This book should be part of any basic library on government funding of the arts. Ziegler does a very good job laying out the problems, which unfortunately have been ignored for decades. Recommended reading.

Here is more from the Hopeful Gospel Quartet. Although I adore Garrison, I'm glad he is just singing and not talking in this album, unlike the other album featuring the quartet. I love listening to this encouraging album. "Life Is a Ball Game" is the only song that rubs me the wrong way, a little too juvenile. But the rendition of "I bid you goodnight" is so incredibly sweet. "How great thou art" and "Just a closer walk with thee" are two more songs that are beautifully done by this quartet. It is hard to find simple gospel sounds and the old hymns featured on this album are worth the money.

Garrison Keillor doesn't translate to print. You absolutely must hear his voice to catch his dry-midwestern humor. If you like his work, add this one to your library.

This cassette features four more stories that only Garrison Keillor could conjure up. It starts with "The Krebsbach's vacation", which portrays two old-timers in the agony of taking a vacation that neiter one wanted to go on. Then comes "Prophet", Keillor's special take on the responsibility of knowing "the truth". "The six labors of Father Wilmer" is a terrific story of a priest who has had it with certain church members. "Fertility" isn't what the title would suggest it is, but it serves to show again that Garrison Keillor brings to the table both in style, and ability, what no one else can. This is another great cassette.

I've only thus far read 3 GK books (Lake Wob./H2BH/Leaving Home), but this is definitely a neck-in-neck rival with Lake Wobegon Days. If there's any doubt as to whether or not this is a good buy, then just check it out of the library and read "The Tip-Top Club". You'll have to buy it, because you'll want to read it more than once!

"Rhubarb" is a collection of four stories from Garrison Keillor which take simple things in life and make them profound, in an absurd sort of way. Appropriately, the first story is called "Rhubarb". In it, Keillor basically gives his take on the history of rhubarb and tells how the plant affected its discoverers. Next, Keillor ventures into the "Sweet Corn" market by explaining how the vegetable saved, and ruined at the same time, the relationship between a mother and her son. Next comes "The Sun's Gonna Shine Someday", a story in which Clarence Bunsen rises above a miserable week. And finally, "Yellow Ribbon" explains how a teenager uses the opportunity to get away from Lake Wobegon to understand "his people", as well as himself, better. Overall, four very good, well told stories.

An old, tired theme. That is what this compilation delivers, and delivers and delivers.

While Mr. Keillor's show was moderately entertaining 15 years ago, it has not kept pace with time. Thus, the stories seem to be replayed on an old, stuck phonographic record, replayed over and over.

If you are a big time Keillor fan, you will probably find this work to be an enjoyable distraction while mixing your Metamucal. However, for anyone who can still think clearly, all these staid stories will just make you run for the can.

This is one of the best works of Mr. Keillor and I read them all. Please keep writing it.

Lake Wobegon, U.S.A. is my favorite of all the Prairie Home Companion series. Every performance in this collection was recorded on tour around the country, providing the inevitable reminders of why life outside Lake Wobegon provides more opportunities for instant gratification than one experiences back home. Nowhere has Garrison Keillor more poignantly framed the everyday longings that tug at the secret soul.

The four tapes are entitled Fertility, Patience, Youth and Rhubarb. The tales are about many things, including "the luxury of rhubarb pie, the perils of prophecy, a miserable Thanksgiving, Florian and Myrtle's thrifty vacation, [and] the vapor lights of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility."

My personal favorite is the story called Rhubarb, on the tape of the same name. It deftly weaves together Dorothy's rhubarb pie down at the Chatterbox Cafe and Pastor Inqvist's Christmas Eve sermon. How did Mr. Keillor come up with such a funny and moving story out of the longings of stalwart Lake Wobegon denizens for both Christmas services, and rhubarb pie? It could only happen in the place where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." People there always grow up with strong roots, but vaguely (and forever) suspect that they could have done more in life...

You have to hear it for yourself to get it. I always start out laughing, and weep at the end. Go figure. I wish I could do something in this world as well as Mr. Keillor tells a story.

I am a major fan of Twain and have always held him in the highest esteem. His "The Mysterious Stranger" got me through some tough times in college with the help of other books such as "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" IS the Great American Novel. There is little left of his that I haven't read and just when you think you've read all his best stuff, another short story comes out of nowhere and totally amazes you with his insight. This is not one of those stories. However, it's not bad and it's a nice enough way to spend an hour or so. Bear in mind that the Preface and Afterword are together longer than the story itself. There is some nice information about Twain and the the times in which this story was written but it isn't essential that you read them. Twain had an idea of taking a basic, simple plot and having 20 or so other authors of his era write their version of the story. (OK, I DID get that much out of the Preface and Afterword). His motion, however, died for lack of a second and we are left with this; his briefly written entry. It reminded me a lot of his style in "The Gilded Age". That book was too long and this book is too short but the story has an interesting twist to it. The moment I saw this book on the shelves I bought it and I have no regrets. If you're a fan of Twain's, you should buy it too. After all, if you act quickly, you too can have a first edition of Mark Twain.

Twain's story is great and, as would be expected, artfully and very well written. The drawings by Peter de Seve and the pictures of Twain's handwritten manuscript are wonderful. The problem is that as you read Twain's story you hope that it continues, but then you suddenly realize that you've reached the afterword, which fills up more than half of the entire book. I know nothing about serious literary analysis, but I do know that it is frustrating to go from a thoroughly enjoyable read to a cumbersome and awkward afterword that is literally longer than the work itself. Maybe stuffy intellectuals will find Blount's writing satisfying, but for the average reader, a route canal would be preferable. Twain's story and the pictures get 3 out of 3 stars, and that's it--minus 2 because of the rest. A work can still be placed in its proper historical context without being overly wordy and frankly boring. It should be called A Foreword and Afterword by Roy Blount Jr. with (by the way) a story by Mark Twain. Pick up the book and look at the pictures, then read the story as it was published in The Atlantic over the summer.

This is my first Mark Twain book, and I got to say that I like it. For a short story, it's excellent and I usually don't like short stories.

This story tells exactly what the title is: a murder, a mystery, and a marriage. They all are excellently incorporated into each other and all has a purpose.

Also, the contributions from Roy Blount, Jr. and Peter de Sève are wonderful. The foreword and afterwords were informative about the book and the illustrations are beautifully, yet - in a way - comical. And the fact that this book is now first time published as one should cause a celebration.

Excellent book.

This book came highly recommended but I found it wanting. While reading this collection of related stories about small town life in the midwest, I did manage to find a few gems. These few were good because they provided me with insight on real people without judging them. However, it seems that in the vast majority of the tales, Mr Keillor is looking down his nose at the participants. Often it seems Mr Keillor is making fun of their idiosyncrasies by exaggerating them. Sometimes, the book was even unpleasant to read because the characters were defenseless against Mr Keillor's unrelenting assault. I can not recommend this book but would urge readers who want a good look at small town/country life and the real people that live there to check out James Herriot. It is Yorkshire, England and not midwestern US but the insight's of the writing are unbeatable.

This book gives a very humorous look at Keillor's life back at Lake Wobegon. It's hard to say that there is a real storyline. Basically it is just little stories that Keillor picks out from his childhood and early adulthood and then organizes them into chapters called "School" and "Fall" and "Summer" and so on. Keillor uses the stories to not only describe the town he lived in, but the people who were also lived there. Keillor uses so much detail you feel like you know the characters personally. And anyone who has lived in a small town can identify with Lake Wobegon and its small-town life. Keillor tells stories that everyone can identify with and that is where the humor comes from. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and strongly recommend it.

I hope to one day live in Lake Wobegon. It seems to be just the sort of backwards, yokel, land-that-time-forgot sort of place that I would feel right at home in.

Keillor's journey through Lake Wobegon is warm, nostalgic, funny, and poignant. The characters are well-crafted -- sometimes lovable, sometimes zany, sometimes despicable, always believable and real.

Don't appraoch this book looking for a deep, moving plot. Approach it as a tour through a quaint town -- a look at its history, pride, culture, and even those bits that are swept under the rug. Read it, and it'll grow on you.

This was my first time reading a Garrison Keillor novel. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book was. It follows the life of 14-year-old Gary as he grows up in the summer of 1956. I love how Garrison Keillor writes. The story moves along in a lazy manner. You almost don't even realize that the story is progressing. It is much the same as I remember spending my summers. The days blend together until suddenly you wake up and realize that the summer is half over, and then suddenly you're waking up for school early in the morning again. This would make for a boring novel if Keillor wasn't such a gifted storyteller. The characters are wonderfully human and I found myself laughing out loud as Gary described the adventures and personalities of his small town. And just when you think that the book is going to be nothing but a comedy, Keillor hits you with a profound lesson about life.

This was truly a great book. Some people may be offended by parts, but this book is about life and life isn't always innocent and pretty. Garrison Keillor did a terrific job writing this book and I definitely have to recommend it to everyone.

This was my first time reading a Garrison Keillor novel. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book was. It follows the life of 14-year-old Gary as he grows up in the summer of 1956. I love how Garrison Keillor writes. The story moves along in a lazy manner. You almost don't even realize that the story is progressing. It is much the same as I remember spending my summers. The days blend together until suddenly you wake up and realize that the summer is half over, and then suddenly you're waking up for school early in the morning again. This would make for a boring novel if Keillor wasn't such a gifted storyteller. The characters are wonderfully human and I found myself laughing out loud as Gary described the adventures and personalities of his small town. And just when you think that the book is going to be nothing but a comedy, Keillor hits you with a profound lesson about life.

This was truly a great book. Some people may be offended by parts, but this book is about life and life isn't always innocent and pretty. Garrison Keillor did a terrific job writing this book and I definitely have to recommend it to everyone.

Question: How many adjectives does it take to describe Lake Wobegon Summer 1956? Answer : 1956 This book is so terrific, so delightful and special and funny and endearing and ...well, you get the idea. As always, Keillor writes with a light touch and as always, gets into your bloodstream as fast as a shot of B -12. I can't even begin to impart to you the hilarity awaiting you inside the covers of Lake Wobegon Summer 1956. But, ponder if you will, our hero Gary's list of "... ten known categories of flatulence." Gary's summer 1956 is filled with characters you won't soon forget. His pious family,although smothering, are hilarious. And Gary's adventures in pornography are wonderful. Buy the book and read it! You won't regret it!