The author of Chicken Soup for the Soul lets her Midwest roots show in On a Clear Night. The essay collection includes reflections on a night in a North Woods cabin and kayaking on Wisconsin lakes, but it’s no travelogue. Marnie O. Mamminga finds illumination in sharing “our similar everyday moments.” Her quotidian wisdom is expressed in perfect pitch with words well-chosen and a decided lack of drama. Some of her most moving essays concern aging—the realization that the flowers of youth have wilted and are pressed between wax paper. “But does that mean we have to look like duds?” she asks while searching for a dress to wear to her daughter’s wedding.
