That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor
That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor
1 Rating(s)
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

That Time of Year
A Minnesota Life

Author: Garrison Keillor

Narrator: Garrison Keillor

Unabridged: 19 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/2020


Synopsis

In That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor looks back on his life and recounts how a Brethren boy with writerly ambitions grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the 1950s and, seeing three good friends die young, turned to comedy and radio. Through a series of unreasonable lucky breaks, he founded A Prairie Home Companion and put himself in line for a good life, including mistakes, regrets, and a few medical adventures. PHC lasted forty years, 750 shows, and enjoyed the freedom to do as it pleased for three or four million listeners every Saturday at 5 p.m. Central. He got to sing with Emmylou Harris and Renee Fleming and once sang two songs to the US Supreme Court. He played a private eye and a cowboy, gave the news from his hometown, Lake Wobegon, and met Somali cabdrivers who'd learned English from listening to the show. He wrote bestselling novels, won a Grammy and a National Humanities Medal, and made a movie with Robert Altman with an alarming amount of improvisation.

He says, "I was unemployable and managed to invent work for myself that I loved all my life, and on top of that I married well. That's the secret, work and love. And I chose the right ancestors, impoverished Scots and Yorkshire farmers, good workers. I'm heading for eighty, and I still get up to write before dawn every day."

About Garrison Keillor

As the host of A Prairie Home Companion for over forty years, Garrison Keillor has captivated millions of listeners with his weekly News from Lake Wobegon monologues. Keillor has been honored with Grammy, ACE, and George Foster Peabody awards, the National Humanities Medal, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His many books include Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance, Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny, and The Keillor Reader. He is the host of the daily program The Writer's Almanac and the editor of several anthologies of poetry. A Prairie Home Companion is heard on hundreds of public radio stations, as well as America One, the Armed Forces Networks, Sirius Satellite Radio, and via a live audio webcast. When not touring, he resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Julie on April 01, 2021

3.5 stars, not rounded up to 4, and I'll tell you why later. I have very, very fond memories of Garrison Keillor from my years of living in Minnesota. I remember waking up to a recording of whale sounds emanating from my clock radio when Garrison was the morning host on KSJN, Minnesota Public Radio's......more

Goodreads review by Mediaman on February 16, 2021

Long, rambling, repetitive, dull, death-focused and depressing memoir that has some interesting spots, starting strong but devolving into a lot of lamenting and navel-gazing. Keillor is a sloppy writer who has somehow become rich and famous by remaining a college hippie in a light-colored suit that......more

Goodreads review by Elaine on March 26, 2022

I've read most of GK's books and enjoyed them. This one, though, is more autobiographical and it is the best, IMHO. If you enjoy Prairie Home Companion, you'll love learning about the beginning of the show, the incredibly talented musicians, the skits with Tom Keith, Fred Newman, Tim Russell, and Su......more

Goodreads review by Jim on July 13, 2021

Two penguins standing on an ice floe. And the first penguin says, "You look like you're wearing a tuxedo." And the second penguin says, "What makes you think I'm not?"......more