Category Archives: Book review

Good writers read. Good memoirists read memoir. Thoughts on books…

Book Review: Grammar for a Full Life: How the Ways We Shape a Sentence Can Limit or Enlarge Us

By Sarah White Who would believe that a book about grammar could be fun, delightful, and thought-provoking? Lawrence Weinstein’s Grammar for a Full Life is all that. Weinstein doesn’t just want to us straight about a number of English’s famously … Continue reading

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Guided Autobiography: The Magic of Small-Group Reminiscence Writing

By Sarah White In 2004, I was deep into pivoting my work (and life) from being a freelance business writer toward personal history work. I tried out several methods for helping people capture, preserve, and share their life stories. Oral … Continue reading

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“Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care” by Susan MacLeod (part 2 of 2)

By Sarah White Last week, I posted my review of Susan MacLeod’s excellent graphic memoir. Now, I follow up with this interview with Susan. It gave me great pleasure to talk with her about the process of creating her book. … Continue reading

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“Dying for Attention: A Graphic Memoir of Nursing Home Care” by Susan MacLeod (part 1 of 2)

By Sarah White I met Susan MacLeod, author of Dying For Attention, when my Big MFA Adventure began in 2017 with a residency on the campus of the University of King’s College in Halifax. Every student in this MFA-Creative Nonfiction … Continue reading

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Happily Ever Older, by Moira Welsh

By Sarah White I met some neighbors for beers last weekend. The topic turned to where we might live when we could no longer manage our old two-story homes or afford the property taxes in our gentrifying neighborhood. One had … Continue reading

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Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of America, by Liz Carlisle

Review by Sarah White Who are we, these people who love to read about people who start businesses, plucky Davids in a world of corporate Goliaths? Lentil Underground is the kind of book we delight to stumble upon, then wake up early … Continue reading

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“Freckled” by Toby Wilson Neal

I asked Jeremiah to review this book, realizing that since he grew up in Hawaii, he would offer a more informed perspective than I could. I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it. As an entrant in the “awful childhood … Continue reading

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“Black Is the Body” by Emily Bernard

By Sarah White Is there anything so satisfying to hold in one’s hands as a new hardcover book, purchased from a good independent bookstore found on a solo getaway, cracked open in the bookstore’s café? It’s like settling in for … Continue reading

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Let’s add some reading and writing (forget the Arithmetic)

These are troubling times. I’m self-isolating (as if my lifestyle weren’t already pretty self-isolated, as a home-based freelance writer). I’m trying to meet the world as if I were the one carrying contagion, protecting those around me with social distance, … Continue reading

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Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

Review by Sarah White You want to do good. But how do you figure out how to do good, well? That is, how do you ensure you make your contributions in ways that actually achieve positive results? I believe that … Continue reading

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