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Gretchen Lida

Gretchen Lida is an essayist and an equestrian. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Brevity, The Rumpus, The Washington Independent Review of Books, and many others. She teaches composition in Illinois, lives in Wisconsin, sometimes lives on Nantucket Island and is still a Colorado Native.

3 Animal Memoirs to Make Your Heart Sing, Winny, and Woof

These animal memoirs are perfect for readers who cannot get enough animal love in their life.

Books to Radicalize Your Beach Bag

What if we used our time on the towel to grapple with hard truths?

My Strangely Dark History With GAME OF THRONES

A reader discusses the dark days that surround their GAME OF THRONES reading experience and that keep them from watching the show.

Figuring: A Hall Pass to Great Minds

Maria Popova’s new book called Figuring is a whopping 592 pages or 21 hours on audiobook. It is one of ...

The Hallowed Walls of The American Writers Museum

Early in February I finally got to go the American Writers Museum here in Chicago. I saw that Ross Gay ...

Five Nonfiction Books for the New American Family

The shape of the American family has taken a drastic shift in this last generation. The reality is that this ...

4 Great Books About The Great Lakes

During January’s visit of the polar vortex, my obsession with the Great Lakes sunk further in and ached just like ...

A Love Letter To a Cluttered Used Bookstore

A reader's love letter to Black and Read, a cluttered part bookstore and part record shop in Arvada, Colorado that inspired her literary life.

Trekking Books Have a Diversity Problem

A reader turned to trekking books for tales of adventure and came away with the observation that the genre has a dearth of books by marginalized people.

30 Tiny Lessons from 30 Memoirs

A reader set out to learn something new from memoirs read this year. Here's a list of each of those memoirs, along with a lesson learned from each.