Of Lake Wobegon Days, Keillor said, "Most of the book is based on people I have known, and things that happened or things that might have happened to them. But I would have a hard time saying who, what and where. I don't believe I invent anything — everything comes from experience. But it all sits around for 25 or 30 years and simmers.

Marinates in its juices." There are many characters who seem fully and intimately realized in this book, but Keillor may be the main character.

Although he tells stories about his childhood and about visiting home in the present, his presence never seems obtrusive. The reader remembers most of the stories and sketches as being about other characters, Aunt Flo or Francis Watt or the descendants of Magnus Oleson, the original Norwegian settler. While each major character stands fully realized, each also seems chosen to illustrate the...