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Nostalgia(See the books under Hometown Humor too.)
Check this section again soon when we will add some great new books, some great old books that have been reprinted, and some of those nostalgia-creating books for those of us who either like or need to read about "the way it used to be." Some of these will also be good stories to share with grandchildren who haunt you with that age-old, yet often embarrassing, question: "Grandpa, tell me about the old days." (And Grandpa is 48 years old!) 
Sunday Afternoon on the Porch: Reflections of a Small Town
in Iowa, 1939 — 1942 Photographs by Everett W.Kuntz
Text by Jim Heynen
 If
you find yourself getting more and more interested in "recent" history
as you get older, if you prefer the clarity of black and white photos,
and if you are one of many fans of Jim
Heynen's writing, you will
truly appreciate this book of wonderful, "lost" photography by Iowan
Everett W. Kuntz.
I had the privilege
of meeting his wife and son last year and heard firsthand about Kuntz
from them. Just
before graduating from high school in Ridgeway, IA in 1939, Kuntz
spent
his entire savings of $12.50 on a 35mm Argus AF camera and made a case
for it from a worn-out boot, scraps from a tin can, and a clasp from
his mother's purse. Wherever he went for the next several years —
around his parents' farm or to town on Saturday night — his camera was
his constant companion as he captured rural and small town life in the
40s.
However, Kuntz never had the money to print his early photos. Eventually, though, he purchased movie reel film in bulk from a mail-order house, rolled his own film, and developed it in a closet at home. Kuntz married, raised a family, and worked as an electrical engineer in the Twin Cities, and over 2000 negatives remained undeveloped in a box. When he became ill with cancer in the fall of 2002 — sixty years after he had developed the last of his bulk film — he opened his "time capsule" and finally printed the images from his youth. Kuntz brought his childhood and hometown back to life just as he was to depart from it. He died in 2003 leaving the rest of us a great treasure, and his wife and son are now some of his greatest fans. I hope some of my
family reviews my Web site soon; I want this beautiful book for
Christmas!
MEM - 4 Hardcover $29.95
According to the
New York Times Book Review, this book is "one of the 10 best books of the year".
A different sort of memoir that doesn't focus on the hard times,
Kalish teaches the reader what life was like as a rural, rigid
Methodist Iowan. She never feels sorry for herself although
circumstances of her childhood—including a banished father—were quite
bleak. Kalish loved her childhood, and one of her most-used
phrases
is "it was quite a romp".
Kalish
took the values of her youth right on to college, became a highly
respected professor, wrote this award-winning best seller, and has made
the rounds on network TV programs. Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet
Laureate, compared this book to Hamlin Garland's "A Son of the Middle
Border". If you
lived
through The Great Depression, this small book packed with joy
will
awaken your soul. If you didn't live through the Depression, you will
glean some valuable history lessons.
 Blueberry Summers:
Growing Up at the Lake by Curtiss Anderson A "robust"
Norwegian-Lutheran family's summers at "The Lake" in the '30s and '40s
in Northern Minnesota.
Anderson,
a nationally recognized editor of many magazines, unknowingly
began his
prestigious career writing notes and letters on a hand-me-down
Underwood typewriter as a young boy. These saved letters are now
compiled into a coming-of-age memoir that brings the reader back
to his
summers at The Lake. The funny and warm stories recall
picking wild
blueberries, first romances, loving neighbors, his numerous dogs,
and porch chats with Dear Old Aunt Ingaborg, a heavily accented
relative from the Old Country.
"As
a 100% Norwegian-Lutheran who lives in Northern Minnesota, the
description of a "robust" family with this ethnic background rather
throws me. I have yet to meet such a family, and I am not exactly
young!" Suzann Nelson, owner
of this Web site.
MEM O2
Hardcover $19.95
Through 64 short stories, readers meet a group of farm boys who possess all the trouble-making talents of most young boys, yet they recognize and are in awe of the world's tiny miracles. The boys throw tomatoes at passing cars and make coat sails to carry them down a frozen road. Yet, they feed apples to a blind pony, teach a three-legged dog to shake hands, and rescue pigs from an unexpected blizzard. They also build a house out of junk cast aside by adults, "the boys' house". In their adventures, they encounter an unforgettable cast of characters that readers soon meet: the goose lady, the girl at school with six toes, the man who kept cigars in his cap, Spitting Sally, crazy Uncle Jack, and dozens more. Critics have said Heynen's tales are as uniquely American as the writings of Mark Twain, and this book was chosen as an "Editors' Favorite Books of 2001" by The Bloomsbury Review. Nick Fauchald of Minnesota Monthly wrote, "Heynen's book is a masterful peephole into the young male psyche and the family farm culture." Heynen grew up on a farm in Iowa, but now lives in Minnesota and is a Writer-in-Residence at St. Olaf College.
MEM 03 Paperback $11.95
Minnesota Memories
(Volume Two) by Joan Claire Graham & Kathy A. Megyeri (plus
34 friends) Southern Minnesota One copy remaining; no plans to reprint MEM - 07
Paperback
$12.95
 Oh,
Grandma, You're
Kidding by Gladys S. DouglasSubtitled
"Memories of 75 years in the Great Plains", this is a delightful and
informative book that will let the reader be a
witness to the fabric of
Nebraska life one hundred years ago. It contains such interesting
chapter titles as "The Baseburner and a Hot Brick", "Riding the Train",
"Omaha's Easter Tornado" and "Seeing Halley's Comet".
Because
this book is now 25 years old, the reader gets a first-hand perspective
of life a few decades earlier than those contained in more recent
nostalgia books. As Roger L. Welsch, Nebraska author and
folklorist
writes, "In these pages the reader will find the flow of family and
tradition, the story of the common man and woman in Nebraska during the
early years of the [last] century.
This
book is no longer in print, and I only have 1 copy remaining.
I
- 06 Paperback $7.95
 Hidewood: Memories of a Dakota Neighborhood by Robert Amerson The
"Dakota" referred to is South Dakota and the county is Deuel, which
borders Minnesota. The time covered is from 1934 to 1942, and the
daily activities range from fencing and water-witching as a lone person
to celebrations and politics at the community level.
It
appears that the author has achieved his goal of portraying the past by
focusing not only on the tasks and topics of the day, but on "how it
felt, sounded and looked".
Nature
In the words of Karen Kane and Gerry Ellis who compiled Wilderness Explored listed below, "Wilderness continues to inspire the human spirit, and even now, gives that spirit breathing room."
Various naturalists share remembrances, evocative descriptions about the wilderness, and insights into the power of nature. Stunning photography brings these insights and descriptions closer to life. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost.
SI -
35
Hardcover
$9.95
An artistic review of the wisdom of animals and the lessons humanity can learn from them has been supplemented with great photography. Olson focuses this book on the wolf, bear, eagle, deer and buffalo. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost. SI -
36
Hardcover
$9.95
This "small coffee table" book is filled with beautiful color photography by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick, and contains short, well-written narratives by Klein that describe the daily goings-on of the loon. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost. SI -
37
Hardcover
$9.95
Photography
by Gerry Ellis Panoramic photography of New World landscapes by award-winning Gerry Ellis are embellished with excerpts selected by Kane from journals and letters written by Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Captain Cook, Audubon and other early explorers and naturalists to describe these scenes. Together they have created a testament to what was and is inspiring about North American landscape. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost. SI - 38 Hardcover $9.95
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The
Boys' House
Nature's Tranquility:
Reflections & Insights
Wisdom
Warrior: Native American Animal Legends
Voice of
the Waters: A Day in the Life of a Loon
Wilderness
Explored: Letters and Journals