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'Wobegon' is woe so good
By Michael Schlemper
Staff Reporter
In "Lake Wobegon Days," Garrison
Keillor writes about the people of the
mythical town of Lake Wobegon, Minn.
They're people we all know wai
tresses, high school teachers, kids,
parents and bachelor farmers who
Book Review
go to places we all go Our Lady of
Perpetual Responsibility Church, the
Chatterbox Cafe, Ralph's Pretty Good
Grocery and the Sidetrack Tap. These
people face the problems we all face
being the last one picked for the
baseball team, growing up without air
conditioning because it builds charac
ter and getting lost in a blizzard while
going after cigarettes.
Keillor is a gifted storyteller, a natu
ral gossip who tells us everything, often
relying on wonderful footnotes. Some of
them meander along, attempting to
explain some vague point, then strike
out in other directions, flowing off the
page until the footnote is longer than
the original story and far away from the
point to be clarified.
But it is entertaining.
He treats Lake Wobegon with
thoughtfulness and humor, though not
always with respect. Reading him makes
me feel closer to the folks back home.
Sometimes, when Keillor removes
himself from the story as storyteller
and starts writing straight fiction, we
Movie books top list
"Out of Africa" and "The Color
Purple," most probably because of
the success of the films based on
those books, still dominate the top
two positions at the Nebraska Book
store and the University Bookstore.
Other bestsellers for last week from
the two bookstores are as" follows:
Nebraska Bookstore
1. "Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass,"
by Isak Dinesen (Vintage, $4.95)
2. "The Color Purple," by Alice Walker
(Pocket, $3.95)
3. "World Almanac& Book of Facts, 1986,"
(Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc.,
$5.95)
4. "Talisman," by Stephen King & Peter
Straub (Berkley, $4.95)
5. "Breaking with Moscow," by Arkady N.
Shevchenko (Ballantine, $4.95)
6. "The Road Less Travelled," by M. Scott;
Peck (Simon & Schuster, $9.95)
7. "Third Garfield Treasury," by Jim Davis
(Ballantine, $8.95)
8. "Comet," by Carl Sagan (Random House,
$27.50)
9. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman," by
Richard P. Feynman (Bantam," $4.50)
10. "Old Farmers Almanac, 1986," by
Robert B. Thomas (Yankee, $1.95)
University Bookstore
1. "The Color Purple" Alice Walker
(Pocket, $3.95)
2. "Out of Africa" Isak Dinesen (Vin
tage, $4.95)
3. "Neil's Book of the Dead" Nigel
Planer (Harmony Books, $7.95)
4. "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"
Douglas Adams (Pocket, $3.95)
5. "Late Night with David Letterman: The
Book" Merill Markoe, ed. (Villard, $8.95)
6. "Mexico Set" Len Deighton (Ballan
tine, $4.50)
7. "Lake Wobegon" Garrison Keillor
(Viking, $17.95)
8. "Valley of the Far Side" Gary Larson
(Andrews, McNeel and Parker, $5.95)
9. "World Almanac & Book of Facts 1986"
(Ballantine, $5.95)
10. "The Road Less Travelled" M. Scott
Peck (Simon & Schuster, $9.95)
TONIGHT
It's "Wild& Crazy" Again
WET 'T' SHIRT CONTEST!
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Drink Specials
25c Draws 50c Mixed Drinks $1.50 Pitchers
7-10 PM
TOOGES 9th & "p" st-
lose the authority of his voice and
perspective. He does this throughout a
chapter entitled "New Albion," a bor
ing history of the founding of Lake
Wobegon. He probably intended it to
give the book credibility, but it's so full
of bears, small colleges and eccentric
old men that it ends up sounding like
John Irving at his worst.
Mechanics get in Keillor's way at
times, too. Shifts in tense and person
interrupt his natural flow and could
throw the reader off course. Because of
this (and the hard-cover price of $ 1 7.95)
I advice you to wait until "Lake Wobegon
Days" comes out in paperback. The
stories are timeless. They'll keep that
long.
Review copy courtesy of Uni
versity Bookstore.
SOUP SPECIAL
CauliflowerCheese
1 Bowl 71
wpurchase of
sandwich
Good Thursday Only
HEW LOCATION
13th & "Q" Gunny's Mall
Open 10 AM (o 3 AM 7 dayi a vwnk
Kevin
IPA-REKDE
Personal Hair Design With Counsel
Appointments to Suit Your Schedule
Across from P.O. Pears
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Calendar of Events
TUES:
WED:
THURS:
FRI: FAC-U-There for live music at 5 and 8:30
SAT: Joyce and John at 8:30
935 "O" St.
Fun, Fun, Fun ! ! !
Live country music with the Half-Hitch Band
Sweet Potato Band honoring - - Boone, Custer,
Butler, Johnson and Dodge County
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Thursday, January 23, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 9