Readers and writers: Nonfiction recommendations for spring
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Five brave Black women … the stars … handwritten letters … finding self-worth. Here’s a gathering of nonfiction for your spring reading pleasure. Treat yourself after working in the garden — and enjoy.
“Please Write: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Soulful Art of Handwritten Letters”: by Lynne M. Kolze (Beaver’s Pond Press, $31.95)
“Write a letter by hand? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s faster to use the computer.”
So say many of us when the subject of letters written using pen and ink are mentioned in these days of hurried communication. Lynne M. Kolze, who lives in the Twin Cities, is here to tell us the benefits and surprising revival of this old form that she believes can stay vibrant even in this age of social media.
“Letters represent love,” she writes. “Tidy, computer-generated letters leave me cold. They lack heart — the warmth, personality, charm, and playfulness of the paper letter. I have never found them to be quite as emotionally satisfying to write or receive. Letters remain special treasures because they are rare, deeply personal, one-of-a-kind creations that cannot be replaced if lost or destroyed.”
Kolze, who has written hundreds of notes and letters (four to six per month), believes the form benefits sender and receiver. She explains why letter writing is good for us, as well as pointing out how letters can be a learning laboratory, letter writing as spiritual practice, and how letters can save lives, encourage our development and, in the case of old letters, reveal our core truths. Weaving in her personal stories, she looks at letters of love and sympathy, letters that hurt and those that heal. She calls on us to teach a new generation about the satisfactions of letter writing not found at a computer.
Kolze spent her career in public service as an environmental planner for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, later working for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Although this book is pricey, it’s physically appealing, printed on heavy paper with color and black-and-white photos and illustrations. By the time you finish it you might want to dig out that pretty stationery and write the letter you’ve had in your head for a long time. Lynne Kolze assures you it will bring unexpected rewards.
“My Song, Unleashed”: by Marnie Dachis Marmet (Publish Her, $13-$19 depending on place of purchase)
When Marmet was 6 she was told she had a “raspy” voice, which embarrassed her so much she mostly didn’t do much speaking as a child. Her memoir is about how she went from childhood quiet to becoming a mature woman who trusts her instincts. She writes of her dad being in alcohol treatment, living in Israel with her husband, the births of three children and finding confidence and friendship with other women through various kinds of yoga and meditation. It was at a yoga retreat where she had a personal epiphany so many women need these days.
“I reclaimed my sense of self, the part of me that had been hidden away as I took on the role of mother and wife,” she writes. “I needed to find balance and manage both. I also realized I could adjust my expectations and exceed them in a way I hadn’t imagined… I had set out for relaxation, pool time and yoga, and I had gained so much more. I was reawakened. I was reminded of how much I loved adventure and deep discussions and meeting new people through shared experiences. All I’d needed was a reframe and a mindset shift. I renewed the importance of self-care and committed to taking this knowledge home with me.”
There were still times when Marmet got a little off-balance with worry, especially when she started her own business. But now she is a serial entrepreneur, board-certified health coach and founder of Zenful Life Coaching as well as co-creator and co-host of “The Art of Living Well” podcast.
“Enslaved, Indentured, Free”: by Mary Elise Antoine (Wisconsin Historical Society, $24.95)
Subtitled “Five Black Women on the Upper Mississippi, 1800-1850,” this is the history of free and enslaved women who come together in Prairie du Chien, Wis., written by the president of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society.
Using legal documents, military records, court transcripts, personal correspondence, and interviews with the women’s descendants, Antoine weaves a narrative showing the relationships between these women whose children and great-grandchildren would be of Native American, French Canadian and Black heritage
Marianne (1769-1816) was a free woman of many talents, mother of 12 children whom she raised on a farm she owned. She seems to have been a remarkable woman who was proud of her free status. Mariah (1800-1829) and Patsey (1800-1880) were born into slavery and when they arrived at the prairie they were listed as free, but were forced to sign papers that made them indentured, binding them to their enslavers for many years. (Although the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made slavery illegal in the territory, this was a way for enslavers to keep their human property.)
Maria eventually purchased her freedom and Patsey gained freedom for herself and her children when her enslaver died. Courtney (1812-1835) and Rachel (1814-1834) were born into slavery and brought to the upper Mississippi by U.S. Army officers transferred from Fort Snelling to Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien. The two women eventually filed freedom suits and won.
Minnesota plays a part in this story because of the influence of officers at Fort Snelling. There’s an appearance by Joe Rolette, who would later make his way to Minnesota and hide the document that would have moved the capital from St. Paul to St. Peter, as well as others with connections to this state.
Despite telling the story of lives on the Upper Mississippi River Valley in an era when all the enslaved should have been free, the book’s uplifting last chapter is about these women living free in Prairie du Chien. “The stories of Marianne, Mariah, Patsey, Courtney, and Rachel help to create a fuller picture of life in Wisconsin in the early 1800s,” the author writes. “But, perhaps more importantly, they add five inspiring narratives of hope, perseverance, and triumph to this chapter of our state’s, and nation’s, history.”
“Enslaved, Indentured, Free” was published in 2022 and received a Benjamin Franklin Award in Regional History from the Independent Book Publishers Association, a Midwest Independent Publishers Association award and the Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators Book of Merit award.
This book is so worth reading. Hats off to Antoine for bringing old records to life as we take a bittersweet journey with these women.
“Stars: A Month-by-Month Tour of the Constellations” by Mike Lynch (AdventureKEEN, $14.95)
“Say goodbye to the great constellations of winter, like Orion and his surrounding cast of characters, but say hello to more comfortable stargazing!”
That’s Mike Lynch’s advice for those who take a “star hike” through this month’s heavens in the second edition of his fact-filled. oversized paperback with sky charts showing the constellations for each month.
Lynch, whose Skywatch column is published in the Pioneer Press, writes in a friendly voice as he highlights the 27 constellations you can find throughout the year, offers tips for locating objects in the night sky and shares stories and myths behind the constellations. Lynch is an astrophotographer who has taught classes and guides tours of the stars.
