Honestly, I read Congratulations! The Best is Over as soon as I was offered the galley because I was baffled that a man who said he grew up in Baltimore could get so much wrong about the city and state of Maryland in his last book. In this one he admits he has no sense … Continue reading
Category Archives: nonfiction
Owner of a Lonely Heart by Beth Nguyen
I always love her memoirs and writing in general and this one filled in some gaps in her life’s story. I love how she writes about her biological mother and how fraught that relationship is. She writes very honestly about her father and how he has changed into a very different man with her children … Continue reading
We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship by Will Schwalbe
I agreed with the title, they should not be friends but not for the reasons the author seems to think. Maxey is an interesting, accepting, loving larger-than-life character. I enjoyed reading about his interesting and passionate life quite a bit. However, I never got a great feel for the author at all. What did he … Continue reading
Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus
I was so excited to read Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus that I stopped what I was doing to read the second I got the notification from Netgalley that I got the galley. I had been looking forward to this book since I first saw her tweet about the deal. Continue reading
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Essays on Desire and Consumption by Katy Kelleher
I was so excited to read this book. It sounded tailor made for me and I’ve followed the author online for a long time. I love the history of objects and reading about our personal connections to them. I just didn’t really enjoy it. I wish she had decided to write a memoir about her … Continue reading
Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool by Clara Parkes
Vanishing Fleece was fairly interesting but I can’t get over that she built a career of writing about yarn but never, until this book, knew much about how it was made? I still don’t know how much she knows, a lot of the details are a little glossed over—she talks about things like ply, staple … Continue reading
Weaving Rag Rugs: A Women’s Craft in Western Maryland by Geraldine Niva Johnson
I enjoyed Weaving Rag Rugs, I think it was her PhD thesis, but I never felt like she answered why rag rug weaving has/had such a stronghold in this particular county in Maryland. Or if it’s not more popular there than in other areas, why chose to focus here? I did get a feel of … Continue reading
Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us Edited by Colleen Kinder
I joined a virtual book tour for Letter to a Stranger because the concept was so fun! I spent a lot of time pre-pandemic eavesdropping and wondering about the people I encountered in my every day life so a book of essays about the strangers that drift in and out of all our lives. This … Continue reading
Bon Appétempt: A Coming of Age Story (with recipes!) by Amelia Morris
Bon Appétempt: A Coming of Age Story (with recipes!) by Amelia Morris is one of those memoirs written by a person who doesn’t seem to understand what she is telling us about herself. Some warnings—She has massive unreflected on privilege and an eating disorder she passes off as “dieting”. She got the book deal off … Continue reading
Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore
I am a lifelong resident of Baltimore, a city that has a fair amount in common with Detroit so I was interested in reading Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore I was really disappointed. She presents most of the stories as sort of vignettes without a lot of depth or discussion. This happened, this happened, … Continue reading