Introduction The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws is an original and brilliant work. Margaret Drabble weaves her own story into a history of games, in particular jigsaws, which have offered her and many others relief from melancholy and depression. Alongside curious facts and discoveries about jigsaw puzzles—did you know that [...]
Archive of posts tagged memoir/biography
Saddled by Susan Richards
Reading Group Guide for Saddled by Susan Richards Introduction One day, at the age of thirty-one, Susan Richards realized that she was an alcoholic. She wrote it down in her journal, struck by the fact that it had taken nine years of waking up hung-over to name her illness. What had changed? Susan had a [...]
The Sisters Antipodes by Jane Alison
Introduction When Jane Alison was a child, her family met another that seemed like its mirror: a father in the Foreign Service, a beautiful mother, and two little girls. The youngest girls from each family — one of them Jane — even shared a birthday. With so much in common, the two families became almost [...]
Atomic Farmgirl by Teri Hein
About the Author Teri Hein grew up on a wheat farm originally homesteaded by her great-grandparents in eastern Washington. In the years since she left home for college, she has led an adventurous life—teaching abroad, rafting the Grand Canyon, traveling to northwestern Pakistan, doing research in the Amazon jungle, and hiking above the Arctic [...]
The Tender Land by Kathleen Finneran
The Tender Land is a love story unlike any other. In her remarkable debut, Kathleen Finneran renders powerfully the emotional, spiritual, and physical terrain of familial relationships — their closeness and disconnection, their intimacy and estrangement, and their ultimate resilience. The Finnerans — parents and five children — are a seemingly ordinary family until [...]
An American Requiem by James Carroll
Downloadable Guide for Group Discussion and Classroom Use “Told with integrity and style, this is a moving account of the generational strains of the Vietnam era, and the timeless agonies of fathers and sons.” —The New Yorker In this dramatic, intimate, and tragic memoir, James Carroll recovers a time when parents could no longer [...]
Womenfolks by Shirley Abbott
“Wonderful and important.” — Pat Conroy “Regardless of where we are born, Womenfolks gives us the courage and energy to ask who we really are.” — Boston Globe About the Book In a captivating tribute to the mothers and daughters of the South, Shirley Abbott combines personal memoir with meditation on family, myth and [...]
When the White House Was Ours by Porter Shreve
About When the White House Was Ours “Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.” — Lorrie Moore Loosely based on Porter Shreve’s own childhood, WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is the [...]
Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro
Slow Motion Dani Shapiro ISBN:9780156008471 About the book: Dani Shapiro, a young woman from a deeply religious home, became the girlfriend of a famous and flamboyant married attorney-her best friend’s stepfather. The moment Lenny Klein entered her life, everything changed: she dropped out of college, began drinking, and neglected her friends and family. But then [...]
The Women of Troy Hill by Clare Ansberry
The Women of Troy Hill Clare Ansberry ISBN:9780156013420 About the book: In a small neighborhood, atop a hill in Pittsburgh, thrives a world where neighbors don’t move away, where friends become family, and where community takes on a deeper meaning. Welcome to the inviting and intriguing neighborhood of Troy Hill. Unlike nearby towns, the families [...]
