Blueberry Summers

$ 16.95

Growing Up at the Lake

Author Curtiss Anderson

Minnesota Historical Society Press (May 15, 2008)

A charming boyhood memoir, featuring the antics of three generations of a large Norwegian Lutheran clan at their summer getaway in Minnesota lake country.

Description

$16.95 paperback available February 2017

“I would begin thinking about summer on our lake as early as Easter. Yes, it was our lake, not just the lake.”

In this classic story of a midwestern boyhood, Curtiss Anderson takes readers into the colorful lives of his robust Norwegian family and their wonderfully familiar summerscape in northern Minnesota: the lake place. Sweet childhood reminiscences comprise this coming-of-age memoir set in the poignant summers of the 1930s and ’40s. Conversations on the porch with Dear Old Aunt Ingaborg, a heavily accented relative from the Old Country. A budding romance and heartbreak with young Sarah, who lived across the lake. Wild blueberry picking behind Turnaround Island. Joyful tales devoted to the cherished dogs he had outlived—old Shep and Mickey, Nebby, and feisty Bunny. And fond memories of Clara and Leigh, the loving couple who treated the budding writer as if he was their own child.

Anderson revisits the notes and letters he scripted as a boy, originally recorded on his hand-me-down Underwood typewriter—his first foray into what would become a distinguished publishing career—to offer Blueberry Summers. Here, the nationally recognized editor offers a funny and warm story of experiences that inspire the imagination.

Author information

Curtiss Anderson was a writer and editorial consultant. He enjoyed an illustrious career with Hearst Magazines and Better Homes & Gardens and as editor in chief of Ladies’ Home Journal.

Reviews and news

Advance Praise:

“Blueberry Summers is a witty, touching, and loving recreation of those incomparable days when a boy is on his way to becoming a man. Of course, it had to end, but I really wanted it to go on to autumn, winter, and spring.”
Nancy Friday, best-selling author of My Mother, My Self

“I adore the good women who tended, inspired, and challenged a boy's life—they will become your own in this timeless and loving account of growing up well.”
Nancy Lindemeyer, founding editor of Victoria magazine

“Curt Anderson (no relation) has the novelist's gift for characterization, the poet's magic for imagery, the painter's eye for shape and color. Blueberry Summers resonated to my very soul even though I'm a daughter of the South and my own summers were blackberry summers. For anyone who grew up in the days of bamboo fishing poles, weenie roasts, and plump berry pies made from scratch, Anderson's moving memoir of family summers beside a Minnesota lake is sure to take them there. And what a trip it is!”
Jean Anderson, former managing editor of Ladies’ Home Journal and award-winning author of A Love Affair with Southern Cooking

“What a wonderful read. Curt Anderson proves that Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can go home again and Blueberry Summers will take you there. Anderson has recalled to memory every boy's joys and agonies. I haven't had such a wonderful bath of nostalgia in years.”
Gilbert C. Maurer, former president, Hearst Magazine Division

• This title is also available at your favorite e-book vendor.
• 200 pages
• 10 b&w photos
• 5 x 7 inches
• ISBN: 9780873516082