Magical Memoir Moments

Review of Jean Janzen's Mennonite Memoir: Entering the Wild

By Shirley Showalter | November 29, 2012

The word “wild” has loomed large over the field of memoir this year. You’ve probably heard of Cheryl Strayed’s wonderful book about her amazing journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. I reposted a wonderful review of the book by Strayed’s mentor Paulette Bates Alden here. Now I have another wild book to recommend. Here’s my…

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Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: An "Old Mennonite" Review

By Shirley Showalter | November 21, 2009

When I read Rhoda Janzen’s Mennonite in a Little Black Dress late at night, the bed posts shook. I had to choke back gargantuan guffaws in order not to wake my Mennonite husband. The last time that happened, I was reading Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Before that, David Sedaris, Michael…

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