I was sitting at my kitchen table answering email last Monday when a note from Kelly Corrigan popped into my inbox. I don’t know Kelly personally, but somewhere along the way I must have signed up to be on her mailing list.
The note was casual, hastily typed, without so much as a capital letter – the kind of quickie email I’d expect to get from a close friend:
22 years ago i started writing a book about a family i lived with in australia and how that radically upended many opinions i held of my mother.
Below, there was a link to a reading Kelly had done the week before, in a friend’s living room in California — an essay that serves (quite brilliantly) as a trailer to her new book, Glitter and Glue.
And so it happened that I was one of the first 100 or so people last Monday to click over to YouTube and watch Kelly talk about how her goal coming out of college was to become Interesting, with a capital “I.”
Convinced that “things happen when you leave the house,” Kelly sets off with her college roommate to travel around the world. But it’s not long before she runs out of money, her dream of being a hippie explorer derailed by lack of funds by the time she hits Australia. Instead of trekking in Tasmania, she winds up caring for two newly motherless children in a suburb north of Sydney.
It’s a coming-of-age story with pictures, condensed into five minutes, and it makes for great video. I was still wiping away tears as I shared the link on Facebook. And then, without really thinking about it, I sent Kelly an email in return. “Love the video,” I wrote. “And we share some territory.”
A reply flew back within a minute: “Of course I know you!” Two days later, two books arrived from her publisher. One for me to read and keep, and another for me to give away to one of you.
And here’s the amazing thing. As I sat down on my sofa and began to read Glitter and Glue, it actually did feel as if I were settling in for a good long talk with my best friend.
Such is the magic of Kelly Corrigan. The spell she casts – an irresistible mix of vulnerability, heart, humor, bad-girl charm, racy language, and hard-won wisdom – draws you in close and holds you tight. Her words weave an invisible inner circle, and there’s no place you’d rather be than right at the center of it with her, sharing a second cup of coffee, leaning in close so you won’t miss a word, getting down to the heart of the stuff that really matters.
So, I should warn you now: You will not read the first pages of Glitter and Glue and then set it down to go off and tend to other things. That would be like cutting off your best friend while she’s in the middle of telling you the most compelling story any of us have to share: the story of how we become who we are.
Glitter and Glue is on one level a self-deprecating, poignant tale of an impulsive, self-absorbed young woman who drinks too much, smokes too much, lies a little, kisses a gazillion boys, and fancies herself a carefree rebel – only to find herself broke, far from home, and forced to come face to face with herself and the hard truths of real life.
“This is not what I left home for,” Kelly whines, feeling sorry for herself on her first day on the job, “I’m a nanny, a fucking nanny.”
But as she soon discovers, she is also something more: she is her mother’s daughter. Half-way around the world from the home she couldn’t wait to escape, she has no choice but to step up to the plate in this somber household still reeling from tragedy. There is no hope whatsoever of filling the shoes of the lovely young woman who died too soon. But as she packs lunches and braids hair and dispenses hugs and kisses away tears, Kelly begins to realize she does know what to do. And that she’s not all alone after all.
On the contrary. She hears her own mother’s voice everywhere – nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, guiding her through this unknown landscape called raising children — territory that proves to be as challenging and rich and rewarding as any trek through a foreign land.
Day by day, the brash young woman who defines herself with words like “Intrepid,” is transformed by the humble work of showing up and doing what needs to be done for a family numb with grief. Her heart opens and softens. She falls in love with exuberant five-year-old Martin and his more reserved and resistant big sister Millie and, in different way, with the reclusive, wounded half-brother who lives alone in the garage. She wonders about the pretty young woman in the photographs who didn’t live to see her children grow up. It occurs to her she’s growing “less smitten with world travelers and their ripping yarns, and more awed by people who have thrown themselves into the one gig that really matters: parenthood.”
And she finds herself thinking of her own mother in a whole new light.
For the first time, it dawns on Kelly that things happen inside the house, too — hard things that require more strength and resilience and courage than bungee jumping off bridges or deep sea diving in caves.
“Maybe the reason my mother was so exhausted all the time,” Kelly muses, “wasn’t because she was doing so much, but because she was feeling so much.”
And this is what Glitter and Glue is really about. It’s about the birth of empathy. It’s about what it means to have a mother and what it means to be one and how it feels to lose one. It’s about the difference between skimming along like a tourist on the surface of your own life and digging in deep. It’s about grief and loss and growing up, and the realization that our main job here on earth isn’t to change or turn away from the people we love but to learn to do a better job of seeing them as they are and loving them as best we can for as long as they are here. It’s about the mysterious, ineffable bond between mothers and daughters and how that bond is transformed by time and experience and compassion.
“If you had asked me, after I graduated from college, whose voice I would hear in my head for the rest of my life,” Kelly writes in the prologue, “I’d have said some combination of my dad’s and my roommate Tracy’s and Jackson Browne’s. I would have continued with ten or twenty or two hundred others before I got to my mom.”
Yet it is Mary Corrigan, the quiet hero of 168 Wooded Lane, with her inviolable rules and her proud stoicism and her serious approach to the serious work of motherhood, whose no-nonsense voice harmonizes with her daughter’s more exuberant one on every page of this funny, tender, and ultimately very moving book.
“Your father’s the glitter and I’m the glue,” Kelly’s mom told her when she was in high school, by way of explaining the family dynamic. He was the star of the show; she, resigned to forever remain his less compelling, less interesting understudy.
Fortunately for us, Kelly Corrigan draws her complex, demanding, passionately devoted mother out to join her on center stage in Glitter and Glue. And then she illuminates her for all time in the golden glow of love. In the process, she reminds us — as if we could ever really forget — that the great adventure isn’t the one we have to cross an ocean to find. It’s the one we’re living right here, right now, in the midst of the people who know us best and love us anyway.
I have one copy of Glitter and Glue to give away!
To enter to win, you must be subscribed to my blog. Then, leave a comment below. I’d love to know, when you hear your own mother’s voice in your head, what is she saying? Of course, you can also just say, “Count me in!”
I’ll draw one winner at random after entries close at midnight on Tuesday Feb. 18.
Don’t want to wait? You can order Kelly’s book now by clicking here. (I put the small commission I receive from this affiliate link toward buying more books to share here.)
Count me in. It sounds like a really good read.
Count me in!
Count me in too! Thanks for the book suggestion.
The title along: Glitter and Glue, speaks to me! Some days I feel that is all that is holding me together.
I fear for my daughter and daughter-in-law who are still raising their families.
I plan to share your website and wisdom with each of them.
Thank you so much!
The book sounds like just the ticket for one of these long winter days/nights! I’d love a copy—
I can honestly say that I didn’t hear my mother’s voice in my head until my three kids hit the teenage years. This book sounds like an awesome read!
I loved this book, too (don’t enter me as I’ve read it!) and your review makes me both chuckle and understand even more deeply why. The birth of empathy. YES. xox
I saw this YouTube video after you had posted it…thank you for sharing it…and then saw a blurb in entertainment weekly. I’d love to win a copy and I’m sure I’ll be purchasing a few, as well. Xo
Hi Katrina! I often (too often!) hear my mom when I talk to my girls. Just today I caught her talking through me (it’s in French and impossible to translate, a play on words). Thanks for this great opportunity!
I loved The Middle Place and can’t wait to read this one!
I loved Kelly Corrigan’s previous book and this one sounds good too. I constantly hear my Mom and her prompts to treat others kindly and with respect, unless they were cruel or bullies and then watch out!
I LOVED” The Middle Place” by Kelly Corrigan, and cannot wait to read Glitter and Glue!
Love Kelly Corrigan!
My mother’s voice….”This to shall pass”..
“Offer it up to Jesus”…and millions more
“Grit your teeth” are my mother’s words to her children. Wisdom for getting through the tough stuff and coming out on the other end, filled with grace.
I also loved the “Middle Place” and saw Kelly’s reading on youtube last week. This book is on my TO READ List so count me in! great review!!! thanks
Would love to read this book!
I’d love to read Kelly’s new book. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
On one of many occasions that I said goodbye to my parents in their driveway as I headed back to college, my mother met my eye, placed her hands on my shoulders, and implored, “Make good choices.” I heard her loud and clear and have tried to honor her request (or was it an order?) throughout my life. Now, I even catch myself repeating those same words to my own children.
I love Kelly Corrigan’s writing – she is funny and real. Would love to read this book!
ACK, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to win a copy of this. I am obsessed with mother-daughter memoirs; losing my own mother in my early 20s changed the course of my life. I also traveled around the world in early adulthood — and couldn’t help but chuckle when I read that she runs out of money in Australia. When I was there, I met SO many fellow travelers whom the same thing had happened to. (And there are worse places to run out of money, that’s for sure!) Regardless of whether I win the copy I will read this SOON!
I have read her other books and love them. I am anxious to read this one too, and give one to my daughter who has three children. Peace.
“This too shall pass.” I cringed every time they were spoken by my mom. I wanted more from her. Now I understand that they are simply the most comforting words one can give to another. Yes, I find myself repeating them to my adult sons too.
Count me in! I would love to read this book. Unfortunately, I have worked very hard to get my mothers voice out of my head!
After reading Lindsey’s review and then yours it is clear I must buy this book!
“I may not always like what you do, or like you at that moment, but I always love you.” Unconditional love is what my mom taught me. I hopefully have passed this along to my girls.
My mother’s voice is often the one I repress :(…the guilt trips, the passive aggressive words…I often quote my father…who’s patience was never ending. Kelly’s book sounds wonderful.
Count me in! Sounds lovely!
If I would win this book, I already know who I would pass it onto next!!
This book sounds great. Please count me in.
I’d hear my late mother saying that it takes courage to grow up and be who you were meant to be. And I’d hear my stepmom saying to pick one thing. Just 1 thing this week to tackle.
I started hearing my mother’s voice when my kids were little, and sometimes I was not happy it was showing up when it did. Now, I think I choose the times when her voice comes to me; usually when I need some self-love and comfort.
I don’t hear my mother’s voice. I struggle every day to make MY voice a positive nurturing presence in the lives of my girls. Kelly is inspirational and I can’t read any of her writing without welling up. I’d love to own this book!
I loved Middle Place and Lift.
I cannot wait to read her wisdom in Glitter & Glue. Thank you.
Count me in. I have an amazing Mom who was always the glue in our family and taught me so much about being a good Mom. At 86 I am still learning from her.
I read Kelly’s earlier memoir and loved it. I can not wait to read this one as well. Please enter me as a possible recipient.
Even though I was 22 and my Mom 50 when she passed, I still remember her incredible strength, and I hear her encouraging me to be myself and not compromise in life. “Stay strong in your beliefs.”
Glitter and Glue is on my list. I would love to win a copy. Count me in. Thank you!
“get your hair out of your face” lol. lots of others too though. so excited for this book!
Count me in… Sounds very interesting.
Count me in! It sounds like my marriage. My husband is the glitter and I am the glue. I am so damn tired, and no one knows why. 😉
So many things she said that I remember. Many of them funny, a way of disarming my teenage resistance when she hoped I’d do something. Like what she said to get me to take a walk with her after dinner in the summer: “Let’s go look in people’s windows.”
Oh, yes! Please count me in!
If this is anything like the middle place I know I will love it
Definitely can relate to the “Glitter and Glue” analogy in my family! Can’t wait to read the book!
We had fun, didn’t we? —part of our usual goodbye after spending time together.
Count me in! Kelly’s one of my favorites just like you and this book will prove to be no exception, I am sure. My mother’s voice is always running through my head and heart – Never apologize for your grief, the best thing you can do for your kids is to have a healthy marriage, be careful with FB, it’s like writing something on the cover of the newspaper and on and on.
“Don’t go outside without a hat on your head.” I hear myself sounding more and more like my mother the older I get. My 17 year old daughter notices everything I say that is similar. “You sound just like Grams.”. Of course, I realize my mom is much smarter than I ever gave her credit growing up.
I would love to win a copy. I enjoyed Middle Place very much.
“There’s no point in borrowing trouble from tomorrow.” My Mom’s wise words for me whenever I wondered how I would raise 3 children by myself after my husband died.
Oh, this sounds so good! Thank you for the chance to win. And yes, I hear my mother’s voice in my head all the time. She’s reminding me of the value of piano practicing, reciting the lineage of king Henry VIII and Winston Churchill’s greatest speech. Then she moves on to tell me to stand up straight and of her great love for Marie Osmond and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I hear her all the time and I love her for it.
Thank you for bringing to my attention, books worth reading, books that make a difference. I’d be thrilled to be chosen to receive a copy. Thank you for the opportunity. Linda
Count me in — I love the meaning behind the title. Glue is a very good thing.
I really loved The Middle Place and would love to read this book!
Somehow, my e-mail provider decided to put your blogs into “spam” these last 3 weeks. I wondered if you were okay but, suddenly, found them tonight. Just as I was finishing the last one – & lamenting that I missed the Tomas Moore signed book give away – a “live” blog entered my “in” box! How fitting! I must read this book. Thank you.
Please count me I ! Thanks.
Count me in! This book sounds like a good read. My Mother’s words were spoken to me by her quiet, selfless acts of love. She truly sacrificed for her children’s sake. I lost my Mom at the young age of 91 and I still think of her every day.
Some self-critical thoughts come to mind. Can’t think of some good ones off hand.
But please count me in for the book. I’m a memoir junkie.
Count me in please. My mother’s voice in my head reminds me daily of what is important: the little things…music, time together, books, connections with others. Thank you for the opportunity to win this book.
Definitely want to read this book! LOVE the way you describe it! I think all of us (daughters or sons) continue to hear our mother’s voices…there’s no love like a mother’s love!
Would love to read this book! While reading your comments, I’d catch myself laughing…how many times have I said AND heard many things that my mother had said! I’m so very thankful that I still have my mother! Thanks so much for recommending this book…
Count me in! I added this book to my Barnes & Noble Wish List a couple weeks ago! It sounds so good!
Count me in!
Love this book. Was so moved by the video of Kelly Corrigan reading…I sent it to all my friends. Thank you, Katrina
My mother’s voice- a silent one. She raised eight children and she spoke through her actions and attitudes: selfless, hard working,never complaining, providing a warm, safe home for all of us.
“give flowers to the living” . My mother’s mother said it to her, she said it to me, and I have said it to my daughters. I can’t wait to read the book.
Count me in! It sounds like a wonderful read.
Please count me in
Sounds like a memoir I need to read.
Im knee deep into your latest book and am astonished. Ps my mother in law was late in meeting us because she was seeing YOU in person…i nearly passed out when she told me why!! I would love to read this glitter and glue next..saw the author on tv…and my house with three girls is full of IT!
Saw the video last week. Love Kelly Corrigan. Have read both of her books. Have this one on hold at my library, but would love a copy to read and then share with others.
Sounds just like my type of book…count me in.
Count me in please! Thank you.
Count me in – I have just met my mother after 59 years- and unfortunately we do not speak the same language – however I am a mother and love reading books about relationships/family/friends
Thanks for the lovely review. Makes me want to read it. Also I have come to trust your judgement in books. Learnt a lot from your books too. Funny how parenting is the only profession where one goes in headlong without any training. But if one has been fortunate to have a good mother, then that is all the training one ever needs.
I’d like very much to read this book by Corrigan – your review has touched a chord within. But I’ want it in kindle format. Unfortunately amazon does not give that option to all countries (I am from India). Would you be able to pass on the message to Corrigan, and see if she can do something about it. Thanks.
Love,
I’m a single mom of two small children, 7 & 3. Motherhood has changed my life forever.
Count me in! I’d love to read this book. My mother’s words were almost always critical, so I struggle on a daily basis to stay focused on the positive so that I don’t repeat that pattern with my own children.
When my mom would ask me to get something, she would say “your legs are younger than mine.” Yes what I tell my kids when I ask them to retrieve something from upstairs or downstairs!
second review of this book that I’ve read! Someone’s telling me something…..
Yes please. You have made it sound quite compelling and I have enjoyed other books by Kelly.
Count me in, please!!
Grateful for the chance to win, I’ve heard about this book from several folks lately.
For so many years I worked quite hard at drowning my mom’s voice out of my head, but now as my kids hit their teen years I find myself walking down an old familiar path, and hearing her words come out of my mouth I have a whole new appreciation for her “side” in all the stories..
This book sounds like it is one I can learn from. I did not have a good relationship with my Mother and spent a lot of time as a parent doing my utmost to be sure my parenting skills were not my Mother’s. As I have aged, I have begun to understand how little I knew of my Mother and see in myself her strength and fortitude. I hope I passed those qualities on to my sons.
I subscribe to your blog via the reader feedly. The book sounds fabulous and I’d love to read it!
I hear my mom’s voice more and more as I reach 50 {in 2 months}. I am knitting and chrocheting, I’m following Julia Child recipes from the 40 years ago, I find deals at thrift stores, I grow vegetables from seeds etc….. she keeps saying…. It’s about time you are doing those things….. she is right! And now she tells me all the time what a great mother I am, and that she is so very proud of me …. she was too busy raising me by showing me what I should be doing right, as opposed to telling me what I was doing wrong.
You, Kelly, Elizabeth Berg. Insightful, intimate, admirable women. Thank-you for all you share.
I’d love to win this book!
Would love, love, love to read this! Thank you,
Thank you for the opportunity to win! I hear my mom’s voice when I argue with my 11-yr- old daughter. There are a few things I try to do differently, however. My mom was very overprotective, so I try not to be. She also wasn’t too encouraging so I always tell my kids they can be anything they want to be.
I’ve heard so many great things about this book and I’m sooo looking forward to reading it. My mother’s voice often tells me to clean my room. 🙂
I still hear my mothers voice in me, even if it is 40 years since she passed over, when I speak to my grown children and now my grandchildren. How I miss her.
This looks like a lovely read. Count me in. I am lucky to hear my Mom’s voice in person or on the phone almost every day when she comes to my house at a painfully early hour to put my 10-year old son on the bus, so I can leave for work on time, or at the end of a long day when I am picking him up at her place. Saint Nancy is how I lovingly refer to her (to my friends). More often than not, what she is saying to me is: “How can I help?” or “Wish I could do more.” Not possible, Mom. <3
Count me in! I would love to read this memoir.
You know when you can feel the first tweak of heartfelt tears? Even just reading Katrina’s beautiful review, I could feel the wells starting to fill! It sounds like the most wonderful read and one I am excited to set out on. I thought of my mother and her abundance of stories that as she has got older I hear over and over again. And in that moment I realised I should listen to them again rather than potentially switching off, what messages are there in them for today? And I also thought of what I say to my own beautiful daughter and how those conversations are changing as she moves into adolescence…what will she remember of what I say. And then there is my wonderful stepdaughter who is probably a similar age to Kelly. Is she skimming the earth as a result of losing her mother so young, whose words does she hear and what could Glitter and Glue say to her. Don’t you just love the fabric of messages and quite how differently they can land for so many of us. Thanks for sharing xx
this sounds like a lovely book. count me it!
Count me in 🙂
A must read for me and my 19 year old “free spirited” son!
Love Kelly Corrigan’s books. Although I am now a grandmother, I remember well thinking that my life was “over” when I became pregnant and then realized it had only just begun…grateful for all those years of parenting…which really never end even when the “children” are 43 and 37!!!
Thanks for sharing the video. Can’t help but think she was inspired by you. I can hear your style in her video. I know I will love her book like I love yours
Would love to win…sounds like a great book. Thanks for the chance!
Count me in! I really loved reading The Middle Place so I can’t wait to read this book. My mom is one of my best friends. I feel that I can just use her as a sounding board when I want to and as someone who can offer me advice when I need it. (And offer it sometimes when I don’t!)
I watched the video and then shared on my fb page…. A wonderful reminder and confirmation that we all travel the same journey with our own unique paths!! Count me in!!!
I try to listen to the positive voices of my mother–and just let go the “other” voices! I have heard such great things about this book. Thank you for the chance to win!
Thank you for sharing a great new book. If I win I will read it and pass it on with the edict to share after reading.
Thank you for this exquisite offering, Katrina. 2014 has become a deepening meditation on mother (earth/divine mother, my mother and our lineage, being mama), and I am immensely grateful for the poetry you and Kelly Corrigan offer on this sacred journey. This song (Ma Chant) has been a soulful companion (thought you might also enjoy it)… http://bit.ly/1aQJtXL
Sounds like a great book! I hear my mom’s voice all the time. If only wish she was still around for me to have a conversation with still! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
I’ve fought for years to not hear my mother’s voice, to parent in a fashion opposite to her total domination. She’s been gone 9 years now and this book sounds like a good conduit to perhaps opening the channels again. I’ve loved your books so much Katrina, and would no doubt enjoy something you recommend.
Wow! Please count me in. And if I’m not the lucky one to win this, it will certainly go to the top of my “Books to Read” list. My parenting journey becomes crystallized with one sentence. “Maybe the reason my Mother was so exhausted all the time” Kelly muses, ” wasn’t because she was doing so much, but because she was feeling so much.” Feeling, and caring. Great review, Katrina!
Please count me in!!
Great. Count me in. Thanks
It has been nine long years since I have seen my Mother – I do, though, hear her everyday. Thanks
This sounds wonderful! I would love to read this….
I would love to read this book. My mother’s voice is always in my head. And she lives give minutes away, so I am doubly blessed.
I have the same thoughts as many of the previous posts. My Mom is my hero and I have always looked up to her. I hope my kids will feel the same way about me someday. I have turned into my mother and it’s a wonderful thing. Would love to read this book!!
This book sounds wonderful!
And I LOVE your blog!
I love Kelly Corrigan!
Thanks for writing about this book Katrina! It sounds like the perfect addition to a soulful mom library (which also includes your books). Her video already strikes a chord.:)
Count me in. Selfishly I want it for my daughter, who ironically has no children. She is the type A, going to concuer the world college student. I find my self at 50, turning into my mother and catching myself looking and acting like her all the time. My daughter is annoyed when her college friends tell her she looks and acts just like her mother. I would have felt the same way 30 years ago, but now find it a comforting thought.
Love kelly and her writing style. Would be just thrilled to own her latest book. Thank you for this offering Katerina!!
Ohh… Katrina. Sorry for name typo.
Count Me In!
Would love to win a copy of the book – I enjoy reading about other’s relationship with their parents. I am blessed that my mother is one of my best friends. But as she approaches 85 and I am slowly becoming the mother figure, I brace myself for the
day when I can no longer pick up the phone and hear her voice. Then I’ll just have
to listen to my heart instead!
Being more of a “glue” mom than glitter, I LOVED this book, and agree it is hard to put down. I can’t think of one certain thing I hear in my head from my mom, although I do sometimes feel like her words are coming out of my mouth sometimes when talking to my kids!
Katrina, I hear my mother’s voice often in my own words…..and now I’d give anything to spend one more day with her. I’m a mother and grandmother now, and I’d like this book for my granddaughter. She’s graduated from college and living in NYC, “doing her thing” in the big city. It will be good for her to think of her own mother in a new light.
Sounds like a great book….look forward to reading it!!! Count me in!
My mother’s voice echoes in me….as I see her face revealed in my own. I feel my evolution in understanding so much now….like why she & I made long treks to visit old cousins and listen to stories of they way things were. I open my mother’s journals to piece together a history. My history. She gave me that. The history my daughters inherit. I seek out the daughter’s of those old cousins now- as they connect me. My mother has been suffering from Alzheimer’s- Vascular Dementia for 20 years. She has not known me for many years now. She has not been able to share with me in such a long time. She lives in one crystal clear moment – just the one she is in. So my mother was glue for me and I seek out every last bit of it to help me navigate my role in this world. Thank goodness for photos, journals and old letters to remind me . I have read Kelly’s two previous books…really devoured them. I cried watching her video book trailer for this one….(I also love Kelly’s graduation commencement speech video.) I can not wait to read Glitter and Glue and would be delighted to receive it from you. Women like you and Kelly help me – you offer the needed conversation that mothers and sisters have. As I have parented without either….you have been such a comfort. Thank you.
Lindsey Mead recommended this last week, too. Between the two of you, I’m sure I’ll love it! Please enter me to win a copy!
Stay warm,
Tammy
I hear my Mother’s voice when buying something that is not a “need” but a “want” …
Would love to read this – thanks for the introduction to this author.
My mother’s voice usually says – “just do it” and “we make the best decision we can at the time.” I’m better at giving this advice than following it.
I’ve heard great things about this book, Katrina. I’d love to be entered in the contest. Thanks for your lovely review.
“Have some fun and DON’T behave!”. “You need to take care of yourself first and then you can take care of others.” “Do not leave your purse in your grocery cart when you shop. You must carry it on your shoulder or someone can steal it right out of your cart!” “Ketchup is so bad for you – have you looked at the ingredients??!!” Just some of the quotes I hear on a regular basis from my 79 year old mother who just moved to my town to be closer to myself and one sister. I really need to read Glitter and Glue, and Katrina I love your writing too! You remind me SO MUCH of my oldest sister, Marcia! I’ve shared your Facebook postings with her.
Count me in! My mother’s voice reminds me simultaneously of exactly who I want to become and who I do not want to become.
“Count me in!”
Count me in! I can’t wait to read Glitter & Glue.
Count me in!
(And when I hear my mother’s voice, it most often tells me to call my mother! :))
This book really speaks to me. I’d love to win a copy. Thanks for the opportunity!
Candice
I love seeing your blog post in my inbox! I would love a copy of this book! Sounds wonderful!
i would love to win this book.
I mostly hear my mother in my sister’s voice-tone and all of it-she nails her every time and we laugh together remembering our mom. Would love a copy of this book!
I would love to win this book. I hear my dad’s voice since my mom died when I was 10.
Loved Kelly’s other books, looking forward to this one too. Would love to have a copy.
I sent your book Magical Journey to my mother. As a long-time Kelly fan I have my copy of G&G so I will sent it to my mother if I win. Thanks for your wonderful work!!
Count me in please!! This sounds like a book I would love to read and lend!!
Count me in! I saw this her youtube video and loved it through tears and laughter!
I think I would enjoy this book nearly as much as I enjoy yours :-). Please count me in. Thanks!
I would love to receive this book! As the Mom of 2 grown-up children, I continue to hear my Mom’s voice almost daily. She was a first grade teacher and I currently teach kindergarten and each day I can hear her love of teaching voice come through to me. I strive to be the nurturing and amazing teacher she was and only hope that I touch the lives of my students as she did. She passed away when my children were 8 and 11 and I have tried to bring the memories and “voice” of my Mom to my children to this day. I know she is looking forward to being a Great Grandmother (up in heaven)as much as I look forward to being a Grandmother.
I’m so excited to read this book. Winning a copy of my very own would be icing!!
You always appear at the right moment in time with your “pearls of wisdom”. I have never read Glitter and Glue but it sounds like a winner to me. My mother was my best friend. She passed away three and a half years ago and I think of her daily. Sometimes, I will pass someone on the street or see some woman driving by…and for a second, I think she’s right there beside me. She was so wise in a quiet and unassuming way. She always let my father think he was the king of the castle, but we knew who really ruled. I am reading the Thomas Moore book, Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life right now, and find it enchanting. It will get me through the Nor’easter expected tomorrow night. Thank you for all your amazing suggestions.
count me in
I love everything I have read by Kelly Corrigan. I am pretty sure she is the best friend I never met. Please count me in for Glitter and Glue. It is a book that I would love to read.
Definitely count me in. My mom just passed away the day after Christmas. She was two weeks away from celebrating her 98th birthday. I can definitely hear her voice in my head, and I so miss her real voice in the here and now.
My heart welled up when I watched the video and my eyes are stinging as I write. My mom is still with us (she’s 86 tomorrow) and I’m with her as she’s now struggling to live on her own with significant health problems. I fly the 1000 miles home for a few days and then am back to ease her life as possible. It’s an honour to serve her.
I’d love to have a copy of “Glitter and Glue”, so please, count me in.
It’s interesting at what point in life, or after life as we know it, you may hear your mothers voice, and the impact it has on your life at any given moment.
I am always taken by surprise when I hear my mother’s voice in my head ……… but hear it I do !! Despite my attempts to ignore it or pretend I know better. Invariably I speak the same phrase each time ……… “OMG, I’m turning into my mother!”. LOL
Sounds like a lovely book. Thank you for encouraging other writers and sharing it with us here.
I love Kelly Corrigan and would love a copy of her new book. I hear my mother’s voice all the time. Most recently when I was in a challenging situation, I heard her say, “Pretty is, as pretty does”. I remember the first time she ever said that to me when I was a child and those simple words come back to me often.
Count me in! I hear my mom’s voice constantly, but it’s not necessarily a positive thing. Sometimes it is a good reminder to let someone be who they are, and accept them for it.
Oh, my goodness. Another gift given to me at a time in my life when it is most needed. Thank you for sharing this (new to me) author and book at a time when I am wondering every day — What’s it all about? Am I doing the right thing? I’m not doing enough… Just the little excerpt on the video touched my heart — and made the laughter and tears flow. Thank you!
I hear my mother’s voice, not necessarily in my head, but in my heart, saying “you are LOVED.”
Count me in! That sounds like a great read!!
I am looking forward to reading Kelly’s newest book. Thank you for the opportunity.
I hear my Mom always saying, “Call me when you get there.”. I’m 52. I live 4 states away. But if I am going away for the weekend or vacation, I always have to call my mother when I get there. And then, of course, there is the, “call me when you get home” on the return trip! My husband of 16 years has finally gotten use to this. At first he said, “seriously?”. Yes, seriously. Now, he reminds me to make that call. ♥
I love Kelly Corrigan. I have her first two books and have plans to purchase Glitter and Glue, unless I win first! 😉 Thank you for the opportunity. I enjoy reading your blog too.
Count me in Katrina. I would love to recieve Kerry`s book. My mothers words were ` Be careful` . Well intentioned, but probbably has made me risk averse.
Count me in!
I’m not a parent yet, but I am a teacher, and whenever I begin to read aloud, I realize I am reading with the exact same intonation as my Mom’s. She read hundreds of books to my brother and I as we were growing up, so now, as I open The Little Engine That Could, or Mr. Popper’s Penguins, or If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, it’s her voice I hear on each page. Every character carries a little piece of my Mom. 🙂
As the mother of 5 daughters.it is a must read!
Please count me in! Thank you!
My mom is saying, “Pull up your socks!” and I am laughing. It was a phrase she picked up from Calvin Trillin and what my mom meant by it was, “Toughen up.” Oh how I wish I could hear her say it today.
Count me in! I signed up for the blog, but it never sent me a confirmation email.
count me in 🙂
You don’t need to enter me in the giveaway, as I’ve read the book. I enjoyed it in a different way than her other 2 books. My own mother’s voice in my head all the while. Imagine my delight when I saw this post pop up in my feed. One favorite reviewing another, definitely some common territory. Thank you Katrina.
I *loved* The Middle Place and was so happy to hear that Kelly had another book on the way. My mom is also the glue, actually she is more like super glue, and I am so very grateful!
1) Count me in 🙂 2) this is a book I’m suddenly dying to read 3) I see my mom almost daily, and am 100% convinced she loves me boundlessly. But the voice from her that I hear in my head? “What you did was good, but it could have been better. You should have done ‘x’.” Sigh. Lifelong lessons to unlearn too.
In the last many years of her life, that we spent together as she journeyed with Alzheimers, my mother would always say “What would I do without you?” Someday, I hope to better remember what she used to say to me, before Alz., but for now, I am simply learning what to do without her.
My Mom’s sage advice was “You are no better than anyone else, and no one else is better than you”. These words carried me through the hurts of middle school and propelled me into treating others equally as I got older no matter their “status”. Now I am teaching my own boys to see all people with equal dignity and to remember they are worthy of the same dignity.
Sound like a book I’d love to read and then share with my daughters.
What an amazing book review…I have many tears! I would love to read this book. My own mother’s voice says, “Follow your bliss”…”enjoy THIS moment, on THIS day”…”it will all work out”…I am a very lucky daughter:)
Whenever I faced an overwhelming task my mother would always say, ” Remember how to eat an elephant. Piece by piece.” Although she is gone those words come back to me during tough times.
Thanks for counting me in for the drawing. It sounds like a great book!
What a marvelous review, Katrina! I can’t wait to read this book. xo
Sounds like a wonderful book! Thanks for the review and the recommendation!
Count me in please.
Please count me in!
I would love to be counted in! The video made me laugh and get choked up, even over the course of a few seconds!
Our mothers, all too often unsung heroes.
Please include me in the drawing. I’ve realized books and their authors are my spiritual community.
Oh I shall check this book out and even better if I was picked to win it 🙂 Thanks for sharing
I need to read this book to puzzle out an understand of my relationship with the mom that was too young to have 3 boys and a girl come into her life. The women that raised me were my grandmothers with my mom looking on. She was stepping around me to take care of the boys while fussing at me. There is a deep hurt in my heart. I don’t think she has ever gotten over having another female in the family. I have given her a pass for her behavior towards me and worked to learn from it. With two grown girls of my own, I have found the true joy that comes from having daughters. I wish all young women a loving mom.
I saw her You Tube video and have read Middle Place. I would love a chance to win it but regardless I will check it out from the library. Thank you.
Count me in, please!
I’m the Mother and would love to read her book to hear the words of the daughter.
Thanks.
Congratulations to Theresa Belleville, winner of a copy of “Glitter and Glue.” To everyone else who took time to leave a comment, thanks so much for entering the giveaway — and for sharing some echoes of our mothers’ inimitable voices! Such wonderful stories. And what a joy it is to be part of this thoughtful, responsive online community.
Hi Katrina! I hear my mom say lots of things throughout my day from the mundane, “don’t make crumbs, I just cleaned!” to “i see big things for you” to “i love you.” so blessed I can still hear her actual voice at any time, just by picking up the phone. I’m a bit fan of Kelly’s so I’d love to read her new book! Thanks for the opportunity!