If you aren't seeing the world through the eyes of J. Ryan Stradal's fiction, you are missing out on something truly special. He writes largely about the Midwest, specifically the state of Minnesota as well as food and drink. That may sound limiting, but his talent is without limit and he fills his pages with themes of family and shared humanity. His newest is Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club. It is the most personal journey he has ever taken. Take the ride with him, you won't be sorry. Our bookstore this week is Comma, a bookshop, (yes, both the word and the punctuation mark) a new bookstore in the Twin Cities that anyone who lives there should line up to visit.

Books mentioned in the podcast:

• Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
• The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
• The World According to Garp by John Irving
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
• Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott
• The Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
• Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks

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