Authors rarely issue “Reader” books anymore. Michael Hogan shows that to be a genuine shame with his extraordinary collection of exquisite writings – The Michael Hogan Reader. The icing on the cake is a variety of beautiful categories that grace the collection’s contents: Short Stories, Poetry, Flash Fiction, Memoirs, and Essays. Talk about a moveable feast! Mr. Hogan is a highly accomplished and well-established author, noted mainly for his insightful and evocative treatments of lesser-known historical events like The Irish Soldiers of Mexico and Abraham Lincoln and Mexico. What a gift he offers now by showcasing his talent with less academic but equally satisfying reads. One should savor this feast slowly because it ends too quickly.

Much like his haunting Poem For My 70th Birthday, the taste lingers:

Once I lived another life,
and now there are fewer to remember.
Mother gone, father long before
Although the rhythm of their language is inside me still:
scraps of songs and poems mother memorized
of an older time when the forests were primeval
of murmuring pines and hemlocks.
I suppose there was a dog back then as well

Each piece in this extraordinary collection of Michael Hogan’s works – The Michael Hogan Reader – resonates with the mastery of his life as a teacher, mentor, writer, and friend. Each story, fiction or non-, captures the essence of life and being human in this world. As such, each narrative mirrors and informs the reader without causing the suffering inherent to their origin and required of the author. One is allowed to absorb the deeper meanings while being pleasantly entertained. The experiences and lessons are the author’s; their pleasure and enjoyment are for the reader.

Or, as Michael Hogan might say it:

But matter has become spirit, and the six weeks creation of a German composer two hundred years ago freshens the fading afternoon in a remote garden of Mexico.