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26 Comments
July 18, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Just read the first few chapters of your book — love it! My husband bought a van/truck from ebay, had it shipped to SF to be parked in front of our apartment where it leaked oil and caused neighbors concern.
We called it the Vuck.
So, after reading your work, I felt better knowing I wasn’t the only one having had a Vuck in their lives.
Best, Courtney
July 30, 2009 at 12:08 am
Dear Melanie,
I am interested in writing a review of your “The Slippery Year” ISBN: 978-0-307-27067-2 for my blog, The Conch: http://conchcommentary.wordpress.com/
I am currently in the process of adding more reviews to my site. Can you please send me a copy of the book to review? I am happy to send you more samples of my works, including reviews of other works, if you’d like.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Rhoda
P.S. Is it possible for you to send me an autographed copy of “The Slippery Year”?
July 31, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Have you been spying on my wife and I for the last 20 years? It may be possible from the Oakland hills to the peninsula.. We were both in tears reading the chapter about the van, I mean in tears. I could not go on it was so dead on. Somehow my wife too a bit of offense that I thought it was so funny, then she read the line about the driving secrets…omg bingo! Thanks for making my morning much better. I hope you have a great day.
August 4, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Melanie,
I just finished listening to your segment on the Diane Rehm show, and did not get this e-mail comment fast enough: I read years ago (I don’t remember the source) that Americans have a ‘risk gene’ passed on by our ancestors who had to take great risks traveling through unchartered waters, land, and philosophical challenges, while fleeing persecution and oppression in search of better and more secure lives. I had the opportunity to travel at an early age for personal and eventually business purposes, and have come to realize that my ability to venture into unchartered territory has not been so much an aspect of my intellect, but that of being stimulated by the challenge of the unknown and discovering new people and experiences. I look forward to reading “Slippery Year”. ….. Ira
August 12, 2009 at 3:09 am
Hi Melanie-
I am really enjoying reading your new book. I hope to have it finished before your reading tomorrow at a “Great Good Place for Books”. I was especially moved by ‘December’…which category did I fall into? What do you say about people who say “Do Good Boy’s?” I think I am in my own category of people who are delusional and treat their dog as their middle child! I was in tears by the end of the chapter when Bodhi (I immediately thought of the movie Point Break) was put down…you wrote it so well that I kept reflecting on my experience with our last dog. It took me years to finally explain to Marcus that our dog did not just fall asleep and not wake up ‘coincidentally’ while he was in school. BTW…I like your hair curly! All my best, Wendy Martinez
August 29, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Hey Wendy! I’m so glad you liked the book. Hopefully I’ll see you out there on the trails, soon!
August 26, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I started reading your book last night. I read up to February. Amazing! Last thursday, a dear friend had to put her yellow lab down. Monday night I went to the movies with this same friend to see Julie and Julia. Although I have never eaten with Julia, Alice Waters is my cousin, and I might add, I am not passionate about the dinner hour and will not eat mushrooms, not even wild mushrooms Alice picked that day. Sacrilege, I know. That food gene is recessive in me. I too grew up in a family of four daughters in Mass. I can’t tell you how many times we had to go to the Louisa May Alcott house growing up. I now live in Rhode Island with a husband who is a great cook, a son born one month before yours, and a yellow lab named Quahog the Dohog. Yesterday morning, before I started reading your book, I was youtubing “Paper Moon”. I was looking for pictures of the hat Tatum O’Neal wore. So when I read about her in your book, in the evening, I started screaming. I was hearing twilight zone music in my head. We didn’t get the camper van, but every time I mention to my husband how much I want one of those party vans with the venetian blinds, he looks truly frightened. I just say that whenever I need some space. Now I am driving a used turqoise escort wagon with a bumper sticker that says, “Happiness is Loving a Cat”. We have no cat, and it looks pretty funny when Quahog is looking out the back window of the car. I look forward to reading the rest of your wonderful book. All the best to you and your beautiful family.
August 29, 2009 at 3:58 pm
LOVE the Louisa May Alcott house! Wanted to be her, too, of course, well, really wanted to be Jo March, as well as Caddie Woodlawn and Harriet the Spy. I can’t believe the similarities in our lives. Are we the same age, too? I have been looking for that Tatum O’Neal hat all my life, and the boots she wore in Paper Moon. Give my best to Quahog the Dohog. That is too perfect of a name. I may have to steal it.
August 31, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Melanie,
I finished your book and I am giving it to my dear friend who recently put her dog down. I love your writing style, your insights and your sense of humor. One of my favorite parts was, in the last few pages, when you share your son’s wisdom and experience about grapes, you and God. It brought back a memory when my son was 5 and we were walking Quahog. He stopped walking the dog and looked at me and said, “You know, it makes no sense to say falling in love when we are love.” I remember looking at him and saying, “Now where is it you say you’re from?” To answer your question, I am ffffffifty. There, I said it. That wasn’t so bad. I hope you will be writing another book.
Mara
August 29, 2009 at 4:31 am
Heard you on NPR and was impressed by you. I got your book to take on vacation with me. Thought I was getting a different version of Eat, Pray, Love, so I kept waiting for you to throw yourself down on the bathroom floor. Right when I got to the part about your sister not being rigid, I began laughing out loud and did not stop until the very end. I thought (understanding what the New Yorker reviewer meant) that you could be my friend. The only thing is that when I looked at your photo on your website I wondered how anyone that pretty could write like such a normal, down-to-earth person.
I just want to point out one thing. Your website says you have Alice and Oliver on your nightstand. I think you meant April and Oliver, not the designer’s clothing, although you’ve probably had to buy a whole new wardrobe for publicity stints.
Enjoy your success. You’re in the other room now, with the likes of Sara Gruen. Do you believe it?
Congrats!
August 29, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Hi Ann. Thanks so much for your lovely feedback. I have to go correct that title. I’m not so sure I’ve made it to the other room now or if I want to. My best writing comes from sitting in Salon B, not Salon A. I’m convinced of this!
September 20, 2009 at 6:26 am
Dearest Melanie. Thank you from the bottom of my heart (or “heart of my bottom” as my husband would say) for writing this book. I imagine that you did not intend to write a self-help book, but I felt such a sense of relief and comfort as you perfectly put into words so many of the thoughts and fears that I have struggled to understand for years. I had many of those “That’s it! That’s exactly how I feel, and the reasons make sense now!” moments (especially the perfect minutes, but so many others).
In addition to the deep stuff, this summer I sent a son to camp for the first time and a daughter to college for the first time, and it was gut-wrenching. Reading your account of your son’s camp experience made me cringe with familiarity! Happily, I can report that the months of agony at the thought of leaving my daughter at college were far worse than actually doing it, so remember that when your turn comes. :)
I’ve never written to an author before, or even left feedback on book websites, but I wanted to tell you how much you have helped me. You truly have a gift, and I can’t wait to read your next book!
September 20, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I really loved this book. I was laughing out loud in the bookstore as I looked through it, and I think people were staring at me. It was the kind of laughing when you can’t stop. Many congrats.
September 23, 2009 at 12:57 am
hi melanie –
i don’t know if you remember me; it’s been about 10 years or so. i babysat ben out on vinalhaven when he was very very tiny and you gave me a copy of the girl who swallowed the moon, which i read and read and read (and have just recently read again, for the moon group. zanda is a very dear friend). anywho. i was digging through my closet on the island a few weeks ago and discovered a loose manuscript with your name on it. turns out to be an early version of the map that breathed – this one starts with nora and billy on a beach. i wanted to a) apologize if i kept something from you that should have returned and b) ask if you’d like it? it’s 148 pages, and i’d like to read it, if you don’t mind. but i’d be happy to send it back to you, after such a long time. i am so much looking forward to reading the slippery year now – it sounds amazing. and congratulations on the NYT!! peace, kt
October 9, 2009 at 11:49 am
melanie,
loved evey word of your book! must comment on one thing–the end section about the bed. too damn funny. we had similar issues in our marriage, and solved it beautifully with two full sized beds side by side–like in the dick van dyke show… SO much better now!!
think about it!
October 15, 2009 at 3:21 pm
melanie – your book is sooo good and i am sooo disorganized (1st time mom of 10.5 mo old) that my local library has contacted my former workplace (!) by phone seeking the return of ‘the slippery year’. i have actually had to lie to them that i am incapacitated & can’t possibly get out to return it (library approx 3 miles from my home) til next week. i can’t give up the book yet, nor will i be rushed as i enjoy it ! thanks for the great laughs, poignant reflections and good company. know that i will make up for my bad library form by donating to their ‘conscience box’…likely dusty coins scavenged from my car floor. we do what we can, right ? cheers & keep writing – you have an eager and appreciative audience !
October 22, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Melanie, I had the pleasure of reading “The Slippery Year” in two days and LOVED it! I found myself laughing out loud and agreeing with everything you said. I especially loved the part about not wanting to go to the Flan party because you’d rather be home but then you wonder why you are lonely and no one wants to hear it. I also loved the van description and how you got annoyed with the kids crossing through your camp. I can keep going on and on. LOVED it! I can’t wait to read more of your work.
Christine
Boston, MA
October 25, 2009 at 12:52 am
Read your book, the Slippery Year, in one sitting. Laughing out loud often, I had to run to my computer to email friends who need to read your book. Thanks for writing it. It all needed to be said. Your boys are lucky to have you and you so lucky to have them.
November 21, 2009 at 4:29 am
Melanie,
I came across your book at the library and I am so glad I decided to check it out. I couldn’t put it down and read it in a day. I laughed out loud numerous times and I read quite a few of the passages to my husband. I have been married 16 years and have a 13 year old daughter (just wait till the teenage years – hopefully you will write a book about that!) so I can relate totally to your book. You put into words things I think all the time. THANK YOU so much for your wonderful book.
Whitney
Bartlett, TN
November 26, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I just finished The Slippery Year, and I LOVED it! I am only 33, but I felt like you were describing my life. In fact, I was reading your book while lying in my bed (a king-size memory foam matress, nonetheless), listening to my husband snore, resisting the urge to punch his light out!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing a book that captures reality rather than make all the rest of us feel inadequate because we’re not dumping our families and going on some big spiritual quest to find ourselves.
Your sense of humor is charming, and it is humor that gets us through those times when we only love our families after we’ve all gone to bed!
February 9, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Thanks for taking the time to write about this issue. I truly appreciate it. Ill post a link of this entry in my website.
February 28, 2010 at 6:00 am
Lots of Good information in your posting, I bookmarked your blog so I can visit again in the future, Thanks
March 20, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Dear Melanie
The Slippery Year made me laugh out loud on EVERY page. No other book has ever done that. About halfway through I got curious about what you looked like so flipped to the inside back cover hoping for a photo. You’re gorgeous! What kind of wonderful life must you be having with such a great, patient, tolerant witty husband, a perfect kid, a fabulous sense of humor, and dynamite looks? I want to be you! Or at least your best friend. Call me!
May 19, 2010 at 3:17 am
Hi Melanie,
I just finished reading Slippery Year. I am a native San Franciscan and I love the references to Bay Area as I am now living in Rocklin, California. I loved the book. You made me laugh to tears and cry to tears. I am another wife who sleeps with ear plugs and finds myself searching with my hand to close the mouth snoring in my ear during the night. So many ways I felt connected to your writings and realize that many women experience the same. I’m glad you have the talent to write about it so the rest of us know we are not alone. You are definitely an “A” lister! I look forward to reading more.
May 28, 2010 at 2:31 am
What a great book. It really touched me in so many ways. I think I’ve felt every emotion you brought up in your book but what especially touched me was your attachment to your beloved dog. We had to put our old dog down last week and I had him cremated. He’s in his ziploc baggie in a box on my counter and I still talk to him and understand every emotion you were going through. I just loved this book.
July 7, 2010 at 3:51 am
I don’t remember where I first heard about your book, but it’s been on my “list of things to read” for a while now. I finally was able to grab it in the library and I had to convey my experience to you: I was trying to reread a passage out loud to my boyfriend and was laughing so hard that I couldn’t even talk! With tears streaming down my face, I barely made it through one sentence before my boyfriend started to think I was seriously crazy. I can’t even remember the last time I laughed out loud to a book! Although I don’t yet have a husband or a child, I could relate somehow to your story. Maybe it was the whole East coast transplant not sure whether I’m going “home” when I’m flying west or east thing. I don’t know what you’re next one will be about, but I’m looking forward to reading it!