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Essay Compilations Featuring Works by Joyce Maynard
I've always loved
telling stories, in the short essay form, and in the last few years I've
been lucky enough to have the opportunity to contribute to a number of
terrific collections by women writers on a variety of topics. (It occurs
to me, reading over the list here, that a person might get a somewhat
skewed experience of how I've spent the last fifty two years of my life.
The truth is, trouble and trauma often make richer material than simple
happiness does. But there are actually a few funny stories in the mix
here, too, if you look hard enough.
About wanting:
Desire: Women Writers Write About Wanting
(link to come soon)
About behaving badly:
Bad
Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave
About
raising a daughter:
It's
a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters
About life with a toddler:
Toddler:
Real-life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We
Love
About raising teenagers:
I
Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers
Amazon Reader Review
Excerpt: "Joyce Maynard, a gifted writer, included an essay
about her son's girlfriend spending the night. Her essay was unflinchingly
honest; clear, sharp and direct as are all her works. That is what makes
them outstanding and effective..."
About being unmarried and over forty:
Single
Woman of a Certain Age
Amazon
Reader Review Excerpt: "Several
selections stood out but I particularly liked Joyce Maynard's account
of an online dating experience... She portrays the baffling world that
can confront women who bravely risk dating but with different perspectives
than when they were younger."
About growing
older:
Kiss
Tomorrow Hello: Notes From the Midlife Underground by Twenty-Five Women
Over Forty
About having a Jewish parent (and one who is not):
Half/Life:
Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes
About the relationship with a child care provider:
Searching
for Mary Poppins: Women Write About the Intense Relationship Between Mothers
and Nannies
About miscarriage:
About
What Was Lost: Twenty Writers on Miscarriage, Healing, and Hope
Amazon Reader Review
Excerpt: "This anthology is a powerful read for all women, those
who have experienced miscarriage themselves and for those who have not.
It is a celebration of women, their strength, and their common experience..."
About troubled
marriages:
The
Honeymoon's Over: True Stories of Love, Marriage, and Divorce
About misplaced
affection:
Mr.
Wrong: Real-Life Stories About the Men We Used to Love
Amazon Reader Review
Excerpt: "This book has it all - humor, pathos, entertainment.
Some excellent writers have found the courage to share the tales of
love-life mistakes they have made in a way that enriches us all. Some
stories made me laugh, and one or two came so close to my own history
that it was like seeing myself through a different set of eyes. Joyce
Maynard's touching "Your Friend Always" had the power to make
me read through it three times, seeing different things in it each time..."
"These
tales run the gamut from hilarious ("I Married a Wanker!")
to chilling (do not skip Joyce Maynard). As a whole, the collection
prompts us to wonder: Why do we women so often enter relationships that
we know are bad for us? These authors ask themselves that very question,
and offer illuminating, engaging, and unsparingly honest attempts at
an answer."
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