I am home. in the book.

A reader recently met with me and showed me all the asterisks and dog-eared pages in the book marking the places that moved her most. It was delightful to find that many of the sentences I had struggled with were in that group.

You can probably imagine my pleasure in reading this later: “I am home. is a book about searching and connecting with yourself, with loss, with love, with who you are and who you want to be, through life experiences and change. In I am home., this path is seldom straightforward, much like the author’s discourse, which gently goes back and forth in time in a way that seems almost unconscious, much like our thoughts, and our emotions. In this search for home, the author’s voice comes through as genuine and honest where self-respect and dignity are non-negotiable conditions of this search.

I thoroughly enjoyed I am home. Maili’s writing is uplifting and insightful. It’s inspirational.”

I am home. on Praia de Gures.

Reading is sexy. Just do it. In places like this. it’s lovely to watch someone read. “El problema es cuando cojo tu libro, no puedo dejarlo,” this reader told me. In other words, “The problem is that when I pick up your book, I can’t put it down.”

I am home. in Barcelona.

One reader wrote to say, “The sentence I most relate to is: ‘I initially chose Barcelona for how I feel when in it: free and connected to something I cannot name or understand.'”

Have you ever had that feeling about a place? Barcelona is important in I am home. and in Lucy, go see. I am working on a short piece about our love affair, Barcelona’s and mine, and will share it with you soon.

“You write about it beautifully,” I was happy to hear.

Have you been to Barcelona? Come travel with me, and make yourself at home.

Available everywhere books are sold.

I am home. on Fire Hill in Wisconsin.

This reader wrote: “Finished on Fire Hill overlooking Lake Superior. I love the style in which it is written–poetic and lyrical and very soothing. I love how you gave us few words sometimes and let us think about the situation. You put words together in the most beautiful way! Here’s to the success of your book! I just ordered another copy for a gift–”

It means much to me to read that the book is soothing. That was a goal of the revision–to highlight the beauty of life and make folks glad to be living it. As I have written before, boiling down a 432,000-word first draft to 48,000 words of essence is an exercise in pertinence and poetry. How to make life sing? Each reader creates a new book when filling the white spaces on the page with their thoughts, imagination, memories, and experience. I am home., now everywhere with everyone, becoming more. (and Wisconsin is on these pages, too)

Available everywhere books are sold.

I am home. in Georgia.

At Decatur Cemetery, this reader found the book an “engaging rollercoaster ride” because she related so much to the narrator’s nomadic life. She read part of it on a lovely porch swing overlooking the cemetery. I like to think the poignant cemetery moments of the book were read on that swing. Georgia is where I gave birth to my son and motherhood. Both are important in this book.

Available in paperback and hardcover wherever books are sold.

I am home. in New York City.

I am home. in Washington Square Park. Amy “Absolutely loved it! It’s a memoir that feels like how memory works. A series of moments distilled to their poetic essence, full of beauty and grace. What’s not written heightens the poignancy of what is.”

Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.

I am home. in Dubuque.

Who can ask for anything more?

One of myriad ways this book can be seen is as a love letter to my family, friends and hometown, and to Northeastern Iowa.

Yet also to France, Iceland, Spain, England, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, New York, and California.

And many more. I love this planet.

I am home. on the Mediterranean.

This reader on the #mediterranean loves, like many other readers, the pace and clip and love and life on these #pages.

#beachread #summer #greatbook #travel #lifewriting

Join the conversation:

welcomewonder@mariannemaili.com

“The summer wind came blowing in from across the sea…”

Can you hear Frank Sinatra singing it as you look at this photo?

Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.

J’arrivais pas à laisser ce livre.

“J’arrivais pas à laisser ce livre,” the message said. “I couldn’t leave this #book,” is the literal translation and I like it. But do we leave #books👀 ? So I guess it would be “I couldn’t put this book down.” #home#love#bookreview#lifewriting#paris#reykjavik#barcelona#dubuque#chicago#madison#iowacity#iowa#travel#family#friendship#wisconsin this #story is filled with #beautiful#places and #people#kindnessmatters

Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.