By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Oct 31st, 2024
0 Comments
72 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “I wanted to see who I was, without using another person’s love for me as a measurement of my value.” When I think of Jessica Simpson, I first think of the MTV show Newlyweds, in which she and then-husband Nick Lachey documented their first year of marriage, only to divorc...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Oct 1st, 2024
0 Comments
156 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Every time I remember that my mother is dead, it feels like I’m colliding with a wall that won’t give. There’s no escape, just a hard surface that I keep ramming over and over, a reminder of the immutable reality that I will never see her again.” Michelle Zauner’s meditat...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Sep 2nd, 2024
0 Comments
142 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “The conversations that help me see the world most clearly are generally not with researchers, policymakers, or so-called experts. They aren’t with the people journalists crassly call ‘newsmakers’ at all. They’re with artists – especially writers.” The essence of Sh...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Sep 2nd, 2024
0 Comments
137 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Happiness is harder to put into words. It’s also harder to source, much more mysterious than anger or sorrow, which come to me promptly, whenever I summon them, and remain long after I’ve begged them to leave.” When I want to laugh, I turn to author David Sedaris. In Caly...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Jul 31st, 2024
0 Comments
160 Views
“It was stunning how casual lying was woven into most married life.” Forever drawn to debut novels, I’m curious about what a budding author has to say. Is their goal to tell a good story, to write what they assume we want to read, to cloud social commentary in the balm of fiction? As a […]...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Jul 31st, 2024
0 Comments
172 Views
“We often mistake love for fireworks – for drama and dysfunction. But real love is very quiet, very still. It’s boring, if seen from the perspective of high drama. Love is deep and calm – and constant.” Alicia and Gabriel Berenson’s love story featured displays of affection and tension-fi...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Jul 1st, 2024
0 Comments
203 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Weddings, she quickly discovered, were about everything except the health of a couple’s relationship. They were social performances, the purpose of which varied from family to family. And they were competitive.” Gonzalez’s debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming opens with the tit...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
Jul 1st, 2024
0 Comments
190 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Why books? Because no other thing possesses that mystical faculty to make people see with other people’s eyes. The Library is a bridge of books between cultures.” No surprise, I’m a self-professed bibliophile, and gravitate towards books about books. Reading the intricate...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
May 1st, 2024
0 Comments
291 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making a choice and committing to it.” Matthew McConaughey, the Oscar winning actor best known for romantic comedy, box office gold and shirtless paparazzi photos, has published a memoir to surprisingly rave reviews. ...
By Nathan Coker
In Bayou Pages
May 1st, 2024
0 Comments
572 Views
review by Meredith McKinnie “Trauma is not what happens to you but what happens inside you.” I first fell in love with Barbara Kingsolver’s voice while reading Flight Behavior, which I reviewed here in May of 2022. Kingsolver’s impressive ability to take on entire literary worlds is astounding in sco...
