Issue #243 of Meredith Sue Willis's BOOKS FOR READERS

• Now Available: A New Issue of Books for Readers #243    Reviews of books by Susan Choi, Frances Burney, Judith Hoover, Lee Maynard, Robin Hobb, Jesse Q.Sutanto, Shannon Messenger, Burt Kimmelman, Madeline Miller, and Wuthering Heights. Reviews by Joe Chuman, Fay Martin, and Christine Willis. and more.  Reviews by MSW, Joe Chuman, Fay Martin, & Christine Willis

Meredith Sue Willis will be reading as part of the Women of Appalachia Project

 Meredith Sue Willis will be reading as part of the

 Women of Appalachia Project 

 

by Zoom

Thursday, February 12, 2026

7:00 p.m.

 

MSW will read a short piece from an in-process novel
called The Return of Roy Critchfield .

 

Click here for free registration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Women of Appalachia Project™ encourages participation from women of diverse backgrounds, ages and experiences from the 420 counties of Appalachia to share culture and experiences at arranged venues, embrace issues of marginalization and stereotype; creating a force, unified and non-violently confrontational, to show the whole woman, beyond superficial factors often used to judge her.

New Substack Entry on Writing as Meditation

 Substack about looking at writing as a practice like meditation: https://meredithsuewillis.substack.com/p/writing-as-a-practice

242nd Issue of My Books for Readers Newsletter!

242nd Issue of My Books for Readers Newsletter! 

Reviews of books by Daniela Gioseffi, Steve Schrader, Frances Burney, Susan Choi, Ian McEwan, Katherine Bouton, Rita Bullwinkel, Tui Sutherland, Walter Mosley, Elmore Leonard, Miriam Toews, and more.  Reviews by MSW, John Loonam, Fay Martin, & Christine Willis

See the issue here:   https://www.meredithsuewillis.com/bfrarchive241-243.html#issue242

New Substack entry about fake emails saying how wonderful my books are!

 

https://meredithsuewillis.substack.com/p/the-cruelty-of-claude?r=99sd1

Books for Readers Newsletter #241 Now Available!

Now Available: 

Meredith Sue Willis's Books for Readers #241 

10-4-25 

To Read this Newsletter, click here.

Reviews of books by Kelly Watt. E. Jean Carroll, Frances Burney, Penelope Fitzgerald, Denton Loving, Patrick Gale, Nicole Krauss, Elmore Leonard, Joanna Miller, and more. Reviews by Diane Simmons and Christine Willis.

 

Writing Your Novel
With Meredith Sue Willis

Online with Zoom

8 Sessions

Starts 9-24-25

Registration closes Sept. 19, 2025.
There are still two places left, but
the class will close sooner if it fills!

Click here for full information.

8 Wednesdays 9-24-25 through 11-19-25
No class October 1, 2025.
6:30 p.m.- 8:45 p.m. Eastern

$500 fee includes response from the teacher of up to 50 pages.

This class is strictly limited in size, and it follows closely the novel writing class created by MSW at New York University's School of Professional Studies.

Novel Writing Class with Meredith Sue Willis Starts 9-10-25

 

 

Next Class with Meredith Sue Willis
Starts Wednesday, September 10, 2025,
Novel Writing by Zoom at NYU

(NYU recommends signing up at least 3 weeks in advance.)

 

New Issue!

Meredith Sue Willis's
Books for Readers #240

July 24, 2025

To Read this Newsletter,
please click here.

.

Reviews of books by Frances Burney, Elmore Leonard, Mishima, Proulx,, Hardy, Michelle Tea, David Prather, Haruki Murakami, S.A. Cosby, Robin Hobb, Angie Kim, Scott Turow, and many more. Reviews by Joe Chuman, Kathie Giorgio, Edwina Pendarvis, Diane Smmons, and Danny Williams.

 

Scott Turow, Frances Burney, Thomas Hardy, Angie Kim, Min Jin Lee, S.A. Cosby

To Read this Newsletter,
please click here.

Bastille Day--I've been reading about France.

 

7-14-25 

Bastille Day!

The National Day of France

Monet's painting

It is Bastille Day--the national festival of France.

Thinking about the fascinating history of 18th-19th century France:
Overthrowing the old Regime; the Revolution (inspired by the American one); the Terror; Rise of Napoleon, first admired as a self-made hero; Napoleon becomes emperor; return of the Bourbon Kings; brief return of the Republic; return of Napoleon's family; another king (I think); another republic that lasted till the Nazis invaded Paris. And since World War II, a republic again.

And since World War II, a republic again. Now that's a history!

 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.

.

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!