Don't Judge This Book By Its Cover: Ruminations Go Deeper Than You Think

Due to hit Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton bookstores next week is Win Borden's first book, Ruminations: Memories & Tales of a Furrowed Mind. Ruminations is a collection of short, inspirational memoirs, and to get the most from the book I suggest one read it bit by bit, taking time to reflect on each essay. Although the cartoon of farmer Borden on the cover suggests a light-hearted read, an underlying peace and hope permeates this book, causing readers to marvel at Borden's faith despite the dark periods of his life.

Borden has been a Minnesota political fixture for the past 50 years, during which he served three terms as a state senator, was the president of the Minnesota Association of Commerce and Industry (now known as the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce), worked as a private attorney, and was a registered lobbyist.

The dark periods of his life include depression, alcoholism, and an 11 month-stint in a federal minimum security prison for failing to file income taxes. But instead of drowning in his mistakes, he confronted his problems and learned from them.

"I would not escape any tragedy I experienced because I am richer and better because of them," Borden concluded. "In life if you have not experienced the torrential rains you cannot fully appreciate the rainbows."

Readers hoping to find stories from Borden's flashy past of schmoozing with the rich, famous and powerful should look elsewhere (or perhaps in his upcoming historical fiction, "Hot Days. Hotter Nights," a sizzler he said will surprise even PIM publisher Sarah Janecek). In Ruminations, Borden has weaved stories of a more simple genre: memories of his childhood on the farm, recollections of a day in his current life working in his garden or perhaps reminding the reader to put their imagination to work today.

Borden's stories can be enjoyed by all - he had this twenty-something laughing out loud as he described life in the yard. An impromptu snooze on the lawn resulted in a young passerby rushing to his aid, since she assumed the man lying face-up must have suffered either a stroke or a heart attack. With good humor, Borden conceded the passerby must have thought that he was old, and encouraged readers to spend time with kids because, "they will make you feel young."

The 64-year-old author dabbles with the topic of aging throughout Ruminations, and plans to explore it more in his next book due out this Fall, "Cancel My Funeral. I'm Staying: A guide to growing older and loving it." Similar to Ruminations in style, Borden says the book is full of practical short stories aimed at helping seniors deal with life as they age.

At the very least the book is a fun read full of unapologetic optimism. I admit, there is a cynic in me that rejects perpetually happy people, and normally a book like this would strike me as trivial. But that is the irony in Ruminations: Borden is not perpetually happy. Based on our interview, I believe that each day, Borden consciously decides whether he will dwell on the bad or look for the good, and his essays represent those days when the good won out. Knowing this, his essays take on meaning, because they are the result of a daily struggle that I can relate to: How can I preserve the memories of the good days to get me through the bad ones? With this in mind, Borden did his best to capture every detail for his sake, and for ours.

Ruminations is currently available in 150 bookstores in Minnesota and Wisconsin, or online.