Parenting

[close] GERMS OF TRUTH
by Heather Tosteson
Wising Up Press

A book about life, death, families of all ages, stages, and orientation . . . and sperm banks.

In this engaging and thoughtful collection of short stories, people of all ages try to make sense—poignant, often funny, sometimes wise—of the many, changing ways they intersect as parents, children, and families from conception to death. Read more. . .

In the first section, We're All Donors Here, an exasperated mother straight talks her disconsolate, perfectionist daughter who has transposed a number on her sperm order, "All this picking and choosing, all this getting it 'right' is a delusion. Always has been." What lies beyond right is what these donors and recipients of sperm banks, and those affected by their decisions, explore.

The ten stories in the second section, Whose Life Is It Anyway, focus on the dense interleaving of death as well as life on our understanding of our complex interdependence as children, spouses, and parents. "Do you ever feel you are living out someone else's story?" an artist asks her second husband and their assembled adult children. With the help of those they live with and love more or less well, and of their ghosts, living and dead, hungry and nurturing, the tellers of these ten stories, ages twenty to eighty, seek to get their lives back, and, surprisingly, do—mysteriously renewed. 294 pp.

General release date: June 15. Available directly from Universal Table/Wising Up Press website now: http://www.universaltable.org

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/L4YcFPSLP9E
Look Inside: http://www.universaltable.org/library...
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[close] Warren Adler's The War of The Roses leaped onto the public consciousness and has since remained an essential thread in a wider tapestry of divorce iconography. Now, Adler presents us with the chandelier-shattering legacy of Barbara and Jonathan Rose relived in their children Josh and Evie in a hilarious sequel to the original iconic tale about the perils of marriage, divorce and the destructive power of materialism.

Unlike the legendary Roses, Josh's marriage to Victoria should have all the qualities of an everlasting union. But when an innocent caper involving missing Milky Ways catapults out of control at their son's elite private school, the pair find themselves entering into a shattering warfare of a different kind. Armed with the emotional mayhem inherited from their parents, as well as compounded pressures involving a depraved headmaster, clandestine affairs and Victoria's male-hating mother, The War of the Roses - the Children presents a gripping story of the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children.

Little more than a child herself, Josh's ever sympathetic and over-stuffed sister Evie lavishes her 'food-is-love' obsession on her beloved niece and nephew coping with their own sense of loss. Meanwhile, Michael and Emily, soon-to-be children of divorce, orchestrate their own plan to keep their family together at all costs. Adler, once again, demonstrates his storytelling mastery by revealing the intricate blending of the past with the present, and how time unravels all things seemingly perfect to be darkly and even comically dysfunctional. [close]

[close] A humorous collection of anecdotal essays on how to deal with common adult life struggles that fall just short of FEMA intervention but are bigger than a duct tape and coat hanger fix. This stuff wasn’t supposed to happen to Madge, she’s college educated and comes from a good white collar Irish Catholic family. But she made it through an abusive marriage, co-parenting with her alcoholic ex who subsequently vanished, joblessness, homelessness, food stamps, dating, and raising three kids single handedly. Somehow she maintained her dignity and fabulousness and produced three very smart, well adjusted, successful children. These are life lesson stories filled with humor, common sense and snark.
“This book is very nice dear but I still think you should become a dental hygienist. They make good money you know. People always need their teeth cleaned.” – Madelyn Madigan, Madge’s Mother
“Funny and cleavage, a winning combination!” – A creepy guy that reads my blog [close]