Garrison Keillor

I’ve read most of GK’s books, and I think this is the best. It’s honest, funny, and settles in my mind once and for all who he is. And I like who he is. He’s an important writer in our time, and his brush with MeToo won’t change that. One can take down his picture at the U, cancel his wonderful “Writers Almanac,” and otherwise try to pretend he hasn’t been on this earth for nearly eight decades, but like most great yet flawed writers, his works live on and will continue to show more live on long after he’s gone. Thank you, GK, for this book and for your explanation. Now, go fish somewhere. show less

So, from now on, when people in the Bible Belt and Southern California ask me how I can possibly be a Democrat (capital 'D'), I will hand them a copy of this book. It does no good for me to tell them simply that I am a Democrat (capital "D') because I went to church and read the bible. When I quote that Jesus instructed us to 1) love God above all else, and 2) love your neighbor as yourself and that 3) these two sum up the teachings of the whole, I get blank stares from righteous, show more bible-thumping, redneck, blowhards. It doesn't compute. Thank the Lord there is Garrison Keillor who just plain gets me.

"This is Democratic bedrock: we don't let people lie in the ditch and drive past and pretend not to see them dying" (Keillor, 2004, p. 137)...The child's suffering has nothing to do with them. So the kid goes to relatives who also have a history of abuse. It's no skin off the redneck's nose. He's got a giant TV, 99 channels of cable, a snowmobile, a Hummer, a collection of guns, a boat, Jet Skis, he's sitting pretty. The demise of somebody else's kid at the hands of a drunken uncle is nothing but roadkill to him. This is the screw-you philosophy that festers under cover of modern Republicanism" (Keillor, 2004, p. 138).

One reviewer stated that this book is part polemic. I beg to differ. It is a full polemic. Keillor had some things to get off his chest, and being a writer, he took recourse through the gift given him: he wrote a book. What a comfort to see what is rolling around in my head set down in print. Keillor offers gems of sardonic entertainment at the expense of Republicans. But, let's face it, Republicans deserve it. Republicans enjoy the fruits of the government Democrats created...from public education to public roads, from freedom of religion to capitalism, but they refuse to foster the principles and tools that keep these things functioning. I have lived outside the U.S. in places where security is privatized because the local police cannot be trusted...where it's every man for himself and screw you otherwise, where a person lying dying in the road is a curiosity to pass the lunch hour instead of the loss of a precious human life that deserves help and urgency. I do not want America to be that type of place. ((God help us.)) As long as there are people like Keillor and myself...plus a multitude of other fair-minded, hard-working, Democrats (capital 'D')...we just might be able to combat the arrogance, selfishness, dystopian incivility that hallmarks the modern Republican (capital 'R') party. show less

THAT TIME OF YEAR was a Christmas gift to myself, because I was a Prairie Home Companion listener for over thirty years, since it was introduced to me by a Minnesotan friend (from Mankato). Alternately hilarious and deeply moving, it had me chuckling and laughing out loud as I read it in bed each night for the past week,annoying my wife to no end, as she was trying to read her own book. Besides the usual Lake Wobegone weird tales and trademark Keillor humor, songs and limericks, we also show more learn much about the author's childhood, filled with loving aunts, and how he stumbled into radio, his workaholic habits and close shaves with strokes, heart problems and brain seizures, which finally forced him into a reluctant retirement at 74. He also tells of his three marriages and all the dear friends and family he has outlived, and even offers an explanation about how he was "hung out to dry" via unfair accusations made during the #metoo movement, causing Public Radio to sever ties with him, ending one of my favorite daily five-minute shows, "The Writer's Almanac." He tries not to be bitter about this, but it was obviously a bitter pill. Bottom line: I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is classic Garrison Keillor, pulling no punches, 78 and at the top of his game. We're almost the same age. Let's hear it for the old guys. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the REED CITY BOY memoir trilogy show less

Garrison Keillor shows his sense of humor and his musical talent in this brilliant collection. Frederica Von Stade shines, as always, and the writing is gold. This collection lacks any Lake Wobegon characters, but that might not be a bad thing since the wall-to-wall music helps keep the tone consistent throughout. This collection parodies music from Rossini to Johnny Cash, and it delivers plenty of laughs. This is a gem.