Just one look at the tongue-in-cheek cover image and book title is all you need to know that you'll be smiling to yourself and nodding your head in recognition as you read Judith Holder's quirky, irreverent and humorous book on motherhood. Judith is the woman behind the Grumpy Old Women TV series, books and stage shows and she has produced some of the funniest people in the business including Clive James, Billy Connolly, Dame Edna Everage, VictoriA Wood and Lenny Henry. To give you a taste of what you'll find within, without further ado, I'll share this exclusive guest post from the author herself with you, where she explains how she feels about her own mum and where the idea for the book came from :
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I wanted to write a book about motherhood that
reflected the fact that mothers are tricky. They’re not all sweetness
and light. They’re devious and clever, and two faced
and basically will stop at nothing for their children. I would take the
bullets for mine, of course I would – we all would ( I might draw the
line at a bungee jump) but they are everything that matters to me in
life and more. But I am a bit of a pain in the
neck with it. All mothers are. The trouble with mothers is they think they know it all. Worse still, they
do know it all. Mothers make the world go round like no-one else, but in truth they are something of an acquired taste.
There is no-one quite like your mother. This is both a
good thing and a bad thing. Because mothers are complicated. On the one
hand she’s your rock, your anchor, the
person who gets you through everything that life throws at you, and on
the other hand she drives you round the bend. Literally one minute you
love her to bits, and the next you go off her- like a bad smell that
suddenly wafts in through a car window she irritates
the hell out of you. Usually this is because she has stepped over the
line between harmless chat and into interrogation mode. As in she asks
you something deep and meaningful about your current boyfriend or your
job, or asks the most irritating question of
all - just randomly - which is “what are you thinking? ” She can’t help
herself, she’s genetically programmed to constantly try to find out
what’s on your mind and what’s going on in your life in case it might
lead to an emergency. There’s nothing she can do
about it. It’s involuntary. She is constantly on Mother Duty in case
you need her. It’s part of her job description. Mothers and daughters
seem to be more prone to this love/hate merry go round than mothers and
sons, and believe me I know because I have two
daughters of my own, and my own mother lived with us for 16 years. So
I’ve got the badge and the T shirt to prove it.
My own mother passed away 4 years ago almost to the
day. If anything I miss her more as time goes by. She was a no nonsense
woman, she knew stuff. She was a black belt
gravy and marmalade maker, and she could tell if fish was off just by
sniffing it. She devoted her life to motherhood, and later
grand-motherhood. This was her career. Her job was to love and protect
us even though most of the time we didn’t deserve it. Mothers
are maddening but the truth is when they’re gone – no-one is going to
bring you another, so make the most of her. She won’t be here for ever.
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I've read the book and had the disconcerting feeling of recognising not only my mum and daughter but also myself, both in the role of mother and daughter ! Just goes to show that some things cross the generational divide ! Many mums - if they still have young children - often have trouble finding the time or energy to read a whole book, but this one is perfect because you can just dip into it when you have a few minutes and always find something to put a smirk on your face.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £9.99
- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Orion; Hardback edition (16 Feb 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 140914058X
- ISBN-13: 978-1409140580
Disclaimer : I received a free review copy of the book.
Other reviews you may be interested in :
This book sounds brilliant, definitely something I would read!
ReplyDeleteThis has been swiftly added to my ever growing 'must read' list! It sounds wonderful :)
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