Not Till We Are Lost: Thoreau, Education, and Climate Crisis (Mercer University Press 2024) by William Homestead is a blend of memoir, philosophy, and literary analysis. It weaves together the author’s college teaching experiences, his personal journey of self-examination, and an academic exploration of Transcendentalist thought, drawing from figures like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo […]
June Read of the Month: “NOLA Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy” by Brooke Champagne
June 4, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Part of the story behind Brooke Champagne’s astonishingly good essay collection, NOLA Face: A Latina’s Life in the Big Easy (UGa Press 2024) is a dog. Well, not just Nola herself, the “brindled, emaciated pit-boxer” that Champagne and her husband adopted after Hurricane Katrina, but moreso her particular expression, born of jealousy and/or inadequacy, when […]
“Good Eye, Bad Eye” by Jeanne Malmgren
May 14, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Readers of Jeanne Malmgren’s engaging memoir, Good Eye, Bad Eye, will find the universal themes and the clarity of her writing style appealing. From her personal story of trauma following a childhood eye injury, life truths emerge as Jeanne struggles to find her way in the world. This is not another poor-pitiful-me memoir. Instead, it […]
“My Life in Water: A Memoir in Essays” by Cat Pleska
December 7, 2024 by Leave a Comment
In a series of short, water-centric essays, Cat Pleska’s My Life in Water (UnCollected Press 2024) spans a lifetime of memories. Each lovingly crafted story is told in elegant prose using the powerful poetic imagery Pleska is noted for. The first story, “Wash Me Clean,” predates Pleska’s own memories; rather it is a confession by […]
Dawn Major’s Book of Note: “The Way from Me to Us” by Mike Coleman
December 2, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Introduction I had heard Mike Coleman’s name circling my friend’s group of authors for a while, but I hadn’t yet had the chance to personally meet him and then I a read a piece he wrote for WELL READ Magazine titled “An Ekphrasis Moment: Good for the Soul” about French artist Henri Matisse’s painting, The […]
“Driving Naked” by Katherine Vaccaro
November 27, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Katherine Vaccaro has a great sense of adventure and a disarming sense of humor as evidenced in Driving Naked, her debut memoir. Whereas I knew someone who actually drove to McDonald’s naked, Katherine’s naked driving is more metaphorical; she and her husband loved nudist camps and collectible cars. Kathy met Eddie at a Mensa event […]