Today marks a decade since I earned a PhD from the University of Barcelona. Oh, happy day! It feels good to be here in this city of my heart and soul again to celebrate all of the life before, during, and since that moment.
A Special Anniversary
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.”
Home is with you wherever you go.
It’s a story that moves about a person who moves.
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 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. 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.
On the first page, I am home.
I am home. on the train in Spain.
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.
I am home. on Passeig de Sant Joan.
I am home. in a #green mood in #Barcelona. I #love hearing from #readers.
Things like “I’ve been loving every sentence. Reading it slowly to make it last.” and “I’m absolutely #loving it! #Powerful#writing.”
This makes me feel so good after all the sentence crafting. Sometimes it feels like surgery or that game we played as kids called Operation – feels like that when I try to move #words and #sentences around without #touching others.
“It’s a #real#journey for the #reader“, I liked reading that message, too.
Please send #thoughts, #images, #favorite#pages and many thanks to those who have
it means a lot to know what what I’ve done does for others
welcomewonder@mariannemaili.com
Available in hardcover and paperback everywhere books are sold.
Marianne Maili 