InDreAM Furniture

For anyone who hasn't heard him on Minnesota Public Radio - or even if you have - Pete Smith is a terrific essayist and humorist who mines the subtleties (and even the not so subtle aspects) of what it means to live in Minnesota and among
Minnesotans.

Smith's voice as a writer is warm, clear and often times hilarious. I would recommend this book to anyone - but particularly to those who have lived in Minnesota.

While I didn't hear Peter Smith's stories on Minnesota Public Radio, a friend recommended his collection of essays. So I carried it on a flight and couldn't put it down. Honestly, I passed up the in-flight movie just to stay with this guy and groove in the flow of his humor. After the flight, a woman to my right asked me what a "porch sofa" was. I laughed out loud, and she said with a giggle, "that's what I thought!" She really got it - the stories are laughter therapy in cellulose. Hauling an old sofa out onto the porch is just the beginning - the antics and characters that Smith describes give this easterner reason to think that Minnesota still has independent politics. Eager to read his next book.