Signs of Life

I am not sure how many people check this blog that aren't actually in our Book Club. I know a few of my friends and my parents look now and again but I doubt anyone is getting real advise on what books to add to their book shelves. It's more about our funny nights of drinking wine with small book reviews and discussions. The whole blog started as a joke but ended up being kind of fun to write and even more fun to think of new ideas for posts.

But in this case, I have a real book review (sort of) and a suggestion...

Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor

The cover states "Sit down with this book. See if you can stop reading after page one." Seriously I dare you, no double dog dare you! Do it.

Signs of Life is a memoir about Natalie, a 24-year-old who lost her husband in a freak accident on Father's Day 2007, she was 5 months pregnant with there first son. Natalie takes you on a journey through her grieving process while at the same time becoming a new mother (have some tissue handy). I won't say too much other then her honesty is probably one of the best parts of the book. You will laugh out loud with tears rolling down your face. It feels like a friend telling you a long story of how she coped with something that seems totally uncopeable. Through the power of her family, friends, new son, books, students and lots of other factors she is able to start to find her way back. You don't have to know what it's like to deal with death first hand or becoming a mother all you need to know is that shitty stuff happens, and whether you like it or not you're gonna have to deal with it...maybe with a little help from a Fairy God Mother (FGM).





Three of us in Book Club went to High School with Natalie, she graduated a year behind us. It was a different experience reading the book for me since I actually know the characters in the book; they aren't characters they're real people. Of course reading a memoir you're aware that you're reading about real people but it's different when you can picture that real person. When my coworker told me this morning that she started this book last night and couldn't put it down, I decided I needed to do anything I could do to get the word out about Signs of Life and if my little blog about books and wine is my outlet then so be it. I knew I was enjoying it while reading it cover to cover this weekend, but the fact that someone who doesn't know Natalie couldn't put it down really confirmed that this is a wonderful book. So needless to say next week at our April Book Club Meeting I will hardcore be pushing for this to be our May book.

Natalie Taylor is an inspiration to everyone!

You can read more here.