Books

In "Tea in the Pacific Northwest," readers will find the humor, sensitivity and life-affirming writing they've come to expect from Landwehr's previous work. This poetry collection encompasses the reflections of a well-appreciated life, from "a Minnesota boy growing up" to the mature understandings in "Funeral Wish," where the poet instructs us to dance "until you're sweated through" because "life ain't nothin'/but a house party." Landwehr's skill with language, "she carried her sadness in a/flamingo print bag," and use of imagination, "I had tea with Sasquatch yesterday" are reasons readers will enjoy this delightful book.
 

— Susan Martell Huebner
She Thought the Door Was Locked and Gathering Sticks for the Fire
WWA Jade Ring poetry winner 2017, 2023

*A portion of all book sales will go to the Friedens Food Pantry of Milwaukee, a network of food centers building community through nourishment. 

One year when asked around the campfire what their favorite vacation memories were, Jim Landwehr’s kids replied, “trips to the cabin.” In At the Lake, stories of fishing and kayaking, a single mother and growing teenagers, and parents wanting what’s best for their children weave a larger tale of the cabin experience in the Upper Midwest. Despite the changing settings and cast of characters, the principles of rest, relaxation, and renewal remain central to three generations of a Midwestern family. With fifteen rich personal histories, Landwehr delivers a memoir filled with humor, warmth, and reverence for life up North. 

*Note: $1.00 from every book sold will be donated to Wisconsin Lakes. Wisconsin Lakes is dedicated to developing statewide solutions for the challenges faced by our lakes while supporting strong local protection efforts. 

Cretin High School, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota was a Catholic, all-male, military academy that brought unique twists to the already difficult high school experience. Cretin Boys, as they were called, were subject to the oppression of both church and state as they navigated the diverse teaching styles of Christian Brothers, military instructors, and lay teachers. This book looks at those menial first jobs, takes you dancing with a girl at that first high school formal, and peels down the street in a Corvette-on-loan with a teen at the wheel. It is a coming-of-age story with a military dress code, a coming-to-faith story while smoking in the boy’s room.

*Note: $1.00 from every book sold will be donated to Cretin-Derham!

The Portland House takes you into the lives of a widow and her six children as they put down roots in an average Midwestern house in 1970. It welcomes you to the crowded dinner table, where hotdish is a weekly staple, and table manners sometimes take a back seat to kids being kids. It shoves you into raucous teenage parties when Mom is on vacation. It chokes you with the smoke of a small kitchen fire. Later, you wander the neighborhood and the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota with latchkey kids until the street lights come on. The house is full of love, teenage energy, and an adopted stray that walks with a limp. From the warmth of family on Christmas Eve to the sadness of losing a beloved pet, The Portland House is home to it all. So come on in and experience life growing up in the era of disco, lava lamps, and Tang orange drink.

Jim Landwehr and his brothers pursue their love of the outdoors by tackling some of the country's most remote terrain, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. While encountering crazed loons, widow-making portages, and temperamental automobiles, they also discover more about each other and their long-deceased father. In recent years, with a desire to instill their love of the area into their children, they include them in their voyages, and the legacy continues. Their exploits are woven throughout with humor, emotion, and warmth. 

Many of Landwehr’s serious poems have a humorous side, and he sneaks some seriousness into the humorous ones while analyzing and poking some fun at parenting teens, reaching middle age, and the human condition. He is deft at alliteration and has mastered analogy. To wit: have you ever imagined the polar vortex as a “slumlord with a drinking problem,” or described someone’s voice as “a blend of bagpipes, fireworks, and a locomotive pile up.”? Well, Jim has. Read this book. -- Ed Werstein, author of A Tar Pit to Dye In

Genetically Speaking ventures into the numerous facets of fatherhood. It speaks to the pain and self-reliance that comes with the loss of a father at a young age. It wanders into the sometimes awkward intricacies of relating to a stepfather. And it explains the idiosyncrasies of a spouse shaped through a father-in-law. But mostly, it explores fatherhood firsthand in all of its joys, trials, and hardships. This collection of poems will make you laugh, cry, and occasionally scratch your head as it searches to define what makes fatherhood such an important and integral part of growing up a child.

On a Road takes the spirit and abandon of Kerouac westward on a journey into manhood for three Midwestern city boys who hit the road. The ride, a wild and spirited one, starts in the heart of the upper Midwest and runs full steam ahead to California -- only to be met with excess and false promises. Available on: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or  Smashwords

Jim Landwehr’s collection ambles and moseys, occasionally floors it, and often takes detours along highways and byways, poking into neighborhoods, local bars, diners, and fishing holes. These poems report back from across a life. Don't hurry the journey. My guess is you’ll recognize someone along the way. ~ Sarah Sadie, author of We Are Traveling Through Dark at Tremendous Speeds

Written Life takes a whimsical swing at poetic conventions as it delves into the intricacies of Midwestern life in the twenty-first century. It asks the hard questions, like, God, who are you? Death, when will you come? Dog, have you been let out lately? Introspection and humor, joy and sorrow, murder and pyromania are all fair game in this life; this Written Life.