Some of you have asked about my son and his family who live in Los Angeles maybe 5 miles west of the demonstrations.  They have been focused on their usual lives-especially Shira's school play, Alice in Wonderland.  She was the Seven of Diamonds. The mayor of Los Angeles said the police were handling the demonstrations just fine.  The governor of California strongly opposes sending in the National Guard and the Marines.  It is my opinion that we are once again witnessing Mr. Trump trying to accumulate more power--and get dramatic headlines in the news.  I plan to be demonstrating a little myself this week-end at the Flag Day/No Kings events taking place in every state of the Union.

• New at The Practical Writer and Adventures in the Written Word with Danny Williams

• Poetry month for this year is over, but you can still get wonderful poems
  delivered to your inbox. Sign up for Poem-a-Day here.
  Here's a family poem I like a lot by Edward Hirsch.

• Latest  Issue of Books for Readers #239

   

New Issue!

Meredith Sue Willis's
Books for Readers #239

May 1, 2025

To Read this Newsletter,
please click here.

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Reviews of books by Jane Austen, Octavia Butler, Charles W. Chestnutt, Emma Cline, J.M. Coetzee, Melody Gee, Nnedi Okorafor, Stephen Spotswoord, Bryan Stevenson, Laura Tillman, Amor Towels, Mark Twain, Yu Miri. Reviews by Edwina Pendrvis, Elena L. Perez, , Diane Simmons and Christine Willis.

 

Octavia Butler, Yu Miri, Laura Tillman, Amor Towles

To Read this Newsletter,
please click here.

 

RESPONSES TO THIS NEWSLETTER

Please send responses to this newsletter directly to Meredith Sue Willis . Unless you say otherwise, your letter may be edited for length and published in this newsletter.

 

 

 

I have a new short-short story called Recessional just up online at The Raven's Perch:

https://theravensperch.com/recessional-by-meredith-sue-willis/

Books for Readers #238

Click here

Reviews of books by Percival Everett, Diane Simmons, Alice McDermott, Cherrie Moraga, Anne McCaffrey, Tui Sutherland, Edith Wharton, James M. Cain, Margaret Atwood, Albert Camu, Caleb Carr, Tony Hillerman, Shirley Jackson. Elaine Pagels. Reviews by Joe Chuman and Fay Martin.

 

 Meredith Sue Willis's 

Books for Readers # 237

December 10, 2024

Read this newsletter in its permanent location 

Dear Friends: 

To Read this Newsletter, 

please click here. 

Reviews of books by Dreama Frisk, Valerie Nieman, Stephen L. Carter, Gabrielle Korn, Rachel Kushner, Neal Stephenson, Thomas Hardy, Margery Sharp, Elizabeth Catte, Ana Reyes, Chris Colfer, Lisa Scottoline, John Grisham.  Reviews by Christine Willis, Danny Williams, & Rose Culbreth--and more.

For Holiday Gifts Buy Books!

FILLING FAST!

January 2025

Half-Day Zoom Workshop 

With Meredith Sue Willis

Housekeeping for Prose Narrative:

Polishing and Organizing

Saturday, January 18, 2025 

10:00 AM till 1:00 PM

By Zoom

For Novels, Short Stories, Memoir, 

Personal Narrative, and more 

$100 

Includes a critique of up to 

1,000 words by MSW

Class size is strictly limited and filling fast. 

Registration closes when the class fills.

Learn More

How to enroll

To Read Books for Readers# 237

Click Here!

 

Housekeeping for Prose Narrative:

Polishing and Organizing

Half-Day Zoom Workshop 

With Meredith Sue Willis

Saturday, January 18, 2025 

10:00 AM till 1:00 PM

By Zoom

For Novels, Short Stories, Memoir, 

Personal Narrative, and more 

$100  Includes a critique of up to  1,000 words by MSW

Class size is strictly limited. 

Registration closes when the class fills.

To learn more, go to   https://meredithsuewillis.com/mswclasses.html

For How to enroll   go to https://meredithsuewillis.com/mswclasses.html#howtoenroll

New Issue of Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS # 236

 New Issue of Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS # 236

New Issue of Books for Readers with reviews of books by Sabaa Tahir, Rebecca Roanhorse, Julian Barnes, Jane Austen, Brandon Taylor, Joshua Leifer, Pauletta Hansel, Carter Sickel, Stephen King, and reviews by Joe Chuman, Elaine Durbach, Eddy Pendarvis, Diane Simmons, Joel Weinberger, Danny Williams--and more!

New Issue of Books for Readers Now Up!

Reviews of Books by James Lee Burke, Kate DiCamillo, Donna Meredith, Elana Ferrante, Tana French, Joe Conason, Nadine Gordimer, Jamaica Kincaid, Ian McEwan, Cat Pleska, Illyon Woo, and more.

 

New Issue of Meredith Sue Willis's Books for Readers #234!

There's a new issue of Meredith Sue Willis's Books for Readers--Issue #234 with reviews of books by Robert Graves, Kathy Manley, Soman Chainani, Marie Tyler McGraw, James Welch, Jennifer Browne, Dennis Lehane, Primo Levi, Elmore Leonard, James McBride and more! Reviews written by Martha Casey, Dreama Frisk, and Diane Simmon--and a poem by Dreama Frisk! 

Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS #233!

 Another issue of  Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS #233!   This one has reviews of books by Susan Abulhawa, Ursula LeGuin, Deborah Clearman, Oscar Silver, Ford Madox Ford, Jeff Lindsay, Philip Roth, Lisa Scottoline, and more and reviews by Felicia Mitchell & Johe Chuman.  

Find it at https://www.meredithsuewillis.com/bfrarchive230-234.html#issue233.

New BOOKS FOR READERS # 232!!!

A new issue of Books for Readers # 232  with reviews of books by Jim Minick, Clarice Lispector, The Porch Poems, George du Maurier, Louise Fitzhugh, Natalia Ginzburg, Marilynne Robinson; Kathleen Watt; Hambly, Connelly, Alison HRubbard, Imogen Keeper, James McBride, Jenny Offill.  Reviews by Hilton Obenzinger, Eddy Pendarvis, Diane Simmons, Suzanne McConnell,and Christine Willis.

New Issue of Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS #231 January 15, 2024

 

New Issue Of Books For Readers #231!

Reviews of books by Anthony Burgess, S.A. Cosby, Eva Dolan, Janet Campbell Hale, Barbara Hambly, Marc Harshman, P.D. James, Michael Lewis, Mrs. Oliphant, Paul Rabinowitz, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Strout, Olga Tokarczuk, and more. Review by Dreama Frisk.

 Well, I asked ChatGPT to write a passage in my style, and it came back with this (Actually, more than this, but I can't stand even this much):

In the hazy embrace of a West Virginia morning, where mist clung to the rolling hills like whispered secrets, Clara ....a woman of quiet resilience, traced the worn spine of a paperback novel with calloused fingertips. The words within held a sacred resonance, echoing the stories of those who had tread the same path before her. Outside, a lone crow cawed from the branches of an ancient oak, its melancholic song carrying across the valley...In the distance, the river carved its course through the rugged terrain, a silver ribbon woven into the landscape's tapestry. Clara's thoughts, like the river's meandering flow, navigated the twists and turns of memory....Clara, with a reverence reserved for the familiar, stepped onto the worn porch. The rocking chair, an heirloom handed down through generations, creaked in rhythm with the sway of her contemplative thoughts.

"Mist like whispered secrets?" Yuck-a-poo. "A reverence reserved for the familiar"? Puh-lease.

What does that even mean?

It did a little better with a request for a short science fiction story.

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