Crazy Woman Creek

May 15, 2004
The editors and many of the authors featured in Leaning into the Wind and Woven on the Wind have reunited for another likable collection of essays and poetry featuring women of the American West. This hodgepodge is comfortable and folksy yet diverse. Where else can a reader find an essay by a Nebraska Buddhist followed by a poem recalling "Vagina Dialogues on a Road Trip"? Themes emerge throughout the collection-how women minister to one another with food and a helping hand, how laughter heals and protects, and how vitally important relationships are to women, especially to those living in remote areas. Many selections are heartwarming, some are chilling in their truthfulness, and many demonstrate the necessary humor of survivors. Recommended for public and academic libraries with regional collections.-Jan Brue Enright, Augustana Coll. Lib., Sioux Falls, SD

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2004
This diverse and uplifting collection of prose and poetry is the third gathered by the editors, three literary women who also work ranches and whose aim is to honestly portray the lives of contemporary western women. One hundred fifty-three women contributed pieces on the ways in which communities of women, whether spontaneous or organized, have affected their lives. Some groups will sound familiar in all parts of the country, like the "casserole women" in a nameless subdivision taking food to the family of a SIDS victim or the "Tupperware ladies" who make their signature hot dish in response to every birth, death, anniversary, and broken leg. Others seem unique to the West, like the four animal-loving friends from isolated ranches who gather for the births of horses and puppies, ending with a champagne toast, or the woman who conducts tortilla-making lessons for her daughter, then later her grandchildren. Church ladies, sewing and quilting circles, library "read-alouds," yoga and meditation groups, Uno-playing chemotherapy patients--all have contributed to this thoughtful, restorative collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)