Winter Reading

A few weeks ago, AuthorsOnTheWeb.com asked me if I’d be willing to review a memoir called The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan, on this site. Feeling like it was some sort of odd coincidence that I was both on break from school and looking for new reading, I agreed. While this is definitely something new around here and me, well I’m merely a student and a writer-in-training at best, I have always been a reader. And what better time to do something brand new, to read something brand new, than during the short, cold days of winter. My lack of talent in the arena of brevity, however, does mean that this is more of a discussion than a review though, which I’m fine with. Here’s hoping everyone else is, too.

I began reading The Middle Place the same day it arrived in the mailbox. I finished reading it two days later, while sitting in the drive-thru line at the bank, because this is the kind of book you want to take with you. In her descriptions of her life as the younger sister of two brothers growing up in a Philadelphia suburb, of becoming a wife and mother, of being diagnosed with breast cancer, and, in the resounding theme of the entire story, being her father’s daughter, Kelly Corrigan takes you along for the ride. She tells her story with an uncommon openness, as if you might be the person sitting across from her at a late afternoon lunch, talking as if you’ve known each other for years.

Having worked with breast cancer patients in the past, I was able to identify with many of the instances Corrigan recalls. She writes honestly about the experience of cancer, the moments of hope and joy and dread. But that is just a part of this book, the vehicle that takes the reader on the journey. This book is really about relationships with the people in our lives. Those we’re stuck with, and those we choose. It’s about how those people that shape us from the beginning become the foundation of every tangent we end up on, the lights on the paths that lead us back, and the reassurance that comes in an adult child’s life that no matter how far you go, no matter how much you’re forced to change, there is a place you return to, as someone’s child.

This is, I think, what struck me the most while reading The Middle Place. The thought that we are—whether because of it or in spite of it— simply a product of the people in our lives. The bond Corrigan describes with her father evokes one of two thoughts: I want that or I have that. It is because of the way she humorously, yet carefully, crafts the story of this relationship, along with all the others in her writing, that I recommend this book. By the end, not only was I feeling that this book came into my life at the right time and that it was no coincidence after all, but that maybe the same could apply to you. As a reviewer, I was impressed. As a reader, I was touched. I’m not sure which is right or more important, but it was important that I share it with you.

The Middle Place is available on January 8.
KellyCorrigan.com
EveryWomansVoice.com

I’d like to thank Authors On The Web and Every Woman’s Voice for the opportunity to play the role of reviewer today.

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But oh, no, the fun does not end there!

Speaking of books coming into our lives, what are you reading?

I often forget that while I love to browse Amazon.com while at work the shelves of my local book stores, sometimes I forget about the value in a recommendation. And, let’s be honest, I’ve only got a few more weeks until school starts again and reading a book I know someone else loved sounds like one of the better ways to spend that time.

I’m open to all suggestions— let’s hear ‘em!