I stumbled across this while looking for something else. But the phrase "Creative Non-fiction" caught my attention and piqued my curiosity, so I gave the teaser essay on Amazon a read. The first few pages were absolutely engrossing. Intelligent, fascinating, a hauntingly personal take on a difficult topic. Hooked, I bought the book, finished that essay on my own time and was so satisfied it didn't matter whether the other essays were as good. It turns out that editor Lee Gutkind had put the best foot forward. That said, there were several other good essays, a few so-so pieces, and a few that I just shook my head at and wondered how they'd made their way into this nice collection. But, heck, that could just be a matter of personal taste.

Here are the titles of the essays that impressed me most:
Three Spheres by Lauren Slater
Killing Wolves by Sherry Simpson
Adventures in Celestial Navigation by Philip Gerard
Leaving Babylon by Judyth Har-Even
Sa'm Pedi by Madison Smartt Bell
Chimera by Gerald N. Callahan
Delivering Lily by Phillip Lopate
In the Woods by Leslie Rubinkowski
Notes from a Difficult Case by Ruthann Robson

And here are some of my favorite quotes from the book.
"I am never more miserable or more alive than when I lie sleepless, trapped in my past and happy in my pathology" -Rubinkowski

"We husbands had been instructed as well to make "eye contact" with our wives but whenever I tried this, Cheryl acquired the look of a runaway horse made acutely distressed by an unwanted obstacle in her path." -Lopate

"…I'm watching the wind in the tree outside the window. I am thinking about how we all share a similar if not single pain, and the rifts between stalls and selves is its own form of delusion." -Slater

Read more Book Reviews by Author/Illustrator Ross Anthony.