250 ratings | 4 reviews | avg rating:4.95

Leslie Pietrzyk’s Followers (87)

Leslie’s Bookshelves

to-read (3)
currently-reading (0)
read (250)
did-not-finish (0)
my-favorite-books (19)

Leslie’s Friends (12)

R.L. Maizes

860 books | 762 friends

Travis

3,503 books | 250 friends

Eman

845 books | 125 friends

Lisa Manhart

2,149 books | 59 friends

Paula Whyman

534 books | 71 friends

Todd

577 books | 39 friends

Anna Leahy

326 books | 29 friends

Becky

9,085 books | 1,644 friends

More friends…

Leslie Pietrzyk

Goodreads Author

Website

http://www.lesliepietrzyk.com

Twitter

lesliepwriter

Genre

Fiction, Literary Fiction, Memoir

Member Since

December 2014

edit data

I am the author of Silver Girl, Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day (novels) and, most recently, Admit This to No One (short stories about official DC). My collection of linked stories about the death of my first husband, This Angel on My Chest, won the 2015 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Short fiction & essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, Hudson Review, The Sun, Shenandoah, Arts & Letters, Washingtonian, The Collagist, and Cincinnati Review. Oh, and one of my stories was awarded a 2020 Pushcart Prize--!!! I'm a member of the core fiction faculty at the Converse low-residency MFA program.

If I'm n ...more

43 posts
Leslie Pietrzyk's Blog

2025: Best Books (I Read)

Presenting my annual “best books” list, along with the accompanying list of caveats: these are, simply put, the best books I read over the course of the year. I try to narrow things down to 10ish books, which is awfully hard. I definitely read (and ADORE!) books by my writer friends, but I keep those books off this list. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: ALL lists are subjective. In Read more of this blog post »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on December 10, 2025 12:57 • Tags: books, essays, fiction, narrative-nonfiction, poetry, short-stories, writers

View all 43 posts »

Combine Editions
Leslie Pietrzyk’s books

Average rating: 3.79 · 1,663 ratings · 254 reviews · 13 distinct works • Similar authors

	Pears on a Willow Tree: A Sweeping Family Saga of Four Generations of Polish-American Women 3.73 avg rating — 586 ratings — published 1998 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Silver Girl 3.67 avg rating — 418 ratings — published 2018 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Year and a Day 3.87 avg rating — 287 ratings — published 2004 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Admit This to No One: Collected Stories 3.72 avg rating — 178 ratings — published 2021 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Angel on My Chest 4.39 avg rating — 128 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Women on Women 3: A New Anthology of American Lesbian Fiction by Joan Nestle (Editor), Naomi Holoch (Editor), Leslie Feinberg (Contributor) 3.60 avg rating — 40 ratings — published 1996	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Why I Like This Story by Jackson R. Bryer (Contributor), A. R. Gurney (Contributor), Alan Cheuse (Contributor) 3.55 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 2019 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Maryland by Leslie Pietrzyk (Goodreads Author), Martha Kneib 4.80 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2000 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Till Death Do Us Part 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Peren aan een wilg really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Leslie Pietrzyk…

rss
Leslie’s Recent Updates

Leslie Pietrzyk made a comment on Kyle Minor’s review of How to Disappear and Why " It's fantastic! It's fantastic! ...more "
Apr 15, 2026 02:29PM · see review
Leslie Pietrzyk and 11 other people liked Kyle Minor's review of How to Disappear and Why: "I wrote this book."
Apr 15, 2026 02:28PM · see review
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing How to Disappear and Why by Kyle Minor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 15, 2026 02:28PM · 1 like · like
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 09, 2026 01:43PM · 1 like · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — What We Can Know by Ian McEwan <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing Marriage and Other Monuments by Virginia Pye (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 14, 2026 07:56AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Marriage and Other Monuments by Virginia Pye. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Marriage and Other Monuments by Virginia Pye <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing Fat City by Leonard Gardner	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 26, 2026 11:55AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fat City by Leonard Gardner. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fat City by Leonard Gardner <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 10, 2025 12:58PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Gales of November by John U. Bacon. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Gales of November by John U. Bacon <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 22, 2025 11:41AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing THE PLACE THAT IS COMING TO US, poetry by J. D. Smith by J. D. Smith	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 19, 2025 11:33AM · like
Leslie Pietrzyk rated a book it was amazing One Last Ride by Dan Elish (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 03, 2025 08:18AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of One Last Ride by Dan Elish. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — One Last Ride by Dan Elish <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

More of Leslie's books…

Quotes by Leslie Pietrzyk (?)

“This darkness is for sleeping, for escape; it's where I go when the other places ache with light; this is where I curl up and close my eyes and darkness flows like lava, and I dissapear into what, into nothing, into pure dark, into what there is before there is anything else.”
― Leslie Pietrzyk

tags: pears-on-a-willow-tree

9 likes

“No one cares about the art of the lie at this point. They insist on impressing with the truth. See me! Look at me! Look at who I am! Look at who I want you to think I am!”
― Leslie Pietrzyk

tags: storytelling, truth

2 likes

“That's the problem with revealing true truths. They make people uncomfortable. The truth should be grand and exotic, but mostly it isn't. Mostly it's uncomfortable.”
― Leslie Pietrzyk

tags: storytelling, truth

2 likes

See all Leslie Pietrzyk's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS)	2867	1121	May 31, 2011 09:01PM
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2012-2013: Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2485	867	Feb 28, 2013 09:01PM
All About Books: Terri's 2015 Reading Challenge	61	103	Dec 19, 2015 08:20PM
Netherlands & Fla...: Lente 2021 : Fruit in de titel	39	68	Jun 20, 2021 01:26AM

More…

Leslie’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.

Leslie Pietrzyk’s Followers (87)

Add NewVideos

Leslie’s Bookshelves

Leslie’s Friends (12)

Leslie Pietrzyk

Goodreads Author

43 postsLeslie Pietrzyk's Blog

2025: Best Books (I Read)

Combine EditionsLeslie Pietrzyk’s books

rssLeslie’s Recent Updates

See a Problem?

Preview — What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

See a Problem?

Preview — Marriage and Other Monuments by Virginia Pye

See a Problem?

Preview — Fat City by Leonard Gardner

See a Problem?

Preview — The Gales of November by John U. Bacon

See a Problem?

Preview — Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel

See a Problem?

Preview — One Last Ride by Dan Elish

Topics Mentioning This Author

Leslie’s Friend Comments

Add New
Videos

43 posts
Leslie Pietrzyk's Blog

Combine Editions
Leslie Pietrzyk’s books

rss
Leslie’s Recent Updates