Rebecca Barry assumed that following her dreams would be simple, if not easy: make a plan and stick to it. For Barry and her husband, Tommy, Plan A meant moving to a small town in upstate New York, buying a charming fixer-upper house and earning enough income from their various writing jobs. Barry (Later, at the Bar) wanted to write a novel while paying the bills with freelance magazine assignments; her husband wanted to launch a green-living magazine. In her memoir, Recipes for a Beautiful Life, Barry chronicles their pursuit of this dream, and the messy, uncertain, luminous reality they ended up with instead.
In short, hilarious chapters she calls "journal entries," Barry explores the challenges of pursuing the life she wants. She loves her children, but longs for time away from them; she wants to support her husband's dreams, but is constantly worried about money; she loves living near her parents and sister, but family tensions flare up frequently. Barry's mounting anxiety about her novel doesn't help matters.
As she goes to yoga, tries to meditate or takes refuge in venting to good friends, Barry begins to realize that her Plan B (or C, or D) life may just be beautiful after all. "All our lives are small, really, and it's the smallness that makes them tender and bright," Barry writes. This book will bring a welcome dose of brightness--leavened with acerbic wit--to those who, like Barry, are simply trying to do worthwhile work and care for the people they love. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams