Enjoyable read. Learned lots of British-isms and a lot about shepherding sheep and goats. Would love to visit the Eden Valley area someday. Sounds gorgeous. Will definitely read her second book, Sheepwrecked.

Super Buch, hat mich so gefesselt, dass ich die Straßen und Orte des Buches bei Google Earth angesehen habe.

In hermemoir Donna Britt explores the causes of her innate giving to the men aroundher particularly the black men in her life. Being the only girl in a familyfull of sons Donna learned to feel comfortable around men early on. Childhoodpranks left her vary of the girls and women in her life. During her collegeyears tragedy struck and left her mourning for her brother Darrell, a loss shewould spend the rest of her life coming to terms with.

This bookisn’t just a memoir it is a search. Donna Britt is sifting through her pastremembering the good times and the bad always looking for the source of her addictionto giving her time, her money, her all and everything to her brothers, herlovers, her sons. Interwoven with said memories are her thoughts onemancipation of both black and white women reminiscent of her struggle forappreciation by men and giving to herself once in a while.

In hernarrative Donna Britt is honest and self-critical. Her soul-searching inspiredmany a similar thought from me while I was reading about her childhood, youthand path to finding and cutting herself a break every now and then. Ithoroughly enjoyed reading this book as a way of checking on feminism'spracticality. Donna Britt looks at herself and asks, how far have we come sincethe 50s? Does having it all mean juggling a career AND a household? And mostimportant, if the men in our lives are not willing to chip in – where does thatleave us?

In herruminations Donna Britt tells the reader many a personal detail and afterreading her book I feel that I have gotten to know an extraordinary woman. Shehas opened my eyes to the difficulties that American women face, the underlyingsexism many of them struggle against in their daily lives and the particulargravity that sexism and racism hold for black females in America who not onlysuffer for themselves but also for the men in their lives.

This memoir is a compelling, honest and charming read. A book that will inspireand empower black and white women alike.

Don and Sarah are in the November of their lives. The divorcees have been dating forthe past twenty years. Together they have overcome Don’s prostate cancer. Donthinks their relationship is made to last but then Sarah meets Vernon an ex-Jesuitpriest who proposes her for more than friendship.

I lovedthis memoir. It is told from both sides of the relationship. Don writes acharming narrative about how he didn’t see it coming and when the damage isdone does his best to cope with what he has left. Sarah contributes withentries from her diary, both before and during the affair. So two of them leaveno questions open by giving the reader the answers to both ‘What happened?’ and‘What was she thinking?’.

I am aboutfifty years younger than the protagonists but have enjoyed reading their storynonetheless. I liked the late Don much better than Sarah but have still admiredthe honesty with which she has bared her innermost thoughts to the reader inthis memoir. I am glad the two of them decided to tell their story about latelove for the benefit of both young and youthful readers alike.

If you askme, this is a gem of a memoir. If you are still south of the big 5-0 you mightwant to wait reading it though, unless like me you’d like to sneak a peek atwhat might await you on the other side. I am now eager to read other books byauthor Don Asher, there are nine of them so I’ll have my pick.

This book will make a great gift to parents, grandparents, older aunts and uncles alike.

Writer Lacy M. Johnson has conducted a series of interviews with her family and is drawing a portraitof her home state Missouri through the years.

This bookfelt a little too removed from mainstream non-fiction than I could enjoy. Thefragmented style in which it is told proved difficult to read and only on thelast few pages did a coherent storyline emerge. Before reading this book I hadbeen eager to learn more about the state of Missouri but after reading it Ifeel none the wiser. The authors writing style has lost touch with the reader andwhile the writer in me can appreciate the creative effort behind this memoir,my reader self is wearing a big question mark on her forehead in addition to adisappointed look.

Whenever Icould make out a little coherence in the narratives I did enjoy learning moreabout the author, about how metropolitan America reacts to people from theSouth-West. Also I enjoyed learning about another writer at work. Those momentswere rare and far between though, most on the last few pages. Sadly that wasall I enjoyed about the book. In my opinion a straight forward memoir wouldhave been the more reader-friendly choice in the case of this book.

The fragmented style makes this book a challenge to read, if you’reup to it go ahead though.