Missing the midway? The giant hogs, the smell of grease, the ironic artwork made entirely of seeds?
Here are 10 books that take place at world's fairs, county fairs, and Minnesota's own State Fair. Read them and catch a whiff of mini-doughnuts and cotton candy and everything on a stick.
"Devil in the White City," by Erik Larson. We'll start with the creepiest one, a work of nonfiction. Larson's compelling narrative follows the twisted career of Dr. H.H. Holmes, a pharmacist and serial killer who lured victims to their doom as the 1893 World's Fair was built and then opened just blocks away. There are quite a few books set during the Chicago World's Fair — this one might be the best.
"Araby," by James Joyce. Not a book, but one of the short stories in his "Dubliners" collection, and probably the first piece of writing by Joyce that I ever read. A nearly perfect coming of age story, it is told in first person by a boy who sees the glittering lights of the Araby bazaar in the distance and plans to go there to buy a present for a girl he has fallen hopelessly in love with.
"Charlotte's Web," by E.B. White. A farm girl named Fern grows up one summer at the fair; her pig, Wilbur, has his life saved; the pig's friend Charlotte, a spider, gives her all for him; and Templeton, a gruff and stinky rat, saves the day (but only because it suits him). We all love Wilbur and Charlotte, but the scene with Fern and Henry Fussy on the Ferris wheel perfectly captures every teenage experience at every fair.
"World's Fair," by E.L. Doctorow. A young boy named Edgar — modeled closely on Doctorow — finds the 1939 World's Fair in New York to be a glittering, mesmerizing utopia.
"So Long at the Fair," by Anthony Thorne. Also a movie, this 1947 novel is set in Paris in 1889, when a brother and sister attend the Paris Exhibition. The next morning, the sister knocks on her brother's hotel room door to find that he has disappeared — and there is no evidence he was ever actually there.
"Meet Me in St. Louis," by Sally Benson. A charming and sentimental novel about a family looking forward to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.
"Vanity Fair," by William Makepeace Thackeray. OK, I'm cheating with this one because Vanity Fair, of course, is not an actual fair. But still, what a great novel. Becky Sharp is one of the best characters of all time — shrewd, manipulative, cynical, amoral. I loved her from the get-go when she throws a book through the carriage window as she drives away forever from school.
"Minnesota State Fair: An Illustrated History," by Kathryn Strand Koutsky. Loaded with tidbits and anecdotes, this 2007 book published by Minneapolis' Coffee House Press contains 1,200 photos and more than 100 recipes.
"Blue Ribbon," by Karal Ann Marling. Through memories, photographs and ephemera Marling tells the history of the Minnesota State Fair and illustrates how the fair changed as society changed.
"State Fair: The Great Minnesota Get-Together," by Susan Miller. Primarily a photo book (Miller estimates she shot more than 10,000 images over four years; this book contains 150 of them), this colorful and vivid homage to the fair includes an introduction by quintessential Minnesotan Lorna Landvik.
These books should help you get through the "12 best days of summer" without the pork chops on a stick or the midway. In fact, they might help tide you over until 2021.
Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune's senior editor for books. On Facebook: Facebook.com/startribunebooks. E-mail: books@startribune.com
