Guesswork

Funny, thought-provoking, and always entertaining, personal essayist Marion Winik is known for decades of storytelling on NPR and the stunning memoir First Comes Love. Memory and identity are the focus of this new collection, Guesswork, drawn from a column that has won “Best of Baltimore” from Baltimore magazine several years running. “The Things They Googled” looks at how search engines have changed our lives. “Love, Loss, and What I Cooked” takes autobiography to the kitchen. “What If You Were Right?” and “What If You Were Wrong?” highlight the way possibly incorrect interpretations of long-ago events subtly radiate through our lives over the years. These eight essays will inspire you to reconsider your own history and sense of self from new angles: how treasured places and objects fit in, how your life as a reader shapes who you are. A wonderful introduction to Winik’s work, which now spans seven volumes chronicling her life. “Her essays are mind-blowing,” according to Jane Smiley, “you can’t stop reading them.”