Description
Among Friends: A Memoir of One Woman’s Expectations, Disappointments, Regrets & Discoveries While Searching for Friends-For-Life—Literary Nonfiction. Women’s Studies. An intelligent voice. An illuminating book. Mary Lou Sanelli is unsparing as she explores the subject of friendship in women’s lives. This is a book of self-discovery…dauntless, smart, funny, beautifully written. She examines, deeply and sincerely, what friendship means, and what it costs. She pulls no punches. Through contemplation and through personal anecdotes, both her own and others, Sanelli crawls through this morass of conflicts and emerges with a strong sense of self and a much clearer idea of closeness.
Mary Lou Sanelli has earned a solid reputation in the literary and public-speaking community through a steady commitment to writing and through twenty years of successful public readings and presentations. She has published seven collections of poetry, three works of nonfiction, Among Friends, Falling Awake, and A Woman Writing. The Star Struck Dance Studio (of Yucca Springs) is her first novel (Chatwin Books). Her regular columns appear in Seattle’s City Living Magazine, Art Access magazine, The Queen Anne/Magnolia News, as well as Lilipoh magazine and Dance Teacher magazine. She has written for the Seattle Times, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, Seattle’s NPR affiliate station KUOW FM, and many other publications and radio stations. Honorariums include an Artist Trust GAP Award, Poetry on the Buses, A Jack Straw Writers Award, A Seattle Bumbershoot Festival Book Award, The Skagit River Poetry Festival, A GoodReads Notable Book Award, and writing residencies in France, Costa Rica, and Spain. She presents her work at corporate events, conferences, literary venues, colleges and universities, book clubs, private events, and fundraising salons. Also a master teacher of Lyrical style contemporary dance, she teaches workshops throughout the world. This professional dance training and performance experience enables her to present with skills that surpass the average author reading. She lives with her husband in Seattle. “What Sanelli does in front of an audience is easier to recognize than it is to define.” -The Seattle Times. For more on Mary Lou Sanelli, please visit: marylousanelli.com
Tami, goodreads –
Mary Lou Sanelli went in search of friendship. Along the way, she found out about herself. The funny thing is that as she became more honest with herself, she naturally attracted women who resonated with themselves, individuals who had the capability of being a true friend. Among Friends is told in narrative form. Throughout, the author includes stories about her own friendship experiences as well as those of others such as her mother. These situations mirror those relationships that we’ve all survived and cherished, as the case may be. I think true friendship is a very rare and special thing. Many of us hold onto the old, even when it isn’t working. Then, we attempt to make new connections for the wrong reasons. How often do we find someone that we know will accept even the not so pretty sides of us?
Erica, goodreads –
In Among Friends Mary Lou Sanelli ruminates on the nature of friendship, incorporating both her own experiences and stories from interviews. I loved the frank, conversational style of writing…. My favorite chapter was the second one; I found the discussion of honesty in friendship to be both thoughtful and provocative.