Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths [Hardcover]

Connie Schultz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2006

From the 2005 Pulitzer Prize—winning columnist Connie Schultz comes fresh, clever, insightful commentary on life today: love, politics, social issues, family, and much, much more. In the tradition of Anna Quindlen, Molly Ivins, and Erma Bombeck, but with a distinctive voice and sensibility all her own, Connie Schultz comes out of the heartland of America to get you seeing, feeling, and thinking more deeply about the lives we lead today.

“You might spot someone you know in the stories here,” writes Connie. “Maybe you’ll even find a glimpse of yourself. Yes, each of us is unique, but life happens in ways that bind us like Gorilla Glue.” In Life Happens, Connie shares sharp, passionate observations, winning our hearts with personal thoughts on a wide range of topics, from finding love in middle age to the meaning behind her father’s lunch pail, from single motherhood, to who really gets the tips you leave and why as the war in Iraq, race relations, gay marriage, and wwhy women
don’t vote. In a more humorous vein, Connie shares her mother’s advice on men (“Don’t marry him until you see how he treats the waitress”) and warns men everywhere against using the dreaded f-word (it’s not the one you think). Along the way, Connie introduces us to the heroic people who populate our world and shows us how just one person can make a difference.

Charming, provocative, funny, and perceptive, Life Happens gives us, for the first time, Connie Schultz’s celebrated commentary in one irresistible volume. Life Happens challenges us to be more open and alive to others and to the world around us.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize-winning Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Schultz has been compared to Anna Quindlen and Molly Ivins, but as this collection of dozens of her columns shows, she's not a pale imitator; her focus is local (her family, her marriage, her state), but her observations resound across the country. Organized topically, the book's sections include "Love in the Middle Ages," about her marriage to Ohio congressman Sherrod Brown; "Family Values," with tales about her loving but complex family and background; and "Keeping the Faith," a selection of liberal religious columns best summed up by one of the columns' headlines: "It's Not Christian to Champion Hate." The most powerful work is culled from Schultz's columns on the war in Iraq and its effects as felt in Ohio. Attending a mass for a fallen Marine, Schultz writes, "We stand near the lifeless remains of our beloved, so grief-stricken we can barely breathe when, suddenly, we look up and behold the face of someone we can't quite believe took the time to find us in our darkest hour." Schultz's humor and eloquence, along with her anger with-and affection for-contemporary America, make this collection an intelligent and affecting read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Following an editor's advice, Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, began to inject her own life in her commentaries on the elements of everyday life. In this collection, she offers a broad spectrum of commentary on marriage, divorce, single parenthood, a parent's death, career, and remarriage. She tackles middle-aged romance, recalling her courtship and eventual marriage to Ohio congressman Sherrod Brown; religious beliefs; Ohio's blue-collar economy; family values; and a host of "head-shaking" moments in life passed on by her avid readers. She reflects on a policeman whose son died after inhaling a spray cleaner, a quiet lesson in taking things for granted following the report of the terrorist attack on a Russian school, throwing the first pitch in a major league baseball game and sparking envy in every man she knows, and Ohio legislators reconsidering a law banning breast-feeding in public. These are short but deeply engaging glimpses of everyday life offered by a keen observer. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Random House; First Edition first Printing edition (April 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140006497X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400064977
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,794,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME COLLECTION OF VIGNETTES: FASCINATING, HUMOROUS, POIGNANT, AND ENTERTAINING ., April 20, 2006

By 

RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths (Hardcover)

Five FASCINATING Stars! "Life Happens" is wonderful! 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner Connie Schultz reveals herself as a remarkable observer and AWESOME writer who genuinely cares about her subjects. This is a series of essays written for her Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine columns caught up in one highly entertaining book. Quite simply, it's 301 total pages that run the gamut of emotions from happiness to sadness to exhilaration to the edge of tears and back, generally tracing the trajectory of her life, loves, and encounters over the years. It details her journey of 20 years as a reporter before becoming a famous award-winning columnist. I had planned on passing on this book as probably a female-only "The View" type of book. Wrong! There is alot of emotionalism and vulnerability on full display, which may make some of us men a tad uncomfortable, but hang in there, guys, it's worth it. The reviews lured me in with some topics that go beyond 'female gossip', even one directed specifically at men (yes, the one about the 'F" word: No, not that word!): this is engrossing, didactic stuff for men and women. Most of these stories can be gobbled up quickly, but they stay in the mind for a long time.

Stories abound and my favorites are: the ambiguity of her parent's feelings about the job that gave their family the money for food and shelter, while de-humanizing the father; the double jolting and chilling "Tell Everyone" story; then there's the cancer patient; the stork with a broken wing; the two mothers; the Holocaust survivor who gets a surprise; the ice-bound car; the Buddhist's lesson; "The Funny Book" (the October 1988 entry will pull at your heartstrings.); the hilarious story of the traitorous cat; ubiquitous cell phones; Connie-saurous rex; spawns of Hurricane Katrina; Iraqi war stories, especially the touching Tim Gaydosh story; letting go of a teenager; and many more. Most of this I agree with but, in cases where I don't (almost an entire chapter of the book), it's still very compelling reading. It seems, however, she's at her very best when simply telling a riveting story, less so when defending certain issues. But she is a fighter and you would do well to have her on your side of an issue. Either way this book will pin you to a chair for a long time. She says everyone has at least ONE good story, well, she has MANY engrossing stories which she frequently displays to a hungry audience in Cleveland: lucky people. This book describes the life that Connie Schutz is actually living and it's fascinating, humorous, poignant, and very entertaining. Husband, U. S. Senator Sherrod Brown, is a fortunate man. In many ways they are living the American Dream to it's fullest extent as shown in these pages. Thank you, Connie Schultz, for opening your life to the world. My Highest Recommendation! Five WONDERFUL Stars.

(Note: This review is based on an unabridged EBook Digital Download.)

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant slices of life!, June 12, 2006

By 

Robin "travelbina" (Dalton, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths (Hardcover)

I was recommended this book by Schultz's husband, Congressman Sherrod Brown of Ohio. I can't believe that I'd never read her columns in the Cleveland Plain Dealer! This book is a gentle reminder of how wonderful and heartbreaking life can be. The only downfall? Sometimes the short (two-page) essays leave you wanting more, because they are so good. Schultz and I don't agree on all of her viewpoints, but I feel I'm a better person for reading them, and as a small-town Presybterian raised in a working class family in Ohio, I can relate to her upbringing and outlook on life. Go get 'em, Connie! We could use YOU in Washington, DC!

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring, important book, June 9, 2006

By 

news4fan - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life Happens: And Other Unavoidable Truths (Hardcover)

Connie Schultz is an intelligent, compassionate columnist. Her pieces are about everyday life--moments both of grace and disappointment. She is both a realist and incredibly positive, writing and capturing well experiences we all undergo and what they say about us all. The book moves by fast (it is a collection of her old columns), but slow enough so that you can treasure each lesson the column imparts. This should really be required reading everywhere--if we all had Schultz's ability to observe, the world would be a much better place.