Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History
by Philippa Gregory, 2024 Normal Women: Nine Hundred Years of Making History—Unveiling the Untold Stories of Women Who Shaped England from 1066 to Modern Times is a history of women, yes, but specifically the history of women in Great Britain. One that we in the United States largely inherited in the form of attitudes, culture, […]
Strawberry Picking in Washington State (Or, The Summer I Would Strike it Rich)
An author I admire sent me a quote from a 30-year-old article about strawberry picking in the Pacific Northwest and southern Canada. The author of this article is an accomplished writer and poet, able to create vivid scenes with only a few words: “Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. The perfectly ripe […]
A Storm’s Comin’!
The dire weather warnings for this weekend have reminded me of the worst blizzard I ever endured in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. I was a senior in high school and oblivious of what was going on around me—so, a typical teenager. One Friday night, my two best girlfriends and I decided to […]
Gluten for Punishment: Just Desserts for the Heartbroken, Lovesick, and Jilted
by Julie Seyler, 2025 Gluten for Punishment is a hybrid memoir/cookbook written by long-time baking blogger (https://twobittart.com) and trained chef Julie Seyler. This Gen-Xer took her real-life stories of dating disasters in the modern world and turned it into a memoir. Sometimes funny, sometimes exasperating, she chronicles five main relationships that start out mostly from […]
I went to Venezuela once. They were still a democracy then.
Back in the mid-1980s (1983, to be specific) I was laid off from my first professional position as a geoscientist by an oilfield services company in Dallas called Core Laboratories. It was hard times in the industry—I’d survived the first three rounds of layoffs before the ax finally fell on me. It began a tough […]
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
by Christine Kuehn, 2025 Every family has secrets—shameful things they’d rather not get aired in public. Then there are other families that have real whoppers. Imagine finding out that your German grandparents were not only Nazi loyalists, but were the key spies who supplied the Japanese with critical intel leading up to the bombing of […]
Mother Mary Comes to Me
by Arundhati Roy, 2025 I listened to the audio version of this book, Mother Mary Comes to Me, an astounding memoir by an Indian author and former Booker prize winner. The book is listed as one of the New York Times Best 10 Books for 2025 and Goodreads Best Memoir for 2025, among others. Normally I don’t care […]
The Rocky Letters
I received some devastating news this past weekend. After sending an old grad school friend an email birthday greeting, one of many emails I’ve sent the past few months that received no response, I was surprised to get a text not from her, but her husband. “Hi Gail. This is Dave. I saw your email […]
Hiding For My Life: Being Gay in the Navy
by Karen Solt, 2025 Last week, as a member of the National Association of Memoir Writers, I attended our virtual monthly book club where I heard an amazing woman speak about her memoir. She had served in the US Navy for 22 years, closeted as a lesbian sailor for the entire time. She didn’t realize […]
Art and Artifice: Sneak Peak No. 4
[Below is Chapter 7, titled “Life With a Toddler,” from my recently released book, Art and Artifice: A Memoir. You can read Chapter 1 here, Chapter 2 here, and Chapter 3 here. In this sneak peak that follows Chapter 3, I’ve jumped ahead four chapters and about 8 months. Paul and I are now a couple, […]
Art and Artifice: Sneak Peak No. 2
[Below is Chapter 2, titled “A Few Months Earlier,” from my recently released book, Art and Artifice: A Memoir. You can read Chapter 1 here, Chapter 3 here, and Chapter 7 here.] —- In the months leading to the birthday party weekend, a gradual flirtation started to develop between me and a colleague of mine named […]
Art and Artifice: Sneak Peak No. 1
[Below is Chapter 1, titled “September 2003,” from my recently released book, Art and Artifice: A Memoir. You can read Chapter 2 here, and Chapter 3 here, and Chapter 7 here.] “That chick can’t swim!” Megan’s voice shrieked above the noise of the party as she ran to the swimming pool and jumped in toward […]
The Tragedy of Gene Hackman
A few weeks ago I watched my worst nightmare play out in the news, first as a notification on my phone and later in the online newspapers I read: Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa died alone in their home in a remote section of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Their bodies were not found […]
The Siege
by Ben Macintyre, 2024 Most Americans remember the Iranian hostage crisis well, which occurred during President Jimmy Carter’s term. For those of you who were too young in the late 1970s, or who aren’t American on my subscriber list, 52 American citizens and diplomats were taken hostage in the US Embassy in Tehran by armed […]
