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Summary: 'Talkin 'bout Mama
Review: "My mother eats things she finds dead on the road. Her standards are high. She claims she won't eat anything that's not a fresh kill. Mama is an adventurous and excellent cook also. We have feasted not only on doves, turkeys, and quail, but robins, squirrels, and, only once, a possum. That's my Mama." This book, "Mama Makes up her Mind," by Bailey White is a hilarious string of stories that reflect on what it was like growing up in the Deep South with her "practical" but funny mother and her siblings. This book had many wonderful qualities. One of the best ones is the book's hilarious and unforgettable characters. Mama encounters many strange characters and learns how to relate to them in her own "unique" way. "I could tell from the fully present look on the top of the artist's glowing bald head that Mama was describing her invention of a cure for male-pattern baldness. She calls it the axillary transplant." The artist in this chapter called "Nonrepresentational Art" was their host and they were on their way home from one of his exhibits in a gallery. This is only one example of the witty ways of Mama.Another quality of this book is it's ability to "paint a picture." The adjectives and form of writing really made me think of an old country house in the South. The dialogue and characters helped also. An example of these elaborate descriptions is about Rosey's restaurant in the following quote from the book. "Rosey's restaurant is a tough juke joint on the edge of the marsh in an old-fashioned part of Florida. At Rosey's you never know whether you're drunk or not because the floors wave up and down anyway. The foundations are sagging and you can eat inside if you can take the smoke or you can eat outside and throw your fish bones down to vulture looking pelicans." This is from the first chapter titled, "Rosey's." Simple, yet suspenseful. While reading this funny book, I found myself simply laughing out loud. It takes you back to Bailey White's childhood and allows you to experience her comical stories and lively characters. Although I fell in love with Mama, I am glad she's not my Mama.
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Summary: My momma's weird, but this one takes the cake
Review: ...and it's not just Baily White's mamma. It's her kith and kin and neighbors and townsfolk and everybody in south Georgia, to hear her tell it. An engaging series of stories about memorable and eccentric folks who seem to populate White's world, this book makes it clear that White is a magnet for those with a story to tell. Lots of these chapters were taken from her All Things Considered sketches on National NPR.
A fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: Adventurous mama
Review: A collection of short stories depicting the life of the White family with all the absurdities and complications of daily life .. of course through the eyes and mind of White and her family! Reading this book, I really felt like I was watching a comedy.. genuinely funny .. each story ends up with a learned- the- hard -way lesson .. the narration is simple and too close to the heart that you actually can build up the White's house in your mind .. with all the historical monuments laying around for ages.. you can see mama walking in her garden .. the way she talks even move and drive.. a bit sentimental but the overall impression is funny !
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Summary: Teachers, don't miss the Titanic chapter
Review: A lovely, funny, tears-run-down-your-cheeks-because-you-are-laughing-so-hard book. My favorite chapter is where she talks about teaching first graders to read. Her description of all the ways she has been told to teach reading over the years was on the mark. Her description of the "cute" method is hilarious. Her tried and true method is to teach about the Titanic. I used this essay as a read aloud at an inservice for a group of teachers. It was perfect. You will enjoy this book.
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Summary: Intellectual and Hysterical
Review: Bailey White captures the magic of the eccentric south in this charming collection, where each little chapter is a story in an of itself - but all related. Sassy and playful, like Fanny Flagg's delightful books, but more of an intellectual's look at life, the book passes by the Dukes of Hazzard type mentality, and stands like a beacon on its own. Cooking, livestock and an amazing house are simply the tip of the wonderful things to come - definitely a book to be read not once, but many times. From a road kill menu to a swarm of bicyclists to a bed that morphs into a mirror and "something like a husband" the palette is full and rich with fun and love and the wonderful art of being southern. This would make a wonderful "read out loud" book that would leave the audience in giggles and begging for more!
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Summary: Pleasure reading at its best!
Review: Bailey White's book "Mama Makes Up her Mind" is hysterical, especially the chapters entitled "Instant Care" (you will never want to see another doctor again) and "Something Like A Husband", you will never react to an obscene phone the same again. Read it! It is a good cure for the winter blues.
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Summary: Charming! Full of subtle humor and loving insights.
Review: Bailey White's matter-of-fact prose sneaks up and surprises you with the outrageousness of her characters and situations. I loved "The One-eared Intellectual" so much that I called a friend of mine, a Master Teacher, to read it to her long distance. We had a great laugh together over the phone. SHE loved it so much that she plans to buy the book and share it in the seminars she conducts for teachers. I'm ordering five more copies to give to members of my family. They'll be crazy about it, too!
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Summary: How One Person¿s Life can be so Humorous...
Review: Bailey White's short stories about her childhood, mother, and the surroundings of her small town touch upon the very fabric of American Life. Some segments will make you cry, others will make you laugh out loud. Most segments, however, are a humorous account of Bailey's strange, yet somehow remarkably familiar life.
Trust me, you'll never want to put this book down once you've started. For a real treat, however, share some of Bailey's stories with children. Each chapter makes the perfect bedtime story for young and old.
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Summary: Stress free reading
Review: Definitely a 5 star book for its' genre. The book is a compilation of essays/stories from the authors life which pull together to make the reader feel as though he/she has read a lighthearted autobiography. A funny book that was easy to read but in a surprising way profound and insightful at times.
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Summary: Lightweight, Short-Take, and a Lot of Fun
Review: Do not be misled by the statements of various reviewers who attempt to place White in the same pigeonhole with Flannery O'Connor or who describe White's work as intellectual in scope. White is absolutely nothing like O'Connor, whose humor was extremely dark and often brutal, and while often touching her work could scarcely be described as particularly deep; you will not be provoked to think deep thoughts. But this is not a criticism of White or her work; the lady has created a niche for herself that is uniquely her own, and she fills it extremely well indeed. MAMA MAKES UP HER MIND is a collection of very short essays of the type White and other essayists have popularized on national public radio: most run two to three pages, and I don't believe the longest piece ran more than five pages at most. They are bites of eccentric character, local color, and regional humor with an often laugh-out-loud quality. As you might expect, the subject of many of these essays is Mama, and when writing about her mother, Aunt Bell, or the other Southern eccentrics that populate her world White is at her most successful and most memorable. White is less successful, however, when she herself is the main focus of her writings, and although these particular essays remain enjoyable they seem to lack the same sense of purpose found in her other pieces. Even so, MAMA MAKES UP HER MIND will entertain from cover to cover with its wry and winsome commentary on "the dangers of Southern living," and any one who enjoys regional humor expertly conveyed will find tremendous enjoyment in this particular book. Recommended.
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