Yesterday I reviewed Missing, a memoir by author Cornelia Maude Spelman. In Missing, Spelman talks about her quest to know about her mother. Today, I’m happy to feature an essay from Spelman about discovering our emotional legacies. In particular, she focuses on the mother-daughter relationship. Discovering Your Emotional Legacy I invite you to embark on [...]
Family is something many of us take for granted. Our parents and our siblings just are, and even if we’re curious about our parents’ lives before we came along, we often don’t do anything with that curiosity. Cornelia Maude Spelman decided she would, and she wrote about her journey to discovery in her memoir, Missing. [...]
For me a great memoir does more than tells a personal story. It also engages both my emotions and my intellect and leaves me wanting to know more about the author and what she writes about. Bonobo Handshake by Vanessa Woods, delivers on all counts. The book opens with Woods in crisis as she is [...]
As a successful Manhattan radio DJ, Jo Maeder led what many would consider a glamorous New York City life. Yet when it became increasingly clear that her mother could no longer live on her own in the home she owned in Virginia, Jo made a choice to leave the city and move with her mother [...]
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang is a compelling memoir from a girl growing up during the Chinese cultural revolution. Filled with patriotic fervor for the Chinese communist government, Ji-li is at first ashamed to be part of her family, which is persecuted because of her grandfather’s political beliefs. But as she sees injustices heaped [...]
After our mother-daughter book club read Going Solo by Roald Dahl, my daughter, Madeleine wrote this review. Going Solo is a memoir that picks up where Boy left off. It follows Roald Dahl’s adventures in Africa and around the Mediterranean just before and during World War II. From encounters with deadly snakes, lions, and German [...]
My daughter Catherine wrote this review of Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl; it’s one of her favorite books. I recommend this book for all ages and girls, boys, women and men. In short, it should be a hit with everyone. I love this book! A personal favorite! If you liked Charlie and the [...]
Today I’ve posted a review at Writer’s Roundabout for Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood by Melissa Hart. Here’s the beginning paragraph. Click here to read the whole review on Writer’s Roundabout: When Melissa Hart’s mother left her father to live with another woman in the 1970s, the custody decision was no surprise for the times—lesbians would [...]
