A Porch Sofa Almanac

For Peter Smith, the assignment from Minnesota Public Radio was simple: try to do something about Minnesota. So he began exploring the simple, everyday Minnesota things he came across and sharing them with listeners each Tuesday morning. The result is a hilarious, often wry, and always remarkable portrait of everyday life in the Land of 10,000 Lakes that will resonate with Minnesotans from the state's biggest cities to its smallest towns.

A Porch Sofa Almanac is the first collection of Smith's essays for MPR-stories that keep close to the ground and reflect on the common experiences of being a Minnesotan. Small-town football, stacks of Hudson Bay blankets in an antique store, ice fishing, and even those soggy gloves that emerge from melting snowbanks each spring. Following the calendar year, Smith's reflections are the perfect season-by-season companion for that chair by the fireplace, a bench by the campfire, a seat on the bus or train-or, of course, a porch sofa.

A Porch Sofa Almanac ultimately casts Minnesota in a wholly unique light. As Smith writes, "The entire state comes across as some wonderful, slightly quirky treasure unearthed at a church basement rummage sale." Much loved-perhaps a little rough around the edges-and absolutely ready to be shared.