The Keillor Reader

Storyteller, radio personality, poet, essayist, and novelist Keillor (founder and host of radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion; WLT: A Radio Romance) is often compared to the likes of Mark Twain and writes frequently about the idiosyncrasies of small Midwestern town life. His stories are usually thought-provoking, full of nostalgia, and occasionally biting but always entertaining. And so it is with this collection of essays, monologs, poetry, and even some song lyrics. Most of these are new—at least to this reviewer—but there are a few zingers that appeared on A Prairie Home Companion. The stories, which are arranged in broad sections entitled "The News from Lake Wobegon," "Iconic Pajamas," "Guys I Have Known," and "Life's Little Day," cover a wide range of events—from his popular childhood "tomato butt" tale, in which he fears imprisonment for lobbing an overripe tomato at his sister, to the more serious story of the drowning of his cousin Roger in 1951 and the fear of water that tragedy instilled in him. But even amid tragedy, Keillor can find something amusing, a small kernel of humor that makes life enjoyable.