plunge into a netherworld that sane people wouldn't want to make a destination. - Jack El-Hai

The Hospital for Bad Poets by J.C. Hallman (Milkweed Editions, 256 pages, $16). Wonderfully out-of-kilter, this fine collection of short stories provides a comical yet frightening view of the average man, who, when he "wakes on a spring morning in a wet season," thinks, "I am not what I used to be." - Anthony Bukoski

The Turtle Catcher by Nicole Helget (Houghton Mifflin, 256 pages, $24). Helget weaves a tale of two World War I-era farm families caught up in tragedies both personal and global. A family epic with a touch of magical realism, it is a novel of style, depth and clarity from the most promising Minnesota writer in a generation. - Cherie Parker

The Annunciations of Hank Meyerson, Mama's Boy and Scholar by Scott Muskin. (Hooded Friar Press, 356 pages, $23.95). The delight of Muskin's writing lies in the lightning-quick shift from micro to macro and back again. If you went to college and loved the humanities and then suddenly found yourself stuck with a job instead of dragons and only your family for drama, you will see yourself in Muskin's book. - Emily Carter

Coop by Michael Perry (Harper, 368 pages, $25.99). Though the title is somewhat misleading -- pigs and poultry are not the focus of this book -- these essays about Wisconsin life are shot through with insights and lovely language. - SA

The Blue Notebook by James Levine (Spiegel & Grau, 224 pages, $23). What an unexpected book "The Blue Notebook" is -- a first novel by a Minnesota doctor that tells the disturbing story of a teenage sex slave living in the slums of Mumbai. The book's twisted mix of despair and hope reminds one of Charles Dickens one moment, Elie Wiesel the next. It is a small masterpiece, and it will change the way you think about humanity and your place in it. - Pamela Miller