Month: June 2004

Meticulous detail, natural poses, and—most startling—life-sized renderings made John James Audubon’s Birds of America a groundbreaking work in the formerly staid world of nineteenth-century ornithology. Today, William Souder’s biography of Audubon, Under a Wild Sky, paints the larger-than-life portrait of the man behind the famous illustrations, who was far more interesting than his role as…

Sex. Drugs. Corruption. Misunderstanding. In her debut novel, Lindsay Ahl explores these themes through the eyes of 35-year-old Elena Monroe, a confused individual who has occasional cravings for grape juice. Elena stumbles through a web of the past and present, trying to work out her relationship with her mother. Ahl’s vague and ethereal writing style…

We’re pleased as punch that local mystery novelist and poet Mary Logue is back between boards with a bona-fide Claire Watkins mystery. This one is an ambitious suspense tale set in the familiar area around Pepin, Wisconsin. A fifty-year-old murder mystery and a modern terrorist are somehow linked, and Logue’s most beloved detective takes the…

Although the wildly prolific P.G. Wodehouse turned out almost a hundred novels in his lifetime, the world can always make room for another story in his marvelously droll, light-as-a-feather comic voice. Ames’ latest novel is a loving parody of Wodehouse’s most famous creations, Jeeves and Wooster, seen through the eyes of Alan Blair, a would-be…

Even at her worst, Louise Erdrich still produces some of the best stuff in print. The rambling, poorly edited The Master Butcher’s Singing Club was a great read despite its flaws. And now one of our favorite locals is back and playing to her strengths with another short, near-perfect book the likes of which put…

In the past two years the Minnesota Orchestra’s once-moribund Sommerfest series has surged back to life, thanks in part to the guidance of artistic director Andrew Litton (who also wields a baton as the Dallas Symphony’s music director). This year’s program is satisfyingly broadminded, anchored by traditional classical works by composers like Brahms and Dvorak,…