Lovers of dogs and a well-turned phrase: Prepare to be charmed. A collection of essays and letters, E.B. White on Dogs will put a smile on your face. Steeped in the privileged literary world of a young New Yorker writer, E.B. White’s essays reveal an unpretentious, kind-hearted and insightful man. With keen and occasionally biting humor, White’s observations on society and the natural world are delivered through the lens of his admiration for the dogs in his life. One dachshund (his wife’s preferred breed) named Fred accompanies White through the heartbreaking “Death of a Pig.” If you’ve never cried reading Charlotte’s Web, you will now. Buy two—this is a lovely gift book. —Ann Woodbeck
Ann Woodbeck has been a bookseller extraordinaire for Excelsior Bay Books for the past nine years. When not recommending the next great novel, she reads, writes and plays with her husband and poodle in Excelsior.
EXCELSIOR BAY BOOKS
36 Water St., Excelsior, 952.401.0932
When most people think of the Piemonte region in northwestern Italy, appellations of the famous red nebbiolo grape such as Barolo and Barbaresco are usually the first to come to mind. However, the wonderful white wines this region produces are often overlooked. Some of my favorite Italian whites are made from the arneis grape grown in the Roero district in the northern part of this historic region. There is no better example of this varietal than the Perdaudin Roero Arneis from the small artisanal producer Negro. Wonderful minerality and crisp acidity enhances the intense stone-fruit flavors expressed in the nose and palate. This dry and full-bodied white will be a smash when paired with your turkey on Thanksgiving. —Tyler Melton
|Tyler Melton is the manager of The Wine Shop. Receive weekly
recommendations by emailing wineshopmtka@gmail.com and read their best
seasonal drink pick on this page each month.
The Wine Shop
17521 Minnetonka Blvd. // Minnetonka 952.988.9463
Deerhunter has been around the block a few times, and each LP adopts a new aesthetic. Monomania eschews the clear fidelity of Halcyon Digest, but while the guitars don’t always have a shark-bite crunch, the distorted vocals lend a greasy-fluorescent, dive-bar stomp to the album’s texture. The title track fully embodies this, beginning with a clatter of drums and feedback before straightening out into, initially, a traditional song. The first 2 minutes play it straight, but the last 3 have Cox howling “monomania” on repeat as the band provides a glorious racket. Deerhunter may take on many forms, but whatever single-minded obsession wracks Cox’s brain consistently produces some of this generation’s best rock. —Jack Kentala
Where to buy:
Barnes & Noble //13131 Ridgedale Dr.
Minnetonka 952.546.2006 // bn.com
Jack Kentala is a local filmmaker and writer. He has directed two feature films, Transmissions (2009) and Archetype (2012).
He also wrote his first novel, Meridien K, in 2011.
