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 […]
“With the Devil’s Help” by Neal Wooten
June 18, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Neal Wooten’s powerful memoir, With the Devil’s Help (Simon & Schuster 2022), begins with a knock-knock—and it isn’t a joke. The men in black suits have shown up at four-year-old Neal’s door and want to speak to his father. This is Neal’s introduction—and ours—to a family mystery: who are these men? Why are they threatening […]
“Suburban Gospel,” by Mark Beaver
April 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Mark Beaver’s Suburban Gospel is one more memoir of an adolescent wandering toward adulthood, a Bible Belt Baptist southern version of Roth’s Portnoy but without the gnawing sense of psychological guilt expiated on the analyst’s couch. It is, on the other hand, exuberantly “guilt-edged,” the saga of a young man […]
“Wait Until Tomorrow,” by Pat MacEnulty
July 25, 2012 by 1 Comment
Review by Donna Meredith In Wait Until Tomorrow, Pat MacEnulty drifts back and forth in time to reveal a full, sometimes troubled, and ultimately rewarding relationship with her mother. Just as Rosalind MacEnulty’s love remains steadfast through Pat’s teenage drug addictions and stint in prison, Pat cares for her mother through years of declining health. […]