Book for July

I had a couple of books in mind for July but decided on this one (The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less) because I think it's the most fun. It's a little bit like that Zippy book in a sense that it's a memoir. It's a quick read, witty, and is based on a true story. It's actually written by the Prize Winner's daughter. There's even a movie based on the story with Julianne Moore. It's okay but the book is definitely much better. I thought all you summer Ohio folks might enjoy a read from a story based in Ohio.

In case you need more info here's the review from Publishers Weekly. "In the 1950s, the Ryan family struggled to make ends meet. Ten kids and a father who spent most of his paycheck on booze drained the family's meager finances. But mom Evelyn Ryan, a former journalist, found an ingenious way to bring in extra income: entering contests on the backs of cereal boxes and the like. The author, Evelyn's daughter, tells the entertaining story of her childhood and her mother's contest career with humor and affection. She is not a professional narrator, but her love and admiration for her mother come through in every sentence. Evelyn won supermarket shopping sprees that put much-needed food on the table, provided washing machines and other appliances the family couldn't afford, and delivered cash to pay the mounting pile of bills. This well-told, suspenseful tale is peppered with examples of Evelyn's winning poems and slogans, taken from the years of notebooks that she saved and passed on to her daughter, and has a fiction-worthy climax that will keep listeners laughing even as they're glued to Ryan's tale." (Forecasts, Feb. 5). The book is available on Amazon from $6-$15.

If anyone has already read this and wants a different book, let me know and I'll come up with a different one. If not, enjoy and I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts!