Readers and writers: Three books to brighten your spring reading
- Jim Landwehr's new story collection features humorous tales set in a senior living facility and includes elements of magical realism and a fierce muskie.
Short fiction, a novel about young adult crushes and an amazing Minnesota musician's memoir will brighten your spring reading.
"All That It Seems":by Jim Landwehr (Cornerstone Press, $24.95)
Landwehr, who lives in Wisconsin, opens his new story collection with a very funny look at the dynamics of living at the Pigeon Ridge home for seniors, where residents are preparing for being locked down because of COVID. There's a revolt among the residents against the "mayor," meetings that get off the track because of grudges or residents who shout out, and someone is stealing protein bars from the kitchen. And one guy manages to escape.
Other stories employ magical realism, including one in which a boy whose spine makes him titled and aligned to the earth, and two involving humans meeting never-before-seen characters that help the narrators think about our species in a different way. And then there's the fierce, nuclear-infused muskie.
This enjoyable, varied story collection's author has written four memoirs and six poetry collections.
Teaser quote: "The statement caused Christine to pause. She'd only ever thought about UFOs as spaceships with lasers capable of blasting cities out of existence. To dispel that perception and to consider them as friendly stretched her mind."
"The Girls Will Be Okay":by Linnea Peterson (Independently published, $18)
In this Minneapolis author's debut young adult story, 17-year-old Solveig is mostly recovered from grief at the death of her mother three years earlier. It's Solveig's senior year of high school and she's juggling schoolwork, choir competition, math team participation and studying for her International Baccalaureate finals. With her all the way is Sarah, her best friend since middle school, as well as another bestie, Heidi.
Early on in the story Solveig realizes she has a crush on Sarah and she wonders how to handle this new feeling. Her dad will be cool with it and so will her younger sister, who has a crush of her own on a girl. But their grandmother, a stalwart Lutheran, will be angry when Solveig comes out. Things get even stranger when Sarah admits she feels the same way about Solveig.
Although the girls talk a lot about "liking," there is no overt sex involved here. They never get past the kissing stage.
One of the best things about this story is how smart these girls are. But they are smart in different ways and that comes out in an emotional fight that teaches the three friends a lot about themselves.
Besides exploring the meaning of friendship, the themes here are Solveig's Norwegian heritage, family dynamics, the importance of her fanfiction writing based on a popular TV show, and her changing relationship with her younger sister with whom she has been at odds for years. There's no doubt in the reader's mind these girls are going to be future leaders.
Peterson is a Jewish conversion student and child of a Lutheran feminist theologian.
Teaser quote: "Something clicks into my brain when Sarah says, "even if one of you were into girls" – the reason I was willing to let her cut off circulation to my fingers when she held my hand at the last math meet, the reason I kept looking at her text about making it to State, the reason it felt weird to acknowledge Valentine's Day to her this morning- I think I might like her, and not just as a friend."
Minnesota book awards:There's still time to order tickets for the 2026 Minnesota Book Awards ceremony May 6 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.
The 38th annual event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a social hour for mingling with finalists and fellow book lovers. At 7 p.m. the ceremony begins with emcees Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay and May Lee Yang during which awards will be presented in nine categories and to recipients of the Hognander Minnesota History and Kay Sexton awards. The Sexton award, announced previously , goes to Sun Yung Shin. Tickets are $27 in person, free for the livestream. For information go to thefriends.org/event/2026-minnesota-book-awards-ceremony/.
"It Wasn't Meant to be Perfect":by Gaelynn Lea (Algonquin Books, $30)
Gaelynn Lea's April 30 concert and book launch at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis is sold out, but her memoir "It Wasn't Meant to be Perfect" is widely available. Lea, who was born with the rare genetic disease Osteogenesis Imperfecta, and grew up in Duluth, is a folk musician, Broadway composer and disability advocate whose memoir is a love letter to every kind of body, to music, and to making it work. She grew up racing about in her first electric wheelchair, taking adaptive ballet classes, and handing out playbills at her parents' dinner theater shows. When her shortened limbs made playing the cello challenging, she adapted. After winning NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert in 2016, Lea became a full-time touring musician and began struggling with the inaccessibility of the music world. Out of necessity she became an advocate and activist, pushing back against the prevailing stereotypes, assumptions and barriers surrounding disabilities.
