This collection of short essays delivers more joy than many books twice its size. Culled from two decades鈥 worth of Mary Helen Stefaniak鈥檚 鈥淎live and Well鈥 column in the 海角乱伦社区Source, each essay invites readers into the ordinary life of a woman 鈥渨ith a family and friends and a job . . . and a series of cats and a history living in one old house after another at the turn of the twenty-first century in the middle of the Middle West.鈥 One great aunt presides over nineteen acres of pecan grove profitably strewn with junk. A borrowed hammer rings with the sound of immortality. Famous poets pipe up where you least expect them. Living and dying are found to be two sides of the same remarkable coin.
What鈥檚 more, writing prompts at the end of the book invite readers to search their own lives for such moments鈥攖he kind that could be forgotten but instead are turned, by the gift of perspective and perfectly chosen detail, into treasure. The Six-Minute Memoir encourages people to tell their own stories even if they think they don鈥檛 have the kind of story that belongs in a memoir.
鈥淎 treasure trove of marvels, the sort of book you want to wave around and buy for everyone you love. These brief, beguiling essays turn ordinary moments into extraordinary delights and take you along on the wild and bumbling adventures of a writer so witty and wise you will miss her like a dear friend when you close the book.鈥濃擵alerie Laken, author, Dream House
鈥淭he vignettes that make up The Six-Minute Memoir are quirky, engaging, and add up to a terrific evocation of life well-lived, of life joyfully and abundantly embraced (from bike riding as a kid to porridge with a swim club to house remodel miseries to travel stumbles in China). Never mind the inevitable foibles and sorrow, Mary Helen Stefaniak鈥檚 stalwart midwestern take is reassuringly positive and utterly charming.鈥濃擠ebra Gwartney, author, I am a Stranger Here Myself
鈥淭he Six-Minute Memoir is a great pointillistic painting of a book. Up close, you admire the detail inside each dot鈥攁 snowy night at the Drake, the troubling foundation of a 150-year-old house, a murky ultrasound of the heart鈥攂ut when you stand back, taking in the whole of it, the bigger picture emerges: an oft-neglected region of the country, a family lineage, a writer鈥檚 life. Mary Helen Stefaniak has written an irresistibly likeable, slyly funny, and addictive memoir.鈥濃擩ohn McNally, author, The Fear of Everything
鈥The Six-Minute Memoir is so inviting, so insistently curious about so much, the essays sparkling and witty reminders that stepping briefly into the life of another to have a look can be both a joy and a relief.鈥 鈥擲cott Korb, director, Pacific University鈥檚 MFA in Writing program
