Rain Taxi presented the 11th Annual Twin Cities Book Festival at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
A sea of Books, Publishers and Authors.
I went to the event with my son and his fiancée. We tried to listen to one presenter, Steven Pinker, discussing his most recent book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. The room was standing room only and very hot. Since we were standing we didn’t stay very long.
We browsed through the vender area and met a few local authors. The one thing I will say about this festival is the area is too small for it. I bumped into people every time I moved. Some booths of interest included, Minnesota Book Awards. I plan on reading a couple of this year’s winners. The award for Genre Fiction was Wendy’ Webb’s The Tale of Halcyon Crane.
Books of Interest by Local Authors:
Once There Were Castles by Larry Millett – architectural historian wrote a richly illustrated look at the lost mansions and estates of the Twin Cities. Millet with have a live conversation with Garrison Keillor at the Fitzgerald Theater on November 7th.
Erin Hart – Haunted Ground, Lake of Sorrows and False Mermaid – delivers suspense, melding archaeology and modern forensics with Irish myth and mystery in the charged thrillers.
David P. Holmes, of Milaca, MN - interesting author with a wide range of topics covered in his books. His books include – Secrets, Salt of the Earth, Emily’s Run and Loose Gravel.
Mary DesJarlais – wrote Dorie LaValle – a Minnesota Story of Moonshine and Murder.
Brian Landon – is a delightful author who wrote The Case of Unnecessary Sequel- A Doyle Malloy Murder. If I remember correctly he also edited Why Did Santa Leave A Body? Yuletide Tales of Murder and Mayhem a collection of short stories by numerous MN mystery authors.
Nancy Baker – I bought two books from this author, Magel’s Daughter and Magel’s Ghost. The covers drew me in and then my 
conversation with this author really peaked my interest. Not the typical type of book I would read and review, but I am looking forward to reading Nancy
’s books.
On the way home we drove by the Hennepin County Central Library. I had never been there, so we stopped off to check it out. This library is state of the art and HUGE!
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The Library had an exhibit about libraries through the time.
My hometown library had a card catalog just like this!! I wonder if it is still being used? Micro Fiche reader….man the hours I spent reading on one of those in college. Isn’t amazing the things our children would have no clue about??
Loved the flow of this library.
The kids area’s whimsical book holders for displays. Loved the one on the spring.
Statue in the Atrium
I absolutely love the energy of the city. I rarely head over to Minneapolis as we usually go to St Paul. St Paul is just closer to home and more convenient. I think if I was a single person it would be great to live downtown. The weather in MN was very nice today so people were out everywhere. One thing I saw that I just had to take a picture of was the Pedal Pub.
Yep….they are pedaling and drinking beer around the city. It made me laugh and it was funny watching them trying to get started at ever stoplight.
Well that was our day, filled with book related fun and great people!
Happy Reading!!
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