My mom wouldn't want me tooting my own horn about this, but one of her best friends, Jan Blace, passed this along to me yesterday -- according to Thriftbooks, THE LAGER QUEEN OF MINNESOTA is my home state's favorite fiction book! I honestly can't believe it.
Thanks to all of the LAGER QUEEN readers and Blotz drinkers in Minnesota and elsewhere -- and thank you to Jan!
Check out the entire map and the titles for all 50 states here.
This week, I begin my year-long position as the Writer-In-Residence on the ABC News podcast The Book Case, hosted by Charles Gibson and Kate Gibson. I’ll be talking mostly about my new novel-in-progress, its inspirations, its processes, and its shortcomings — warts and all. If you tune in, thank you — I hope it’ll prove to be an interesting archive of this time.
Listen to the episode, and other episode of The Book Case, here at Apple Podcasts.
Today, I was a guest on Good Morning America to announce the launch of a new segment on The Book Case podcast called “Writer in Residence” — and I’m honored to be their first writer in residence! Listen to The Book Case, starting this weekend, for monthly updates on the process of writing my fourth novel — all the way to its completion.
To watch the entire Good Morning America piece with me, Charlie, and Kate, visit the GMA website.
I’ll be at the Tucson Festival of Books for the first time this weekend — with two panels and multiple signings over two days.
My full schedule is below, as well as at the Festival website.
Scheduled events:
J. Ryan Stradal
Stacks Book Club Author Signing with J. Ryan Stradal
Stacks Book Club LLC, Booth #243 (Seats 1)
Sat, Mar 9, 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Fiction / Literature
Author: J. Ryan Stradal
All in the Family
Love to explore the delightful chaos of quirky family dynamics? From big gay weddings to offbeat relatives and family-operated supper clubs in Minnesota, these authors have crafted narratives that breathe life into unconventional family relationships. Today they will explain why stories about family are fun to write ... and so much fun to read.
Student Union Tucson Room (Seats 110)
Sat, Mar 9, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - UA BookStore Tent (on Mall) (following presentation)
Panelists: Byron Lane, Elizabeth McKenzie, J. Ryan Stradal
Moderator: Mary Ellen Flynn
J. Ryan Stradal
Stacks Book Club Author Signing with J. Ryan Stradal
Stacks Book Club LLC, Booth #243 (Seats 1)
Sun, Mar 10, 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Fiction / Literature
Author: J. Ryan Stradal
Small Towns and Big Hearts
Authors Bonnie Jo Campbell, Jeffrey Blount and J. Ryan Strandal discuss the process of creating close-knit communities and characters who are determined to save their town no matter the cost.
Integrated Learning Center Room 130 (Seats 143, Wheelchair accessible)
Sun, Mar 10, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Fiction / Literature
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)
Panelists: Jeffrey Blount, Bonnie Jo Campbell, J. Ryan Stradal
Moderator: Meredith Amadee
I'm over the moon that SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB will be featured on the PBS program WNIT Dinner & A Book this Saturday 1/27. Whether or not you're near WNIT's home in northern Indiana, it should be archived on the website (https://www.pbs.org/show/dinner-book/) by this Saturday.
More details here at the Dinner & A Book website.
From Mpls St Paul Magazine: Loyal MSP readers will already know we loved this one. Former Minnesotan J. Ryan Stradal’s latest novel, about three generations of women and family invariably trying to save—or leave behind—their longtime northern Minnesota supper club that holds a more complicated history than the family itself, goes straight into the Minnesota canon. “I grew up a huge fan of supper clubs,” Stradal told us in the spring. “But I find it can be hard to explain to people who didn’t grow up there just what the appeal is. And so in writing this book I really wanted to capture my impression of them and the people who own, manage, and work in them.” And boy, did he.
Read the entire article here.
The first piece of non-fiction I've written in over a year was published today at Literary Hub -- an essay that was a long time in the making, about the most crucial person in my life, and my attempt to honor her and her legacy.
Read the entire essay at LitHub.
It was such a pleasure to be on the Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books with Zibby Owens podcast -- Zibby got deep and personal, and as the name of her podcast suggests, we delved into the dizzying balance of writing novels while parenting small children. If you check it out, please let me know what you think, and thank you!
Listen to it here on Apple Podcasts.
Lisa Ryan at MPR News writes:
A list of Minnesotans' top summer reads would be incomplete without “Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club.” The author, J. Ryan Stradal, was born and raised in Minnesota, and the state is as much a character in the novel as the generations of families he brought to life.
I love books that follow compelling characters who are brought together with small details sprinkled throughout the book, and Stradal does this in a way that's as well prepared as a supper club meal.
Read the entire list here at MPR News.
Thank you, Arizona Daily Star and Pima County Public Library, for selecting SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB as one of your four recommended books to read before the summer is over!
Read the entire article here at Tucson.com.
I’m completely beside myself — SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB has been named a finalist for the Heartland Booksellers Award, alongside books by Geraldine Brooks, Peter Geye, Rebecca Makkai, and Shelby Van Pelt. Booksellers in the Midwest are my lifeblood, and it means the world to me to receive this honor from them.
Read about the Heartland Booksellers Award and all of the nominees here.
I’m thrilled to be back in Boulevard magazine! In this issue’s symposium on the line between homage and appropriation, I have a short essay on recipe theft — and what the women in my family of preceding generations did to thwart it.
To order a copy (it’s listed as both issue #112 & #113), please visit the Boulevard website.
Huge thanks to Toni Wheeler of The Mendocino Book Company and her local NPR affiliate Jefferson Public Radio for the kind words about my book this week! I've visited Ukiah on every book tour, and it's all because Toni's such an incredible bookseller and person. Please support her store -- and thank you!
Hear the entire interview archived here.
It was an honor to be interviewed by Kerri Miller for MPR News — her literary and thematic insights are peerless, and she’s such a careful reader and listener that it feels, as an author, like you’re learning things about your own book. This was one of my favorite interviews, in no small part because it certainly went places that others didn’t. If you take the time to check it out, I hope you enjoy.
From the MInnesota Public Radio News website:
J. Ryan Stradal knows supper club culture.
Growing up in Hastings, Minn., his family milestones were marked by dressing up, sitting in a leather booth at the Wiederholt's Supper Club, picking at a relish tray and watching the grown-ups enjoy a brandy Old Fashioned.
He even worked at a supper club across the river, in Prescott, Wisc., where he went behind the double-swinging doors and had his views about restaurant work forever changed.
So it is with a deep sense of fondness, with a side of realism, that his latest novel centers around a supper club in the fictitious northern Minnesota town of Bear Jaw.
Main character Mariel has inherited the Lakeside Club from her grandparents and is wrestling with its future — and her own. Meanwhile, her husband stands to take on his own family’s restaurant legacy, a growing chain of family diners. Which future will they pursue? And will old family wounds deepen in the process, or be healed?
This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, Stradal joined host Kerri Miller in the studio to trade stories about their own experiences with the supper club scene. They also talked about the purpose and value of nostalgia and how Stradal works to balance sentimentality with reality in his writing.
Listen to the entire interview with Kerri Miller archived here at MPR News.
From the website Off The Shelf:
We’ve all navigated the vast ocean of stories so far this year, from heartwarming tales that brought smiles to our faces to profound historical narratives that opened our eyes to previously unexplored epochs. But our journey is not a solo voyage, and your insights and recommendations are the compass guiding us. That’s why we turned to our treasured community of book lovers on Facebook and Instagram, seeking to uncover your literary gems of the year. From the page-turners that kept you up all night to the narratives that moved your heart, here are your favorite books of 2023 so far.
Regarding SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB:
Mariel Prager is tired, and it’s no wonder why. Grappling with a family crisis and the pending failure of her beloved family restaurant, the Lakeside Supper Club, she yearns for a break. To top it all off, her mother, Florence, has never gotten over the fact that Mariel’s grandmother left the business to her, not to Florence, sparking further familial tension. Ned, Mariel’s husband, proposes a solution using an inheritance of his own, but, following a shattering tragedy, their familial victories and dreams hang by a thread. J. Ryan Stradal’s vivid narrative encapsulates a fading world of midwestern traditions, presenting lovable, flawed characters wrestling with love, legacy, and loss as they seek salvation through their crumbling enterprise.
… or so reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, who writes:
Minnesota book clubs have so many recommendations for you! Authors mentioned most frequently include Louise Erdrich and Zora Neale Hurston but five titles that clubs told us were almost universally beloved were:
"Lessons in Chemistry," Bonnie Garmus
"Killers of the Flower Moon," David Grann
"The Dutch House," Ann Patchett
"The Lager Queen of Minnesota," J. Ryan Stradal
"The Warmth of Other Suns," Isabel Wilkerson
Read the entire article (and hear of more excellent book recommendations) here.
I had the wonderful honor of being interviewed live by Charity Nebbe yesterday on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk of Iowa.” We covered a lot of of topics — people thanked and kindly mentioned include Amy Kovacs, Beth Dooley, Sean Sherman, Mike Rowan, Gretchen Anthony, and Meg Howrey.
Listen to the entire interview here.
A little late posting this, but SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB was NPR’s “Book of the Day” last week! To mark the occasion, they reposted my interview with their national program Here & Now.
Read the article here.
Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal
Recommended by Amanda Lepper
“Not since Jane Smiley has an author so perfectly and humbly captured an era of Midwestern life. J. Ryan Stradal may call California home these days, but he was born, raised and educated in southern Minnesota. Kitchens of the Great Midwest, The Lager Queen of Minnesota, and, now, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club celebrate a region shaped by Scandinavian heritage and small-town practicalities. Food and drink and family feature heavily. I like to call Stradal’s storytelling “Midwestern Potluck” — a style and a perspective that mixes an eclectic bunch of people together to celebrate the beauty in the commonplace. Across the span of three generations and one supper club, Stradal can write about all of the human experience — love and want, suffering and good fortune, tradition and finding one’s own path. Betty saw the supper club as her saving grace and reigned at its bar for decades. Her daughter Florence wanted nothing to do with it. Mariel couldn’t love it more, much to her mother’s consternation, and in opposition to Mariel’s husband, Ned’s, big-chain restaurant dynasty. The fate of the supper club is as much a character as it is a backdrop for the moments that will change each of these women’s lives forever.”
Read the entire list of recommended summer 2023 books here at Iowa Public Radio.
There’s been a cavalcade of new reviews and interviews in the last month! Read more about them below:
THE WEEK
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO (Also recommended/re-ran here at Ask A Bookseller)
