According to Catherine Watson, if the Mississippi River were in Europe, it would be more famous than the Rhein, the Seine and the Danube put together.

Julie Kramer, former investigative journalist for WCCO-TV, writes thrillers set in the world of television news. Her third book will be out in June.

Mark Neuzil writes about the environment for MinnPost.You won't be surprised what he loves most about living here.

If you are thinking of starting a parent-child book club, I recommend taking a look at these materials.

The ladies in my library book club are the original composters. Growing up on farms, they let no waste go unused.

MinnPost journalist Joe Kimball says about his book and his news writing: "I don’t try to emulate others, just tell the story."

She loves "good lookin’ Scandinavians" and Minnesota's progressive history. Meet featured author Lorna Landvik at the Book Club Blast.

As a writer, if you can survive your family, editors are a cinch.

What does Jim Klobuchar do on Sundays without football? On March 7, he'll be at the Book Club Blast.

I originally intended for this series of articles to cover various permutations of parent-child book clubs. When I was unable to find a current father-son or father-daughter book club, this became a series on mother-daughter book clubs.

You've missed Jamaica Kincaid, Michael Chabon, Suzan-Lori Parks, Junot Diaz and Maxine Hong Kingston, to name a few. But starting today, the U's English Department will post messages on the Book Club Club page about speakers and events that are free and open to the public.

The judges chose "Christmas Goes Up in Smoke" by Margaret Vaillancourt as our first-place winner. After today, Short-Shorts will be taking a break -- but we'll be back!

"Too Much Happiness" spurred a few truth-in-packaging issues among attendees of the Birchbark Books/Kenwood Café book-club event.

The Minnesota sensibility -- "that things are dreadful but that they can always get worse, and that somehow that’s why we like it here" -- resonates deeply with author Al Sicherman. Meet Al at the Book Club Blast.

Judith Yates Borger -- author of “Where’s Billie?” -- says she's a huge fan of Sue Grafton. Meet and mingle with Judy and other local authors at MinnPost's Book Club Blast.