About 130 pages into Among the Ten Thousand Things, the author, Julia Pierpont, starts a new section of her book with the title “That Year and Those That Followed.” In the following chapter Pierpont’s story jumps forward many years. Up to this point she had carefully unveiled her characters and plot. It was detailed and purposeful. And then, all of a sudden, it jumps forward years. And from that point forward I lost interest in the book. It’s as if she didn’t know what to say when […]
To All the Men I’ve Loved Before
When my local paper reviewed “Dear Mr. You” by Mary-Louise Parker, the reviewer compared Parker’s writing to Anne Lamott. Since Lamott is possibly my favorite writer I thought “Dear Mr. You” would be a good place to start my Cannonball Read. From what I understand, a friend of Parker’s submitted the book to various publishers without disclosing Parker as the author so I would assume it was published on its own merits. And it is an interesting book. Written as a series of letters to 34 men […]
The Eyes of Others Our Prisons
Orange Is the New Black is the memoir by Piper Kerman that has been turned into the popular Netflix series of the same name. As the novel begins Kerman is a recent Smith college graduate who longs to