Books
about Farm Life, Small Town Life, the Midwest, and
Scandinavian-Americans
Featuring
the Heartwarming Humor of "Those Lutheran Ladies"
Caragana Press Books/Tapes
Caragana
Press is a kitchen table operation owned and run by Suzann Nelson and
Janet Martin where coffee breaks are ongoing, uniforms are flannel
nightgowns, and
wages are dirt "sheep." Hours are 23/7, with one hour off for Sunday
Services. Benefits are not discussed because being 100%
Norwegian-Lutheran Farm Girls is enough. Shoes and snakes at the
worksite are forbidden.
You
Know You are Lutheran If... by Suzann Nelson &
Janet Martin
This
book, boldly emblazoned with a picture of Martin Luther smack-dab
on the front cover, is
divided into 10 categories so it has something for almost
everyone...Steadfast Lutherans, Contemporary Lutherans, Scandinavian
Lutherans, Country Church Lutherans, Lutheran Church Basement Women,
etc.
A
great gift idea for Lutherans of all types, (ALC, ELC, LFC, LCA, LCMS,
AFLC, ELCA,...) and for non-Lutherans who are trying to figure out
their quiet and decent non-dancing, hotdish-eating neighbors.
CA
2 - 17 Paperback $8.95
Growing Up Lutheran: What Does This Mean?
by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
Still
a bestseller, this is a cradle-to-grave humorous look at Lutherans in
the '50s, especially
those who were triply blessed by being rural and Scandinavian as well
as Lutheran.
Winner of the 1998 Minnesota Book Award for Humor and the
Minnesota Independent Publishers' Award! Check out Those Lutheran Ladies.
CA 2 - 06
Paperback $14.95
Luther's Small Dictionary: From
AAL to Zululand by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
This is written for full-blooded Lutherans, halfhearted
Lutherans, Lutheran Wannabes and non-Lutherans who get dragged to the
St. Olaf Christmas Concert and don't know why. It contains entries such
as, "Zacchaeus -- a New Testament figure who, like many a Lutheran
woman, was up a tree because company was coming to visit" and "Dust --
the origin of mankind, and the downfall of Lutheran women."
CA 2 - 07
Paperback $9.95
Just
How Much Scrap Lumber does a Man need to Save? by Suzann
Nelson & Janet Martin
This book, perfect for the men
in your life, traces the history of scrap lumber to the cavemen and
Noah right up to Martha Stewart, President Bush, Stephen King, Ralph
Lauren and Sally Jesse Raphael. If you really want to make a statement,
top it off with a Scrap Lumber King cap
or the t-shirt.
CA
2 - 15 Paperback $10.95
This "Those Lutheran
Ladies" shim (bookmark) will be included free with your order of
the Scrap Lumber book.
Cream
Peas on Toast by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
Subtitled
"Comfort Food for Norwegian-Lutheran Farm Kids and Others," this book,
although not a cookbook, is ideal for anyone who has ever eaten white
food on a white plate in a white house. The
authors are quick to point out that they would "rather eat food
than write about it," so they have dished up another serving
of humorous rural memories topped with lots of black and white
pictures. Nora Nord -- avid summer canner, winter reader and napkin
collector -- quoted on the back cover sums it up best: "So good you
almost laugh out loud!"
CA 2 - 01
Paperback $10.95
Is It Too Windy Back There,
Then? by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
This
is a collection of phrases many of us don't hear much anymore.
Things like "Mom, can I drive home from the mailbox?" or "Sure thought
he'd make it through Christmas!" and "It doesn't smell spoiled!"
(The implication: "So just eat it and quit whining!")
CA 2 - 04 Paperback $8.95
They Glorified Mary, We Glorified Rice by
Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
A
Catholic-Lutheran lexicon for those who have forgotten what it was like
in the 50's. This little book is packed with great one-liners
such as, "They had incense; we had Air Wick" and "They had patron
saints; we pretty much fended for ourselves!"
CA
2 - 02 Paperback $7.95
They Had Stores, We
Had Chores by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
This
lexicon
compares and contrasts the daily lives of town kids
and farm kids in the 50's, and is rich with one-liners such
as, "They
had barber shops; we had Moms with bowls and wicked clippers," and
"They
had goldfish in a bowl; we had suckers in the stocktank"!
CA 2 - 03 Paperback
$8.95
Uffda,
But Those Clip-ons Hurt, Then! by Suzann Nelson & Janet
Martin
A
booklet of cartoon drawings based on Norway's most famous artist,
Edvard Munch, and his sketch of "The Scream." We figure it never
caught on among our people in the New Land because it is about mental
anguish and we, the Scandinavian-Americans, don't have mental
problems. We just say, "Oh, snap outta it!"
CA 2 - 05 Paperback $4.95
Those Lutheran Ladies:
Live at Medora
Just
when we think everyone in the U.S. and Canada must already have eight
or nine copies of this 20-minute humor tape, we get more orders for it!
No, we aren't complaining, and no, it isn't music, and we don't
sing
or play instruments — at least not in public. But now, in response to
requests, it is again available in both cassette and CD formats.
"Those
Lutheran Ladies" are, of course, Janet Letnes Martin and me, Suzann
Nelson. Yup, I guess we are still funny, but perhaps not as peppy
as
we were in 1998. Go to 'Those
Lutheran Ladies'.
Recorded live in 1998 at the Medora Musical (held each summer in
the
Theodore Roosevelt National Park), this humorous tape, about
growing up
on farms in quiet Norwegian-Lutheran communities in the 50s in the
Midwest, is perhaps tied in popularity with our book, Growing
Up Lutheran.
CA2 - 09
$5.95 Audio-cassette format
CA2 - 10 $7.95 CD format
Growing Up Lutheran Sound
Version (Audiobook in CD format) Read
by authors Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin, & a few select friends
Authors
Nelson & Martin read an abridged version of their bestselling book,
Growing Up Lutheran, in their natural
Norwegian-American brogues. Chapters are introduced with excerpts
from
familiar Lutheran hymns. In other words, there are no hymns from the
green hymnal or With One Voice. Truckers can shoot right across
Kansas or Montana when they listen to this, and people in the hospital
can shoot right through the day...unless they have had stitches.
In
the case of stitches, the authors recommend the book version. Why
get
sewn up again? The doctor has better things to do with his time, like
finding a cure for hot flashes.
Additional
readers, also with great natural Norwegian-American brogues, add
interest and humor in several chapters. Thanks to
friends Ron Nelson, Miriam Nelson, Dr. Stephen "Gabe" Gabrielson, Olaf
Bakke and Randy Johnson. Vocals are by Ron Nelson, and organ music is
provided by "Gabe" Gabrielson, aka "Ole himself, then!"
NOTE:
This is not a DVD or video. It is an audio-book reading on three
compact discs (CDs); three hours (180 minutes).
AB - 01
$19.95
Jiggle
Your Jell-O DVDFeaturing "Those Lutheran Ladies," David
Cook and Greta Grosch.
Janet
Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson, commonly known as "Those Lutheran
Ladies," have adopted new personas for this crazy DVD. Watch them
portray Myrtle Klemetson and Ethel
Urness, Emil's Mrs. — the ladies
just down the road apiece — as they try to understand the younger
generation and attempt to please their children by "working out."
To
these two women the phrase, "working out," means being a hired hand on
a farm, or working at the nursing home in town. Myrtle and Emil's Mrs.
just don't get it, but they try! Like typical Norwegian-American women
of a former era, Myrtle and Ethel don't have time to fool around
exercising. They get plenty of that by just existing: dusting
everything in sight both inside and out, "putting up," serving at
funerals, rolling lefse, cleaning the church, and feeding the
menfolk's bottomless pits.
If
you need a good laugh, or know someone who does, this DVD will handle
the situation. If you want to give a total Jiggle Your Jell-O
Gift
Package, add the T-shirtand computer mousepad.
CA 9 - 03
DVD $14.95Order 3 or more DVDs and receive a free
mousepad.
Order by using the 'Place an Order' form
or you may order by
phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'
All Caragana Press
products are
available at wholesale prices to qualified retailers, organizations,
churches, schools, and libraries. Call 800 494-9124 for details.
You
Know You are Lutheran If... by Suzann Nelson &
Janet Martin 
Luther's Small Dictionary: From
AAL to Zululand by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin
Is It Too Windy Back There,
Then? by Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin 
They Glorified Mary, We Glorified Rice by
Suzann Nelson & Janet Martin 
