Catherine Cheek

Catherine "Kater" Cheek is a writer and artist.

Author's posts

Book Review: Small Great Things

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult The cover says this is Picoult’s most important book. As Handle With Care was a book about raising a disabled child, this book could be titled “A White Person’s Guide to Racism.” Picoult is a very accessible author;. Reading her is like reading the novel equivalent of a mainstream …

Continue reading

Book Review: Educated

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover This is a memoir of what I call the “my childhood was worse than your childhood” sub-genre. In fact, I would say that it’s a standout in this sub-genre, although “worst childhood” is not a contest anyone really wants to enter, much less win. It’s a good book, well-written …

Continue reading

Book Review: The Leavers

The Leavers by Lisa Ko This was a book club selection about a story that encompasses what for many of us would be the ultimate nightmare. What if your only parent abandoned you? What if you lost your beloved child? It concerns Deming and Polly Guo, sometime residents of China and New York and about …

Continue reading

Book Review: Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy O. Frost Stuff fascinates me. Why do we accumulate stuff, what is our relationship to it, and why can our relationship get to the pathological stage? I’m a child of people who are, well, if not hoarders, certainly on the spectrum of that, and I …

Continue reading

Book Review: Furiously Happy

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson Humor doesn’t always work well in books, especially if the comedian is used to stand up. But Jenny Lawson works well in the written word. Her tone comes through, her humor works and instead of feeling like I was reading the depressing memoir of …

Continue reading