Madeleine Blais

It feels a little weird to review this since the author was my professor in college and remains my friend, but for anyone looking for great narrative nonfiction, this book is a wonderful collection that hasn't received the attention it deserves. It includes the pieces for which Blais won the Pulitzer in feature writing (including a portrait of Tennessee Williams, toward the end of his life, in Key West) and a great, heartrending portrait of a family coping with a daughter/sister who is show more schizophrenic (a subject Blais understood firsthand, which you can learn more about in her memoir, [[Uphill Walkers]]. Anyway, for people who are aspiring journalists or nonfiction writers, especially of features and profiles that go beyond celebrity-of-the-moment, this is a worthy read. show less

I’m a sucker for memoirs about selling old, family owned Cape Cod homes since I love the island that much. That’s why I loved The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt. He evoked the charm, the family, the sadness when his family sold their summer home. I hope To the New Owners by Madeleine Blais would evoke the same emotions, but alas, it did not.

Instead, Ms. Blais, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, described life on Martha’s Vineyard, the show more growth of the Vineyard from a whaling town to a summer destination for the elite, and then, to some extent, life with her family.

To the New Neighbors is not a love story about a somewhat ramshackle summer home, lived in for fifty years by her in-laws’ family, that the author is sure will be knocked down and replaced by a McMansion. It is more a psychological study of the island, the residents’ desire for privacy, the way the island makes summer guests forget the rest of the world (until a president or two decide to vacation there), the ramifications of a breach of that privacy, etc. She touches on the life of year-round residents facing many of the same issues found on the mainland. She name drops quite a bit.

Ms. Blais is an award winning journalist and To the New Neighbors comes across more as a newspaper article than a memoir. If you are looking for a more poignant story, The Big House will be more your speed. show less

A biography of Alice Marble – tennis legend and celebrity.

Though sometimes cumbersome to read due to the detail, QUEEN OF THE COURT provided an interesting look at Alice Marble’s life story. I was not familiar with Alice prior to reading, so I had a great deal to learn about her as well as the rise of women’s tennis including Alice’s work to dismantle the color barrier within competitive tennis. There was much more to her life beyond the court.

QUEEN OF THE COURT was a great book show more that I’d recommend for those interested in sports history (particularly tennis) and biographies (especially of athletes).

Thank you to Atlantic Monthly Press for the giveaway ARC. show less

I read this as a high schooler and adored it. I didn't grow up in precisely this environment, but it was damned close, and some of the descriptions of the girls could just as well have been about me and my friends. Particularly some of the hero-worshipping diary entries by younger girls about the older ones - that was a huge part of my closeted baby-dyke experience.