Everyday Matters: A Love Story - Tapa dura

"Nardi Reeder Campion is one of the wittiest women around, and the proof is her new book."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. "Campion is one of those rare people who can recall both joyously and wisely a full existence [and] she is an accomplished raconteur...as notable for its personal testament as for its portrait of the early 20th century...A memoir to savor for its many riches and most of all, its zest."-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "It is not easy to write charmingly about one's own life, and even more treacherous to claim that such a life might be used as a lens to view the sweep of a century, but Nardi Reeder Campion pulls off this high-wire act with wit and grace."--Wellesley Magazine "[A] delightful book by a perceptive writer about a meaningful life together."--The (Milford, NH) Cabinet

This is the story of a life that has spanned much of the twentieth century. It is the story of a long and happy marriage, of advances in women's rights, of forging a career as a writer (including the excitement of a big Hollywood film sale), of the sometimes bewildering pace of progress, and of raising a family in a rapidly changing world. With her wit, insightful storytelling, and keen ear for offbeat anecdotes, Nardi Reeder Campion speaks for a generation that has traveled from the roaring twenties into the twenty-first century. Campion's address to a reunion of her Wellesley College class of 1938 has earned her a niche in cyberspace. Endlessly circulated via e-mail and even featured in the Ann Landers column, it combines Campion's charm, wisdom, and self-deprecating humor. She has now written a memoir distinguished by those same qualities. Campion's memoir is, in part, the story of a long and loving marriage, one that lasted fifty-nine years and "survived four jobs, seven books, nine homes, and nineteen pets (not counting gerbils)." Whether she is describing the joys of marriage to a fun-loving husband or the pain of her son's emotional breakdown, the (sometimes mixed) blessings of grandchildren or the difficult decision to move into a retirement home, Campion's deft mix of humor and candor yields an appealing and engaging narrative. Always seeking to discover what is worthwhile, she writes movingly about love and about death.