Kelly Corrigan

I Just finished reading Glitter and Glue and I didn't want it to end. I usually don't like nonfiction and was greatly surprised by my reaction.
The book is about a grown daughter's memories of her mother, and how she resisted her, growing up. They were nothing alike. As her mother used to tell her, "Your father is the glitter and I'm the glue."
She goes off to see the world, after college, and is in Australia when her money runs out. She becomes a live in nanny to a recently widowed father show more of two children. While there she takes her duties very seriously and finds her mother's voice everywhere. She now has distance and time between herself and her mother and thinks,"there's no such thing as A woman, one woman, there are dozens inside every one . I probably should've figured this out sooner but what Child can see the woman inside her mom, what with all that Motherness blocking out everything else?"
If you ever had a rough patch with your mom, or just want a wonderfully entertaining, warm, humorous read, read, Glitter and Glue. show less

Anyone who has ever been a parent will appreciate and relate to Kelly Corrigan's newest book, Lift. With her signature wit, wisdom, humor, and honesty, Corrigan offers a glimpse into her most straightforward and touching parental musings. Written as a letter to her young children, her motivation is to give them the gift of knowing her at that moment in time. The idea is that by the time they are older and interested in getting to know her as a person, she will no longer be the person she is show more now. As they change, she will change. It is a touching and heartfelt book, which brought tears to my eyes more than once, and made me laugh out loud many times. My ONLY complaint is that it was too short... I finished it in 40 minutes! I loved Corrigan's YouTube sensation Transending and devoured her first book, The Middle Place in a couple of days. I am really excited to meet her and see her speak this week at the bookstore where I work. Her writing inspires me to be a better person, a better mother, and to remember always to be mindful of these wonderful, fleeting moments of parenthood.
The knowledge of impermanence that haunts our days is their very fragrance ~Rilke show less

Oh my. What a wonderful book. Somehow, I've missed reading Kelly Corrigan's previous efforts, but I'll be remedying that as soon as I have the time.

In GLITTER AND GLUE, Corrigan recounts her time spent in Australia as a nanny for the Tanner children--a boy and girl whose mother has recently died. As their nanny, Kelly begins to understand and value her own mom and Mary Corrigan's role as the "glue" of their family. With stories from life with the Tanners juxtaposed with tales from the show more Corrigan house, Kelly gives the reader plenty to think about, a lot to smile about, and the opportunity for quite a few tears too.

As with all books that I read, I mark the pages that have phrases that I love, passages that I'll want to re-read, and what I like to call Truths: things that make me exclaim "Yes!" as I read. Had I used a highlighter to mark up GLITTER AND GLUE, at least half of it would have been yellow.

GLITTER AND GLUE is an homage to motherhood and the difficult and rewarding job that it is. Although Corrigan left for Australia with the belief that "things happen when you leave the house," she eventually learned that life's biggest adventures often happen when you stay at home.

Many many thanks to LibraryThing and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. show less

A thoroughly enjoyable memoir -- I enjoyed it more than I'd expected to. Though the subject matter was serious, Corrigan writes with enough humor to seem very down-to-earth, & though I can't necessarily relate to specific situations in this book, I feel like I could relate to her as a person -- at times selfish, but ultimately thankful for all those in her life providing love & support. Her father is truly and obviously an inspiration to her. I felt the title was also very aptly named -- show more "The Middle Place": a place somewhere between growing up & being a grown up, being a child & having children of your own. Very thoughtful & inspiring. show less