Rebecca Barry - Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories

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Praise for

RECIPES FOR A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

You will rip through these stories and find a bit of your best and worst self on every page. Rebecca Barry is one of us.

Kelly Corrigan, New York Times bestselling author of Glitter and Glue

Barry writes about writing, while balancing two children with her other arm. Its raw and true, heartbreaking and naked. And in the end its the story of all of us who strive and settle, grunt and bear it, while still managing to laugh. Which is easy, cause Barry is sly and very, very funny.

Julia Sweeney, nationally bestselling author of If Its Not One Thing, Its Your Mother

Rebecca Barry looks straight at her life and describes itsometimes hilariously, sometimes movingly. Her generosity of spirit makes for an engaging, wise, and delightful read.

Ian Frazier, nationally bestselling author of Travels in Siberia

Recipes is anecdotal, funny and telling, with the kinds of momentary glimpses of ordinary days that reflect something largerand funny. Did I mention funny?

New York Times Motherlode Blog

Spontaneous dinners with good friends, soul-searching through meditation and yoga, and hilarious snippets of child rearingall come alive in Barrys memoir, which the reader will relish.

Booklist

Dip in and out without missing a beat or the message: Contentment isnt about getting everything... but finding magic in the mess.

Redbook

Unblinking honesty and bright humor... [Barrys] book is refreshing and hopeful, yet not afraid to examine moments of despair... warm, authentic, and funny. She manages somehow to be truthful about parenthood without falling into treacle or sanctimony. An expert at vignettes, she easily conjures up the people in her life and the various moods of our landscape.

Ithaca Times

This book will bring a welcome dose of brightnessleavened with acerbic witto those who, like Barry, are simply trying to do worthwhile work and care for the people they love.

Shelf Awareness

Writing with a delicate balance of humor and truth, critically acclaimed author Rebecca Barry reflects on motherhood, work, and marriage in her new memoir about trying to build a creative life.

Sweet Paul Magazine

A solid addition to the growing genre of short, witty essays written by women about having a career while trying to raise a family.

Kirkus Reviews

Meet Rebecca Barryshell make you laugh on one page and maybe get a little misty-eyed on the next with this new memoir in stories which is full of hilarious dialogue, recipes for things like Angry Mommy Tea, and tips on how to fool your kids into picking up their toys (scare them with stories about a green-toothed fairy named Gladys who steals un-picked-up toys at night). Recipes for a Beautiful Life is the book Rebecca Barry wrote while she was on her way to write another bookand, frankly, I think its the most beautiful thing that could have happened to all of us.

The Quivering Pen

This woman was me. Somehow, she had reached inside my heart and revealed myself to me, told my story far better than I ever could.

Bookriot

This is not a parenting book, but those who are in the thick of early motherhood will appreciate this bookthis Not-A-How-To-How-To collection of stories that expose the sordid details of marriage and parenthood, the ones that lie behind the scenes of a life that seems romantic and wonderful and magical to everyone else. And the stories are funny because they are true. I know Rebecca Barry. I am Rebecca Barry. I know dozens of Rebecca Barrys. We Rebecca Barrys dream a world of farm shares, starlit summer skies, neighborhood coffee shops, family nearby, friends at the ready with wine and cheese and bread and company.

The Real Nani

ALSO BY REBECCA BARRY

Later, at the Bar

This book is dedicated to my family.

Thank you.

I love you so much.

I love you like crazy.

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Certain names have been changed, some individuals are composites, and some events have been reordered and/or compressed.

Copyright 2015 by Rebecca Barry

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition March 2016

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Portions of this book were previously published on the authors blog and in Parents magazine.

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Interior design by Joy OMeara

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Barry, Rebecca, 1968

Recipes for a beautiful life : a memoir / Rebecca Barry. First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

pages cm

1. Barry, Rebecca, 1968 2. Barry, Rebecca, 1968 Family. 3. Barry, Rebecca, 1968 Homes and hauntsNew York (State) 4. Country lifeNew York (State) 5. Women authors, AmericanBiography. 6. Creative ability. 7. WomenPsychology. 8. Mothers Psychology. I. Title.

PS3602.A77758Z46 2015

818.603dc23

[B]

2014016718

ISBN 978-1-4165-9336-2

ISBN 978-1-4165-9337-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4165-9805-3 (ebook)

Later, At the Bar Excerpt

How to Get a Life

S ome time ago, a few years into our marriage, my husband, Tommy, and I began to think about creating a life we really wanted to live. I was in graduate school in Ohio, about a year away from my degree, and Tommy was working part-time in New York as a copy editor for People magazine. (Its a modern marriage, my mother-in-law said. I saw it on Oprah.) Every month or so, wed find ourselves sitting at the kitchen table with a cocktail, playing Scrabble, and having one of three conversations.

Conversation One was why my husband thought we should have a baby. He is Catholic and wanted four children (he has three siblings) and at thirty-seven years old felt it was time to get going. Im a Quaker, was concerned about overpopulation, and was feeling pregnant enough with a collection of short stories. I was worried that once I had babies, my writing days would be over, so I kept bargaining for a few more years.