In this charming departure from Lake Wobegon, bestselling author Garrison Keillor tells a hilarious and heartwarming tale of ambition, success and failure, and the virtues of real love. Aspiring writer Larry Wyler leads a quiet, decent life with his do-gooder wife, Iris, in St. Paul, Minnesota, but he wants more. When his literary debut becomes a hit, he departs for a Manhattan apartment, a job at the New Yorker, and three- martini lunches...

Margie Krebsbach dreams up the idea of a trip to Rome, hoping to get her husband Carl to make love to her-he's been sleeping across the hall and she has no idea why. She finds a patriotic purpose for the journey. A Lake Wobegon boy, Gussy Norlander, died in the liberation of Rome, 1944, and his grave, according to his elderly brother, Norbert, is in a neglected weed patch near the Colosseum. So it's decided they will go to clean Gussy's final resting...

A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But when the major planner behind the Fourth of July parade and the twenty-four-year-old girl who dresses up as the Statue of Liberty develop a close "friendship," rumors begin to fly. What will happen is anybody's guess as CNN and the governor put in an appearance in Lake Wobegon--home to good loving people who drive each other crazy

A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider...

A Grammy nominee. Fourteen-year-old Gary, a self-described tree toad lover of a perfect lawn, the soft-porn masterpiece Carnal Cuties, his Underwood typewriter, and, above all, his rebellious cousin Katelives through one amazing Lake Wobegon summer. Gary preoccupies himself by spinning fantastic yarns about boogers, talking dogs, conversations between God and Jesus, and especially melodramas featuring himself as hero and Kate as distressed damsel.When...

This anniversary release features highlights from 25 years on the air, including favorite monologues like "Truckstop," "Gospel Birds" and "Pontoon Boat," plus brand-new stories never before available on audio. Also includes a special bonus collection of 25 toe-tapping tunes with down-home music from long-time show regulars, including Butch Thompson, the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, Greg Brown, the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, Robin and Linda Williams, and...

A collection of short stories, poems, and letters of domestic problems, travels, etc., in rural America.

On the 12th floor of the Acme Building, on a cold February day in St. Paul, Guy Noir looks down the barrel of a loaded revolver in the hands of geezer gangster Joey Roast Beef who is demanding to hear what lucrative scheme Guy is cooking up with stripper-turned-women's-studies-professor Naomi Fallopian. Everyone wants to know Joey, Lieutenant McCafferty, reporter Gene Williker, Guy's ex-girlfriend Sugar O'Toole, the despicable Larry B. Larry, the...