Mari Carlson, Book Reviewer

When not reading fiction and writing reviews, Mari is probably practicing violin or teaching lessons or playing a gig. She enjoys the local literary and music scenes in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
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When not reading fiction and writing reviews, Mari is probably practicing violin or teaching lessons or playing a gig. She enjoys the local literary and music scenes in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
"An Unexpected Normal" is a poignant memoir about how a family handled the challenges of their youngest’s disabilities. Rita T. Angelini’s heartrending memoir "An Unexpected Normal" is about parenting a child with severe...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
"3 Songs" is a musing memoir–cum–cultural analysis through music. Randy Gibbons’s autobiographical history of three jazz standards, "3 Songs", relates the songs to his own story, to their place in American history, and to each...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
The intimate essays in "Swaddled" aim to support mothers as people outside of their children. In Elizabeth Sarah Cassidy’s confessional essay collection "Swaddled", mothers discuss how becoming a parent changed them. When Cassidy’s...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
Donna Freitas’s psychological thriller "Her One Regret" is about a missing mother and regretting motherhood. Lucy disappears from a parking lot, leaving her baby behind. Her best friend, Michelle, thinks she was kidnapped. But then...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
"Miami Outlaw" is a ranging account of countercultural activities within the criminal underworld. Scott Sherouse’s thorough memoir "Miami Outlaw" covers the exploits of a Florida drug-running inner circle. Tying Sherouse’s...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
Comedy is derived from badly dealt hands in the dramatic short story collection People Making Danger. An assisted suicide and other realistic magic tricks fill Adam Fike’s farcical short story collection People Making Danger. In “The...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
Defining incontinence in concise terms alongside guidance for recognizing the signs of the problem, "Caring with Dignity" is a straightforward medical reference text. Michele Mongillo’s caregiver’s resource "Caring with Dignity"...
Book Review
by Mari Carlson
In the uplifting throwback novel "Charity Trickett Is Not So Glamorous", a refreshing heroine forges her own path in Hollywood. In Christine Stringer’s humorous novel "Charity Trickett Is Not So Glamorous", a director’s assistant...
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