‘Dear Mr. You’: Memoir makes you want to read more

Mary-Louise Parker is a force to be reckoned with on stage and screen, having won Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

And while 'Dear Mr. You' is her first book, it seems Parker can hold her own in the literary world as well.

In a part memoir, Parker has written a wonderfully unconventional book that features a series of letters to men — real and imagined — who have had a positive influence on her life.

Meant as a tribute and a way of expressing gratitude, the letters not only introduce readers to these male influencers, but also give readers a glimpse into the course of Parker's life, although she insists that was not the intention.

'Dear Mr. You' starts with a letter to her grandfather, a story that she told in an article to Esquire, which then became the inspiration for the whole book.

She writes to her father — in letters that are most touching and profound and explain her love of poetry and writing itself. She writes to a beloved neighbor, a mentor and the doctor who saved her life. She writes to the uncle of the daughter she adopted and then writes to the future man who will love her daughter. Each letter is its own story on which Parker could expand.

Each left me with a grateful feeling I'd been let into her memory in that way.

The book features more than 30 letters that range from subtly humorous — Dear Gem is a letter to one of her goats — to intimately offbeat, which seems fitting for one of Hollywood's quirkiest actresses.

Overall the book is a roller coaster of emotions that seep through Parker's breathtaking honesty.

She writes her letters in an almost poetic conversational tone that allows readers to feel they are invited into the dialogue.

Parker says there were many letters she wrote that did not make it into the book. After reading 'Dear Mr. You,' I'm wiling to bet many Mary-Louise Parker fans are willing to read more of anything she writes.

Book reading

What: Mary-Louise Parker

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

Cost: $35, includes a copy of the book