4 out of 4 stars
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Online blogs are a popular way for authors to quickly write down their thoughts and share them with their readers. Some bloggers have found success with turning blog entries into full-fledged manuscripts that appeal to a wider and different audience. In Me Thinks, writer Mary Lois Adshead has done just that, turning pieces from her blog into this book.
Me Thinks is a series of essays on a variety of topics including the author’s hometown in the South, her move to New Jersey, her time overseas, her work in theatre, and the unconventional school she attended as a child. Later essays deal with her take on various books and movies. To say author Mary Lois Adshead is interesting would be an understatement. Her stories are fascinating and I found myself flipping the pages with eager delight, wanting to know more. The author has lived a very full and colorful life and shares tidbits for the reader to sample. For example, as a young child growing up in the South, her mother grew frustrated with the local customs and societal norms and the family moved to the rather progressive town of Fairhope, Alabama where Mary Lois was enrolled in an experimental school with no dress code, no grades or tests, and required art classes and trips to the beach. Another essay described the realities of online dating as a senior citizen, and another talked about creating a vibrant and thriving theatre community when she lived overseas with her husband in Geneva.
I very much enjoyed reading about the author’s life. Her vast myriad of experiences made for entertaining tales and I could easily see myself sharing a pot of tea with Mary Lois Adshead as she told me about her latest foray into the world of geriatric dating or waxed poetically about her early schooling in Fairhope. We’d pour another cup and banter back-and-forth about the merits of one particular movie or another and then discuss the legacy of Harper Lee. Of course, this little tea time fantasy exists only in my mind, but Me Thinks is so full of life that it’s very easy to imagine.
This book appeared to be professionally edited and error-free and was easy to read and understand. The only real criticism I had was that I simply wanted to know more. The author has been married three different times but does not ever mention her first husband. This marriage resulted in a much-loved daughter and likely was important in Mary Lois Adshead’s life, but nothing is said about it. Some of my favorite essays were about the unique school the author attended as a child and I wanted to know more about it and almost feel cheated that so much was left out. I felt there were real solid stories started in this book, but that most of them ended too quickly with little resolution. In short, it felt like I was reading a collection of blog posts, which, as explained by the author at the beginning of the book, I was.
I rated this book 4 out of 4 stars. I liked the essays and the author’s writing style was appealing and kept my attention. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes memoirs, stories from the South, or anyone who likes quirky and unique authors.
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Me Thinks
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