Random Connect Points:
Reba's Stories

Memoirs can often fall into two categories – hugely self-aggrandizing or humbly honest. Jim Sonefeld’s recently released book, “ Swimming with the Blowfish: Hootie, Healing and One Hell of a Ride ,” falls squarely in the humbly honest category. As a gifted songwriter and the Hootie and the Blowfish drummer, Jim had seemingly found it all very young with the band’s ascension from a local frat attraction to hyper-international fame. However, “Swimming with the Blowfish” is more than just a first-person account of the band’s partying life on the road (although those stories are fun to read). It’s also a deeply personal account of Jim’s journey from childhood with four siblings and soccer aspirations to early band days and his personal reckoning with addiction. Jim writes with humor, self-awareness, and raw honesty about his faith, his recovery community, and most importantly, his family. He lays bare the jagged edges behind the addictions that followed him alongside the band’s fame wh

“Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen” by Julie Hines Mabus opens in 1968 with would-be beauty queen Patsy Channing awaiting suspension from the Mississippi College for Women, known as “The W,” following an alleged violation of the college’s strict dating rules. The book’s narrative weaves between Patsy’s college experiences in Columbus, MS, and her life growing up in a small Memphis apartment with a single, chain-smoking, Valium-addicted mother who may, or may not, be sleeping with her banker boss. Patsy aspires to be Miss America and sees the college’s beauty pageant as her ticket. Her pitch-perfect voice and breathtaking beauty make this a distinct possibility. But Patsy’s naivety about unspoken childhood trauma and her refusal to follow the narrow social strictures of the time get in the way. The book takes place against a backdrop of issues gripping the country at the time – racism, sexual freedom, women’s rights, and social inequities – overlaid with ubiquitous “mean girl” p

I recently reread Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” for the umpteenth time in anticipation of a class I’ll be teaching. And while “Bird by Bird” might be the ultimate guide to writing, it’s also chock full of life lessons. I take away something new each time I read it. Anne is a prolific writer on uneasy life topics like coping, death, disappointment, illness and addiction. But that’s not to say her work is a downer in any way. Her writing is hilarious, brazenly honest, quirky, genuine and just plain fun to read. The book’s title itself if a life lesson I invoke frequently. “Bird by Bird” reflects a story of her brother who, as a child, was overwhelmed by the enormity of an assignment to write a report about birds. Her father, a successful writer himself, just advised Anne’s brother to take it “bird by bird.” What simple, yet powerful, advice to guide us through most of life’s trying times. Anne shares many practical lessons about writing including how she organizes thoughts using goo

Katie Couric’s memoir, “Going There,” gives readers a delightful and amazingly honest narrative about not only her personal life but also many of the national and international news stories from the 1990s on. And while that perspective was really fun for a news nerd like me to follow, the best part of this book was hearing Katie Couric read it in the audio format. I listened to this book while driving alone to Mississippi. It felt like Katie was in the car with me just chatting about her experiences, perspective, disappointments, fears and joys. Of course, we all think famous television personalities live a charmed life with maybe a few blips thrown in. But Katie’s book digs deep into her challenges as a young woman in a profession dominated by an entrenched patriarchy. She honestly recounts her dating mishaps along with the deep love for her first husband who died of cancer and later her courtship and marriage to her second husband. She lays bare the same fears anyone would have whe

When “Educated” first came out in 2018, I remember seeing the book in the “new non-fiction” section of Litchfield Books. My first reaction was that it was shelved in the wrong area. The jacket description read like fiction. At the time, I passed over this seemingly depressing memoir of a turbulent and disturbing childhood in a survivalist home in rural Idaho. But recently, I heard the author, Tara Westover, interviewed on Kate Bowler’s engaging podcast “Everything Happens…” and I was completely drawn in and bought the book on my next trip to the bookstore. “Educated” didn’t disappoint. It took me less than a week to read. The story boils down to one of control and how the author learned in very hard ways that she could have control and agency over her life despite her very unconventional upbringing. This triumph came despite her father’s fanatical religious beliefs, years of abuse by her brother, lack of schooling and almost complete isolation from the outside world. While mos

Disclaimer on this one: I was very pre-disposed to like this book because a friend wrote it. I first met the author, Patti Meredith, 25-ish years ago when we worked at SCETV. I remember having lunch together early on when she came to work there, and she told me she had a novel in her. I was impressed, awed and intimidated. I don’t know if this is THE book she was referring to then, but it was worth the wait. I pre-ordered the book the minute it was available and my copy arrived the day before we left for a 2-week trip. While I typically no longer travel with a hard copy book, this one provided me with many hours of delight. Plus, the book made it back so I can now share it with friends (at least friends who don’t mind dog-eared and marked up pages where I scribbled around the sentences that were just too good not to go back and read again). South of Heaven by Patti Frye Meredith For anyone who is southern by birth or has moved to the south, passed through the south, yearned for the

When I first started “Only Wanna Be With You,” I anticipated a bit of a tell-all rag. The author is Tim Sommer, a music journalist and record executive who was part of the Hootie and the Blowfish inner circle for many years. And isn’t it the job description of a former insider to write a book that airs all the dirty laundry?  However, with much of the story told through long-form direct quotes from the band members and others, I gradually came to trust the author was genuinely telling a story that sometimes seemed almost too good to be true. Four USC students form a band. They find fame, get rich, make good business decisions (for the most part), experience some fortunate convergences of circumstances, move on for various reasons (but insist they aren’t breaking up), reunite for a blockbuster tour and new album, and remain friends for 25 years. The story of the band members’ friendship, electric musical connection, and complete focus on the band’s - not their individual - success wa