MER - August Book News
"I was not given meaning, so I had to make it." - Jiwon Choi, Author's Note on A Temporary Dwelling
Mid-August is when I begin to realize that summer is winding down: “Back to school” signs in the stores and online, social media pics of folks taking kids to college, posts by teachers on curriculum plans. It’s a great time to focus, to enjoy the final few weeks of relative freedom and warmth. Those who are enjoying working on the Sealey challenge (30 books of poetry in August) may have some treasures to recommend (and we’d love it if you’d note them in the Comments section) as do we! Read a thoughtful Author’s Note by Jiwon Choi on the writing of her newest book of poetry, A Temporary Dwelling. Click on the titles to read our full book reviews, and check out our new Bookshelf list of new (and upcoming) reads.
Our book review monthly roundup is a great time to celebrate our savvy squadron of volunteer book reviewers. Their work supports literature with a focus on motherhood and women’s lives. If you’d like to write a review for us (perhaps of one of our Bookshelf listed books) please email us at MERreviews@gmail.com.
Enjoy August and happy reading!— Marjorie
Marjorie Tesser, MER
Author’s Note
Jiwon Choi on writing A Temporary Dwelling
“…We landed in New York City from Korea in 1972, with three more war years to go in Vietnam, so no wonder the depth and viscerality of the anti-Asian sentiment dumped at our feet. I would have been almost three years old at the time so I have no palpable memory of those early settling-in years (my parents ended up sending me back to Seoul to live with my uncle’s family until I was five). But what I do know these five decades later, is that the traumatic and anguished experiences of my parents continue to reside within me, woven and embedded into my own memories, created just as easily once I was old enough….” READ MORE
August Book Reviews
Bright-Eyed by Sarah Sarai
Review by Jordan E. Franklin
For those of you new to Sarah Sarai, she is a NYC-based poet and editor with a prolific publication record spanning several collections. While most poets experience a lag in their work and output… Read More
The Fiction of Stillness by Robyn Hunt
Review by Elizabeth Brown
The Fiction of Stillness is Robyn Hunt’s second collection of poems. Her first collection, The Shape of Caught Water, was published by Red Mountain Press in 2013, winning the New Mexico Press Women’s Association Award… Read More
Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women 1960-2023 edited by Mojdeh Bahar
To you who took flight suddenly: a review by Jennifer Jean
In her introduction to Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women 1960-2023, editor Mojdeh Bahar tells us that the jay in the title is a desert…. Read More
The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves
Review by Jane Ward
Imagine walking along a pier with your children. Your daughter points to something, a bird circling the ocean, perhaps, searching for fish. Your eyes leave your young son for one minute, or less–an instant. When…. Read More
Mom in Space by Lisa Ampleman
Review by Laura Dennis
The expression “mom in space,” might bring to mind a woman suffering from “mom brain,” COVID brain fog, or some combination thereof. The cover of Lisa Ampleman’s third full-length poetry collection, however, indicates we are… Read More
Slow Wreckage by Barbara Crooker
Review by Mindy Kronenberg
Perhaps it was serendipitous that Barbara Crooker’s evocative and engaging book of poems on the rewards and ravages of aging landed in my hands as I approach my seventieth year. Like many of a certain… Read More
MER Bookshelf - August 2024
Curated by Melissa Joplin Higley, featuring books by Joan Kwon Glass, M.A. Nicholson, Wendy Wisner, Ellen Kombiyil, Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, DeMisty D. Bellinger, Daneen Bergland, Desiree Richter, Nicole Callihan, Pichchenda Bao, & Jennifer Franklin, Editors, Pepper Stetler, Amy Stuber, Leslie Williams, and Claire Millikin.
Interested in reviewing one of these? Email us at MERreviews@gmail.com.