A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which won’t change your price.
When I was a little girl, the highlight of my day was when my dad would come to tuck us in. Just before the lights were turned off for the night, I’d always plead for just one story from when he was a boy. More often than not, he was happy to oblige. And I loved hearing stories of Cola the cat and Pepsi the dog, of his younger brother Uncle Ricky and the Forest Ranger Grandpa I never got to know. (He died when my dad was ten years old.) I relished every one and I still smile when I think of our stories.
The love of stories runs in the family though. I remember family gatherings where entire days were spent in telling and retelling stories of “back when” and “that one time” as uncles and cousins retold our family history. I was only four or five, but I would tuck away in a corner and soak them all up.
So it is little wonder that I was excited when I heard that Sophie Hudson, better known in the bloggy world as BooMama, was publishing A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet. After all, what could be more interesting than family stories told by one of the blogging world’s best storytellers? And when I heard an interview on a local station with Sophie shortly after the book was published, I knew for sure that I wanted to read it. She had Scott and I laughing all the way home from town with stories about her folks and her old hometown.
And when I finally got my hands on a copy a few weeks ago, the book didn’t disappoint me one bit. It was just as fun and entertaining as I had hoped. Even though Sophie’s family is decidedly Southern, and I’m only a recent transplant from the logging communities of the Northwest, I could relate to the family situations and the crazy things that can happen when family gets together. It was like sitting in a corner of Sophie’s family reunion and getting to be a part of those family history sessions all over again. And I loved every minute of her book and the stories of “her people”.
Comment and share a favorite memory or family story!
Giveaway
Of course, I was tickled pink when BooMama herself agreed to share a copy of her stories with one of you! You are going to love getting to know Sophie and her family, I promise. Congratulations to Kristin, selected by random.org as the winner of this giveaway! (Giveaway ended April 7, 2014.)
Just wondering… I never received this book. Did it get lost in the mail?
Kristin, I’m so sorry! It may have. I just double checked and I did send the author your info after the giveaway closed. I’ll see if I can touch bases with her about it again and see if she still has the shipping records or not.
In the mean time, it’s free for reading on any Kindle device or with the app right now! http://www.amazon.com/Little-Salty-Cut-Sweet-Southern-ebook/dp/B00AEB3AGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422374008&sr=1-1&keywords=a+little+salty+to+cut+the+sweet
No problem! Thanks for checking on it for me. 🙂
There were a lot of memories … lots of them were time I spent with my Grandfather. He lived across from a lake and we used to go fishing together a lot. That was fun.
Oh, there are so many. . . probably just Christmas every year with the fam. Always a favorite memory.
My fav memory…all the family get togethers. Growing up, we were fortunate to have both sides of the family within 15-30 of us, so there were always occasions to get together and hangout with my cousins.
One of my favorite memories from my childhood is when we would go over to Grandma’s. She had an old woodstove, and we’d sit by the stove in the winter and eat ice cream. Such fun times! I would love to win this. 🙂
Oh, I love the warmth of a woodstove. And with ice cream, it’s even better!
(Guess what? You won! Watch for an email.)
Eeeek!!! I can’t believe it!! Thanks a million 🙂
Not only do I want to read this book— I think you should write one! I was getting excited to read about Cola the cat, pepsi the dog, and forest ranger Grandpa!
I grew up in a very different setting— Philadelphia. My favorite memories from then are playing all day outside until the street lights came on— then we had to be home for dinner. After dinner the moms would all go out and sit on the steps and talk to each other …. and sometimes they’d let me sit with them and join in the conversations. Such holy moments.
I love hearing others stories
Not only do I want to read this book— I think you should write one! I was getting excited to read about Cola the cat, pepsi the dog, and forest ranger Grandpa!
I grew up in a very different setting— Philadelphia. My favorite memories from then are playing all day outside until the street lights came on— then we had to be home for dinner. After dinner the moms would all go out and sit on the steps and talk to each other …. and sometimes they’d let me sit with them and join in the conversations. Such holy moments.
I love hearing others stories.
There are so many memories! I grew up one of 8 kids and it seems like every time we get together new stories come out. At a sister’s wedding last year, it was how another sister accidentally allowed our 2 chickens to be murdered. 🙂 Then there the late night annoying my sister by chewing on ice, fort building, make believe playing for days on end and so much more.
On a roadtrip to Florida my mom yelled “Put a lid on it!” My grandma was all insulted thinking that my mom was essentially telling her to shut up when in fact, my mom was talking to us kids about our bin of crayons.
This book has been on my to-read list for awhile now but haven’t had the extra money to purchase the book. Thanks for the review! Growing up, mom always read me a bedtime story (picked out from the overflowing bookshelf in my room!), and Dad would chase me down the hallway, threatening to tickle me as I would dive under the covers. He would then pick out a stuffed animal for me to sleep with, while I lined the rest of them up along the foot of my bed. I love my memories of bedtime. 🙂
I have way too many favorite memories to name! Many of them involve books, food or old friends. For 2.5 years we lived in seminary housing with 99 other families whose dad’s were in seminary also. Many of our favorite memories come from that time when we lived with so many like-minded people, who were all broke as can be and yet still loved life! Even though I was very young during that time, I still remember the love and friendship we had at that time in our life.
This book sounds like something I would absolutely love! Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy.
How on earth do I choose one favorite memory?
I guess one favorite was during winters as a little girl when we lived on a very flat piece of property. My Daddy would use the plow on our tractor to create huge piles of snow for us to sled on 🙂
Hmm, favorite memory. I’d say that would have to be the birth of my 2 kids!
One of my favorite memories from my childhood is the hours upon hours I spent building secret forts in the woods with my brothers! It was so fun to explore, plan, and laugh together and I’m so grateful for the time we had doing that.
One of my favorite family memories is just a simple thing. When I was growing up we used to all pile into the car and “take a drive.” Usually the drive consisted of stopping by Dairy Queen to get ice cream and then we would drive around town and look at all the houses. I loved it! My husband and I now do this a lot with our kids (only now we stop at Starbucks instead of Dairy Queen!) and I find it just as refreshing now!
I love hearing stories from somebody’s childhood! Sounds like a nice family reading night book!
One of our uncles told his little brother to lick the frozen wagon wheel out in the snow, because it would taste like sugar. 🙂 Of course his toung got stuck to it, so the big boys got scared and dumped water over his head to unfreeze him!
I loved it when Dad would tuck me in, too. 🙂 I think one of my favorite family stories would be the one Dad’s told us about different times. Grandma has always restricted the amount of icecream the family has on hand, but one time she was gone on a trip. Grandpa and Dad went to town, and bought a LOT of icecream. All weekend, Dad and Grandpa ate icecream. Grandma wasn’t happy to come home to find her carefully prepared leftovers rotting in the fridge! But Grandpa and Dad had had the time of their lives. 🙂
One of my favorite memories is my father and I taking a walk in the snow. It was dark (late evening) and we had about 3 inches of snow already on the ground. It was still coming down steadily but there was no wind. Such a peaceful time. My dad and I didn’t spend a lot of time talking. We just enjoyed the evening that we shared together and the beauty that the Lord blessed us with.
Some of my favorite memories are of when we were younger and we spent the summers traveling around our 10 acre property building forts and playing house. Brothers would go “hunt” and my sister and I would keep house and we’d make pretend dinners. 😀
My grandfather likes to say he stopped smoking when he was three and stopped drinking when he was nine.
When he was three, he was hanging out with his older brother and cousins, who’d gotten a pack of cigarettes. They had a “fort” in the backyard that was canvas gas station signs wrapped around a bunch of trees. His mom could see little feet under the signs, and smoke coming out the top! She made my grandfather come help her with something, and then asked for a kiss so she could smell him for smoke! She spanked them so hard he never smoked again.
World War 2 ended when he was nine, and my great-grandfather have him a few sips of beer to celebrate. As he got older he saw some alcoholic relatives acting in a way he didn’t want to emulate, so he decided in high school he’d just never drink—and he never has since, not even champagne at weddings. So he stopped drinking when he was nine. 😉