Elva Crist
Each year in the quiet period before the rush of the holiday season, Margaret Leonard of Dotters Books in downtown Eau Claire takes time to compile a list of her top book recommendations and share them with the Chippewa Valley community. Read on to discover ten of her favorites.
1. Funny Because It’s True: How the Onion Created Modern News Satire by Christine Wenc
In this book, author and former Onion staff member Christine Wenc recounts the origin of one of Wisconsin’s greatest inventions: The Onion, a revolutionary satirical news publication that has “changed the face of news satire” in the words of Leonard. This nonfiction piece offers a rare look at the humorous side of the media cycle.
2. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor
One of the most talked about books of 2025, Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor follows a Black artist navigating art and its relationship with race in the American art community.
One of Leonard’s most enthusiastic recommendations, she sees this book becoming a modern classic for its capacity to inspire reflection and critical thought.
“Brandon Taylor is one of the best authors writing today,” says Leonard. “Not only does he do an amazing job of writing a character who is a visual artist, his questions about art, art-making, and identity are necessarily complicated and never quite answered. He expects a lot of his readers and I am delighted to rise to the occasion. And I was surprised and delighted that the book ended in a hopeful way. One of my favorites this year.”
3. Ginseng Roots: A Memoir by Craig Thompson
Written by rural Wisconsin writer Craig Thompson, Ginseng Roots: A Memoir explores global relationships through the story of ginseng farmers in Wisconsin. A graphic novel, the art communicates emotions that words never can and offers a change from the typical text-based memoir. At once personal and sweeping, this new creation from a celebrated memoirist is necessary reading for anyone curious about the webs that globalization and agriculture can create.
“This book weaves his own story with the story of ginseng as a crop, the shift from family agriculture to industrial agriculture, and the role of laborers in our society,” Margaret says.
4. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
In this epistolary classic, Helene Hanff compiles her correspondence with a London bookseller that lasted nearly two decades and contains a vast scope of literary and human experiences.
This book was first recommended to me by a book shop owner in River Falls, WI, and I now read it at least once a year, so I was perfectly delighted when Leonard pulled it out of her stack of recommendations at her annual book recommendation event. It seems that this is a favorite of book lovers everywhere.
5. Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
In the novel Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, an actor returns to her home in Palestine’s West Bank, and begins work on a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, all while rediscovering her relationship with her homeland. One of Leonard’s favorite books of this year, she commended its intelligence and beautiful writing.
She described it as “all about freedom of movement and borders and the arbitrary boundaries we place upon ourselves and those around us.”
While this book is beautiful in its specificity of location, its themes and questions that it asks about the world are sure to enrich the mind of any reader.
6. Is a River Alive? by Robert MacFarlane
While this work of creative nonfiction is written by renowned British nature writer Robert MacFarlane, it has a relationship with a regional treasure, the Minneapolis-based publishing house Milkweed Editions - MacFarlane spoke with Milkweed-published author Nicholas Triolo at the house in an event on his book tour, and has collaborated with Robin Wall Kimmerer, the author of the much lauded Braiding Sweetgrass.
In a region defined by its waterways and river valleys, this global text contains local significance. Leonard described the book as asking the following questions:
“What if a river was a living being with legal status and protections? What if it held the same place in human imaginations as other humans or even animals?”
In a time when our rivers and streams are under more threat than ever, texts that ask such questions are critical.
7. Turtle Island: Foods & Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America by Sean Sherman & Kate Nelson & Kristen Donnelly
If one thing is universal, it is the love of food, especially in the cold and dark days of winter in Wisconsin. And nobody knows the recipes of fantastic food grown right here than the Indigenous people who've lived here for millennia.
Leonard says “This is a completely amazing work of food writing and recipes, journalism, cultural study, and record of Indigenous tradition through all of Turtle Island - from the Arctic Circle down to Oaxaca. Really stunning in every way.”
Sean Sherman, the author of The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, is one of the minds behind this creation, which is sure to become a necessity on any food-loving American’s shelf. Lean into your love of your home and continent by exploring the food traditions of the people who have known and stewarded it for ages.
8. Endling by Maria Reva
A unique take on the journey in literature, this tale of an unconventional fellowship of women offers a unique look at life interrupted by catastrophe; in this case, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022.
“This book is so incredibly inventive and smart and funny and entirely heartbreaking,” says Leonard. “Maria Reva is absolutely an author to watch. Amazing.”
9. Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin, & Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie by Dave Hage & Josephine Marcotty
Folk in the Upper Midwest are no strangers to the beauty of the biodiversity of prairieland. In this remarkable hybrid of history and science, two Midwestern science journalists transform their passion for this remarkable ecosystem into a call to action to protect this biome with as much biodiversity as a rainforest, and even closer to disappearance.
10. Hope in the Dark: Untold Stories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit
It is no secret that the world seems uncommonly dark and uncertain. In this book Rebecca Solnit recounts the times when people have fought against the darkness – and won.
Leonard describes it as a “balm for troubled times.” Regardless of the time or the opinions of an individual, we all deserve to know that things can in fact change and change for the better.