Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Letter to my children 

Dear Children,
I am your dad. The father of all five of you pale creatures. Given how attractive and fertile your mother is, there may be more of you by the time you read this book...
So why a book? Well, since you've come into my life you've been a constant source of entertainment while simultaneously driving me insane.
~pages 3 & 4
Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

Winner!

I have a winner for The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet!

Congratulations to 

Lenore Keough Webb

I sent you an email. Please reply with the 

information I need to get this terrific book to you. 

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Giveaway reminder!

My contest for The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry ends tonight! The author will give a paperback or ebook version to the winner. Sign up now for a hilarious book!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We will embrace this beauty and make something of it. We will hold our precious gift and know that we are lucky. I feel lucky. I feel privileged. I feel there is a plan so beautiful in store...and we get to live it. Wow.
The story has begun...
~page 18
Bloom by Kelle Hampton

Interview and Giveaway: The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry

I can't stress enough how much I related to this book! Nora made me laugh at her story and my own. Sometimes, that's all you can do is laugh...
She was kind enough to grant me an interview and provide a book for a giveaway!

(Wrighty's Reads) I have three sons so I laughed so hard at your book! How did it come about? 
(Nora Barry) When my boys were both in diapers I was telling a funny story about them to an old friend from school and he said, “You sound like Erma Bombeck, you should write this stuff down.”  But I became a single mom a few months later and frankly between single parenting, diapers and working, I barely had time to breathe.  I eventually began to write late at night, but it wasn’t about parenting.  I don’t think I had the perspective for it then.  When the boys were in high school I was frustrated at something I was working on and George suggested I take a week off and just write.  I remember saying, I can’t afford to do that!  So he wrote a check and said here, here’s a paycheck.  Go write for a week and see what happens.  So I did.  I wrote about five or six 800 word stories—I was thinking column size and that was a standard column word count (this was 2007).  I shared the stories with friends and they all said, keep going!  So I created a blog, The Dame Domain, and started writing posts several times a week.  It was a pure writing exercise for me, like going to the gym.  And you know, high school just gives you a slew of material—proms and learning to drive and sports and sex and—you don’t have to make it up.  It’s just there day after day.  Eventually the blog was picked up and syndicated to Reuters and some other news outlets.  I stopped writing when the Snapper graduated in 2010.  A year later I read an article about self-publishing and thought, hey I can do that.  So I took the blog down and began winnowing essays from it, and created a narrative sequence of what I had written.  I published it as an eBook last year in May, and then as a paperback in November. 
Where did the title come from?  
 I have no idea, truthfully, it just popped into my mind.  And I liked it because it nails what a lot of us feel—I love being a mom but sometimes it gets to you—burns your feet a bit I guess.
You've been compared to Erma Bombeck and your writing is a riot! Where did you get your great sense of humor? (It sounds like your family shares it too!) 
 My parents have a great sense of humor—they’re the ones who taught me the expression, “Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”  which I take as words to live by! But also, I started writing the blog when I was 49 and age gives you perspective.  I truly believe that when things get tough you can give in or you can find the absurdity and laugh.  I just choose to laugh. That wasn’t always the way—I went thru a very tough and long divorce.  I left him and he was angry and got nasty.  I can assure you that I cried more than I laughed.  It took me a few years to eventually change my attitude and once I did, I was able to find the humor.
Would you like to put in a plug for Druid Media, Inc and/or Webdame? 
Webdame is a sometimes blog.  I took down The Dame Domain but I don’t want to get lazyJ  Druid Media is my company and under that shingle I still write and produce for a lot of corporate clients.
What is your background? 
Writer, producer, Francophile.  Lover of medieval history and the history of storytelling. I come from a large, rambunctious, Irish Catholic family.
How is your family now?
Good!  Wally just graduated from college, the Snapper is a rising junior, George survived cancer.  I as I write this I worry however—the Snapper has a tendency to break an arm during the Republican Convention.  It’s the oddest thing but it’s true and now one is coming up this month!:)
More books to come? (please!) 
 I started a series of short stories, “Story Courts”, that are modern re-tellings of fairy tales.  I’m fascinated by fairy tales and how the same narratives are found in cultures all over the world. So I’ve finished three so far—“An Apple A Day” (Snow White), “Theresa A Twitter” (Arabian Nights) and “A Different Story—The Chess Queen” (actually based on a real character, Eleanor of Aquitaine).  I have another 95% finished, “In The Swim” (The Little Mermaid).
What do you hope to be doing five years from now? 
 I’d like to be producing along with writing.  I’m fascinated by transmedia storytelling.

photo from Goodreads

 Favorite dessert? 
Ice cream!!!!!
Favorite season? 
Summer—I love being outside. 
Paper or plastic? 
I’ll be honest—I used cloth diapers for both kids.  So now, every summer, I use paper plates as an indulgence.  I feel as if cloth diapers gave me a free environmental pass!

Author Nora Barry has generously offered a copy of her book for me to give away here!
My review of The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet!


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Review: The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry

Stories From the Domestic Front

The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! is a dry, funny book about surviving life with teenage sons, mid-life job crisis, high school football, and turning 50.

With humor that recalls Erma Bombeck, The Home Fires tackles middle-age sex and gardening, the similarities between Vladimir Putin and "The Little Mermaid", the magic of witchcraft and student drivers--and why pink is actually a good color for living rooms if you have teenage boys in the house.
(Goodreads.com)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Review
Boy, can I relate! I loved this book! As soon as I saw the comparison to Erma Bombeck I had to read it. Humor is always a draw for me and this is about teenage boys as well. Score! Nora Barry writes with intelligence and wit, heart and humor, sincerity and snark. And I do love snark. She shares her true stories of teenage boys and middle-age, and how she copes with both. Fortunately, for the reader, she does it so very well. I've dealt with many of the same issues she mentions and it's nice to know I'm not alone. And there have been plenty of times as a parent where I've been so frustrated that I had to laugh to keep from crying. A sense of humor and the support of family and friends gets me through. That's what makes me appreciate this memoir even more.


Barry was a divorced mom to young sons Wally and the Snapper when she met George. Although he had never had children of his own, he quickly stepped into the role of father figure and partner. I'm guessing with his described similar sense of humor and gift of repartee, he fit right in. The hilarious essays that make up The Home Fires focus on the high school years and the transition to the empty nest. As an author, she knows how to tell a story, choosing just the right words to keep you turning the pages. As a mom, she knows how to convey the emotions, choosing just the right words to explain the highs and lows of parenthood. Quite simply, she nailed it.


I'd never used the highlight function on my Nook until I read this, and then I was using it constantly.  These were a few of my favorite quotes:

*Explaining to her son why he was doing yard work for mother's day -
I was in labor between 12 and 27 hours with you two, so each year on mother's day I like you to do hard labor, too.

*In reference to her son's bedroom -
One of my friends who has two boys in their twenties advises me to just close the door. But I need to open the door, if only to open the window and let the locker room aroma out.
 
*While thinking about the future and how someday her sons will add two more people to the family -
Two women I don't even know yet who will eventually know more about my sons than I do.
And to lighten the moment -
The upside is I'll have someone to go with me to the lady's room.


I rarely read a book more than once. There are just too many out there to read. But this book is different. I've already read it twice and laughed my ass off both times. And I will read it again. I even bought an ebook for my friend who also has three boys and she loved it too! I look forward to anything Nora Barry writes in the future.

Thank you to the author for an ebook in exchange for my honest review.
www.druidmedia.com
Webdame 

Release date: 2011
Publisher: Druid Media, Inc
Pages: 298 (paperback)
Type: memoir

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(I had to post another teaser from this hilarious memoir!)

"How come all the other moms on the block are out on mother's day and you're home? Why don't you go out too?" You might think this is generous and kind of him, but really, he's trying to get out of pulling ivy from the garage roof. I said to him, look, it's my way of bonding with you. I was in labor between 12 and 27 hours with you two, so each year on mother's day I like you to do hard labor, too.
~ page 19 (ebook)
The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :
1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In seventh grade Wally took Home Ec (I think they call it something else these days, but really, it's home ec). The teacher sent home a notice that the students were to make their own beds every day for a week. I was suppose to keep track of this and sign off at the end of the week. But of course they make their own beds! I wrote on the form "What's next? Academic credit for taking out the trash?"
Oh, that came back to bite me in the ass.

~From the chapter Trash Talk (ebook)
The Home Fires Are Burning...My Feet! by Nora Barry

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Children, toddlers especially, have boundless energy with which they can torture their parents. Hell, if all I had to do all day was color, watch Blue's Clues, eat a snack and nap, I'd have boundless energy, too. But no, I am the one getting out the crayons, trying to keep my children from consuming the crayons, picking up broken crayons and putting away the crayons. (And while I'm on the subject, why don't those folks at Crayola either add some vitamins and minerals or make them taste bad? My kids love eating them and I'm tired of telling them no and having to buy more. Put up or shut up, Crayola. Fortify them or make them taste bad. This isn't rocket science.)

 ~page 134 (ebook)
 Ketchup is a Vegetable: And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves by Robin O' Bryant

 

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On My First Day Of Kindergarten
"You thought that was hard? If kindergarten is busting your ass, I got some bad news for you about the rest of life."
~page 5


On Slumber Parties
"There's chips in the cabinet and ice cream in the freezer. Stay away from knives and fire. Okay, I've done my part, I'm going to bed."
~ page 33


On Picking The Right College
"Don't pick some place because you think it will be easy to get laid there... No, no that's a very good reason to pick a lot of things, just not this."
~page 77

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B of Should Be Reading and asks you to :

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3 . Share 2 "teaser" sentences also citing the title of the book and the author and in that way people can have great recommendations if they like the "teaser".
4. Please avoid spoilers!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(When the author finds out he has a life-threatening tumor in his leg he is worried that his young daughters may not have enough male influence as they are growing up. He writes a letter to six men who have come from different parts of his life and asks them to be a part of his daughters' lives. He called them "The Council of Dads".)

In a letter to his girls:
The air force teaches its novices that when they face a life-defining challenge, they should not run from their fear. They should embrace it. "Hug the monster," they say. Wrap your arms around your fear, wrestle it into submission, redirect it into a source of resilience and purpose.
Hug the monster, girls.

~page 232
The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, And The Men Who Could Be Me by Bruce Feiler

Review: Lost Boy by Brent Jeffs

This is my story

In the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), girls can become valuable property as plural wives but boys are expendable, even a liability. In this powerful and heartbreaking account, former FLDS member Brett Jeffs reveals both the terror and the love he experienced growing up on his prophet's compound - and the harsh exile existence that so many boys face once they're expelled from the sect.

The most memorable FLDS member in current time is past leader Warren Jeffs who is now in prison for multiple offenses. Brett Jeffs is his nephew and could have grown up to have multiple wives and power within the church. After realizing that there were darker secrets behind the church's pious public image he walked away and was the first to file sexual abuse charges against his uncle.

He shares the history of the Mormon church and startling details of his own life growing up in a polygamous family. He describes how harsh and isolated life was and the fact that his uncle, the prophet, maintained absolute power and could change the rules at will and often did. Their religion demanded complete obedience with no individuality and the reality of the outside world was distorted and viewed as evil. Since multiple wives are encouraged, young men are seen as competition and are often cast out unprepared for the real world. They frequently turn to drugs and alcohol and suffer emotional and psychological distress.

Eventually Brent Jeffs left the church with his whole family, which was highly unusual, but continued to live a polygamous life. This is usually hard to do outside of the FLDS. Fortunately they had the love and support of each other, which is also unusual. Brett Jeffs repressed memories of his uncle molesting him and other boys ages 5-7, eventually led him to press charges against him. He tells of his own struggles into adulthood and what has become of him and his family members. He has also helped establish support for other lost boys so their own transition may be easier than his was.

I was fascinated by the insight Brent Jeffs provided into the FLDS. It's sickening to realize how much power an individual can have over so many other lives and the corruption that was involved under the guise of religion and God. I'll be curious to see how these lost boys and others from the community will fare in the future. I hope that this man's courage will help them to all have an easier life. If this is a topic of interest I would highly recommend this book.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for a copy of this book.

Publisher: Broadway Books
Release date: 5/19/09
Pages: 256
Price/format: $24.95/hardcover
Type: memoir

Review: The Power of Two by Brian and Gerri Monaghan

Surviving Serious Illness
with an Attitude & an Advocate
Includes 50 Ways to
Help a Loved One.

The Power of Two has the power to change lives. This much-needed book combines an inspiring story of hope and survival with a compelling practical blueprint for how to be a loved one's advocate. And if ever there was a time when a chronically ill or disabled person needs an advocate, that time is now, with HMOs, the medical establishment, and patients in a chaotic free-for-all.

Brian Monaghan, a fifty-nine-year-old lawyer at the top of his game, got the news that all of us dread—Stage IV melanoma had metastasized to his brain; he was given three to six months to live. That night Brian and his wife Gerri made a pact: "We are going to love and laugh and fight this. And we are going to win." That was ten years ago. Between Brian's courage and attitude, and Gerri's determination to stand up for him—tirelessly researching options, reaching out to friends, family, and anyone who could help, resisting the status quo, and always thinking in terms of "we"—they did win. This book is the story of that journey, told back and forth between them. utterly riveting, inspiring, and uplifting, it is a road map for everyone facing a tough medical challenge, and for the people who love them.

Along the way, Gerri lists her top 50 tips for how to be an advocate: #1 Trust your intuition. #6 Create a battle plan. #15 Get copies of records. #26 Make doctors speak in a language that you understand. #49 This is not a dress rehearsal.

I was thrilled to receive this book. My first thought was for my cousin and her battle with a brain tumor - medulloblastoma. I had hoped to send this to her but she passed away before I could. I did find that many of the treatments and advice they listed were things that my cousin had already used. And this isn't only for patients with brain cancer, or any cancer for that matter. These tips are important for any serious illness.

The authors take turns telling their story. I really appreciated the different perspectives and how varied their thoughts and emotions were. The caregivers involved in serious illnesses are under enormous strain as well. Along with telling their story they also provide "The Monaghan Manual', a list of tips that were helpful to them during their experience. They cover a wide variety of issues from paying attention to your bills and writing down your medical history to personal issues of getting dressed up for appointments to feel more positive and celebrating the milestones. Insights from others are also provided at the end of the book. Their children, a law partner, doctors and others contribute a few paragraphs each telling their own thoughts about Brian's illness. Helpful resources and information are also listed with phone numbers, websites, email addresses and brief descriptions of services and agencies that helped empower this couple and can be adapted to other people's needs as well.

I was very touched by the Monaghans' story and thought it was very insightful. While fighting their own battle they have found a way to help others along the way. I found this book to be very helpful and inspiring and I highly recommend it.

From LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Release date: 3/09
Pages: 288
Price/format: $22.95/hardcover
Type: Nonfiction (memoir)

Review: Undress Me In The Temple Of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman

They were young, brilliant and bold.
They set out to conquer the world.
But the world had other plans for them.

This is a memoir from Susan Jane Gilman, a best selling author who decided to take an adventure and backpack around the world. In 1986, Susan and her friend Claire had just finished college and wanted a daring and original experience. They decided to travel for a year and they would start their trip in the People's Republic of China. Since it had only recently begun to allow independent travelers, they were almost immediately in over their heads. With their backpacks and only a few supplies, they ventured off into the streets of Shanghai and were overwhelmed by culture shock and unexpected obstacles. This was not going to be the carefree adventure they had anticipated.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this story. I hadn't read Gilman's past work but had heard good things about them. I thought this was going to be a similar style, a witty account of her travels, but apparently it is very different. This is the author's own account of her trip that was suppose to take her and her friend around the world. As two Ivy League graduates, they were excited to try something new. In a women's dormitory in China they realized just how unprepared they were when they compared themselves with other women travelers from other countries who had been on the road for months, and even years.
...they'd dispensed with all Western frivolities a long time ago. They were expert navigators now, muscular with experience. Sitting among them with our brand new backpacks, my snow-white virginal Reeboks, our crisp pastel-colored L.L. Bean sportswear. Clair and I weren't impressing anybody. (pg. 73)
You'll have to read the book for yourself to see how they fared for the first time in a public "restroom". A small, bare concrete room with only a trough running though the middle, with a trickle of water from a rusty spigot that carried waste toward a drain in the floor. Ugh.

Although they were faced with hardships they also met many amazing people along the way. With their help and a trusty guidebook, they were able to become full-fledged tourists and experience The Great Wall of China, Tienanmen Square and many other breathe-taking sites. And it was also with the help of these people that the girls were able to deal with illness and another major crisis.

I really enjoyed this story and learned so much about the Chinese culture and history. I am not a traveler so I wasn't sure if this would appeal to me but Gilman's writing along with the increasing suspense made this a very interesting read. It also made me appreciate my own bed and running water! Give it a try. I bet you'll enjoy it too. I'll be looking for more of Gilman's books to read next.

Thank you to Miriam from Hatchette Books for sending me an early copy of this book.

American Buffalo - In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella

When I first received this book I was curious to see if a hunting enthusiast would write a story that the average, non-hunter could relate to. I wasn't sure if this topic would be interesting to me but I was pleasantly surprised. Steven Rinella wrote a memoir about a lottery he won in 2005 to hunt wild buffalo in Alaska. Before his trip only 3 hunters has succeeded in killing a buffalo. He became the fourth.

The author's fascination with the majestic animal began when he was a child. While on a hunting trip with his brothers he unearthed part of a buffalo's skull. He's been hooked since and even commented on the frequency of buffalo coming up in conversations. He's developed his own word game of random association of related facts and trivia. I was surprised that there were so many ways to do that. (I live near Buffalo, NY so that's one I can think of.) Steven has gone to great lengths to learn every possible fact there is. As he describes his trip in the Alaskan wilderness he interweaves within his chapters all of those details of the history of the buffalo in North America. From the Native Americans to current times he explains everything about how they have hunted this huge animal and why. Because of their size, over one thousand pounds, hunters have had to be creative over the years. Sometimes weapons were used and sometimes they were able to use the land to their advantage. Indians used the "buffalo jump" to effectively kill many animals by gently herding them across a plain and then creating a stampede to drive them over a precipice, an act much more complicated than I would have imagined.

Although this does not emphasize the brutality of hunting and killing, it is described in detail. Growing up on a farm I'm no stranger to using animals for a food source but I do adore animals and don't even like to squash bugs. The stories of how buffalo were hunted, injuries they sustained and how the body was cut up and used after a killing bothered me. I was impressed though when all parts of the animal were used in as many ways as possible. Everything from the fat used as grease, and hair for stuffing in pillows, to buffalo "chips" used to burn in fires.

Steven Rinella's story telling is enhanced with black and white photos and footnotes. He has a dozen pages for his notes for each chapter and the bibliography. Although some of the information he provides may be more interesting to fellow hunters and nature lovers, it's by no means boring to those of us who aren't. He knows his subject well and is a very effective storyteller.

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau and Shelf Awareness for an ARC of this book.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

This is a memoir of Amy Dickinson's life and her extended family of strong women. Amy's husband decided to leave early in their marriage. Alone with a young baby she had to rearrange her life. She left their home in London and returned to her childhood home in Freeville, a small town of less than 500 people in rural upstate NY. She surrounded herself with her family which happened to largely consist of other single women. "Divorce runs through my clan like an aggressive chromosome" states Amy in the earliest chapters. Her father left her own family of her mother and her three siblings when she was a young girl. Fortunately she wasn't witness to her parents fighting. Since her father abandoned them there could be no fighting. He walked away from his family and a dairy farm loaded with debts. After they lost everything except the house to the bank and auctions, her mother found a job as a typist at the age of 42. She spent over 20 years of her life working the farm and caring for her family and now she was forced to find a career to support her children.

Amy also chose not to expose her own daughter to an ugly relationship between her parents. After attempts at counseling failed they met with a mediator to finalize arrangements and avoid the lawyers. They had both been raised by divorced parents and they were well aware of the things they didn't want their own child to experience. If they couldn't have a happy marriage they could at least have a good divorce. And although it was against her every instinct Amy decided to make the choice to forgive her husband. She needed to let him go instead of trying to keep him. Now as a single parent, she returns with her daughter to Freeville to stay at her sister's home and decide how to rebuild her life. She uses the time to grieve for her marriage, bond with her family and consider her options. Eventually she chooses to return to Washington D.C. where she had lived and worked before her marriage. As Amy begins her new life Freeville remains close to her heart. Eventually she and Emily decide to buy an old, run down house of their own there so they will always have a place to stay when they return "home".

Amy continues her story and tells of the years spent raising Emily the best way she knew how to, adding humor as she reveals her mistakes and triumphs. She learns and she goes on, always with the support of her daughter and her family. She also tells of her success as a writer and later as an advice columnist where she has been able to share her wisdom in "Ask Amy", a daily writing with over 22 million people. She was chosen by the Chicago Tribune to replace the late Ann Landers. Her story is inspirational, as are the other women in her family. They do what needs to be done in order to survive and raise their children but they also endure with grace and dignity. In honoring her family it makes the reader recall the mighty queens in their own life. This was a book I enjoyed very much. While it was a light, easy read it was also an honest portrayal of their past. I would love to hear more about these amazing women in Freeville.

I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this book from Barnes & Noble. It will be released in February, 2009.