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Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories
Writing with a delicate balance of humor and truth, critically acclaimed author Rebecca Barry reflects on motherhood, work, and marriage in her new memoir about trying to build a creative life.
When Rebecca Barry and her husband moved to upstate New York to start their family, they wanted to be surrounded by natural beauty but close to a small urban center, doing work they loved, and plenty of time to spend with their kids. But living their dreams turned out not to be so simple: the lovely old house they bought had lots of character but also needed lots of repairs, they struggled to stay afloat financially, their children refused to sleep or play quietly, and the novel Rebecca had dreamed of writing simply wouldn’t come to her.
Recipes for a Beautiful Life blends heartwarming, funny, authentically told stories about the messiness of family life, a fearless examination of the anxieties of creative work, and sharp-eyed observations of the pressures that all women face. This is a story of a woman confronting her deepest fears: What if I’m a terrible mother? What if I’m not good at the work I love? What if my children never eat anything but peanut butter and cake? What if I go to sleep angry? It’s also a story of the beauty, light, and humor that’s around us, all the time—even when things look bleak, and using that to find your way back to your heart.
Mostly, though, it is about the journey to building not just a beautiful life, but a creative one. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rec...
When Rebecca Barry and her husband moved to upstate New York to start their family, they wanted to be surrounded by natural beauty but close to a small urban center, doing work they loved, and plenty of time to spend with their kids. But living their dreams turned out not to be so simple: the lovely old house they bought had lots of character but also needed lots of repairs, they struggled to stay afloat financially, their children refused to sleep or play quietly, and the novel Rebecca had dreamed of writing simply wouldn’t come to her.
Recipes for a Beautiful Life blends heartwarming, funny, authentically told stories about the messiness of family life, a fearless examination of the anxieties of creative work, and sharp-eyed observations of the pressures that all women face. This is a story of a woman confronting her deepest fears: What if I’m a terrible mother? What if I’m not good at the work I love? What if my children never eat anything but peanut butter and cake? What if I go to sleep angry? It’s also a story of the beauty, light, and humor that’s around us, all the time—even when things look bleak, and using that to find your way back to your heart.
Mostly, though, it is about the journey to building not just a beautiful life, but a creative one. - See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Rec...
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2014
12 people are currently reading
1417 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Barry
5 books37 followersRebecca Barry lives in Trumansburg, New York, with her husband and two sons. She received her B.A. from Cornell and her M.F.A. from The Ohio State University. Her nonfiction has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Seventeen, Real Simple, Details, Hallmark, and The Best American Travel Writing 2003. Her fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, One Story, Tin House, Ecotone, The Mid-American Review, and Best New American Voices 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
November 28, 2015
I feel like I could summarize this review by just saying "read this book."
In Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories, Rebecca Barry writes about finding a way to be a wife, a mother, a writer, a daughter, a friend, a sister, and still have time to just be. She writes about having the courage to live creatively, to consciously make a life, and then live with the anxiety that can cause. She writes about the wonder of motherhood and the just plain exhaustion of it, about being swept up in the beauty of her boys while constantly feeling her limitations as a mom.
She writes about what it means to be alive.
Barry's writing is fresh and vivid. I laughed and remembered so much of my own experiences and I cried over her pain which of course touched my own: how things are never perfect, how we so often fail to be the people we think we should be, at how much beauty there is around us and how hard it sometimes is to see it.
Barry is ruthlessly honest and her writing made me feel more alive than I've felt for a while. She made me feel my own humanity.
Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories is a book to cherish. I believe that you don't have to be a wife or mother or writer or woman even to appreciate her wry and sometimes tender voice. I think you just have to be human.
I strongly recommend this book.
In Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories, Rebecca Barry writes about finding a way to be a wife, a mother, a writer, a daughter, a friend, a sister, and still have time to just be. She writes about having the courage to live creatively, to consciously make a life, and then live with the anxiety that can cause. She writes about the wonder of motherhood and the just plain exhaustion of it, about being swept up in the beauty of her boys while constantly feeling her limitations as a mom.
She writes about what it means to be alive.
Barry's writing is fresh and vivid. I laughed and remembered so much of my own experiences and I cried over her pain which of course touched my own: how things are never perfect, how we so often fail to be the people we think we should be, at how much beauty there is around us and how hard it sometimes is to see it.
Barry is ruthlessly honest and her writing made me feel more alive than I've felt for a while. She made me feel my own humanity.
Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories is a book to cherish. I believe that you don't have to be a wife or mother or writer or woman even to appreciate her wry and sometimes tender voice. I think you just have to be human.
I strongly recommend this book.
January 21, 2024
This was a sweet memoir and I really enjoyed it. Very funny in places but also poignant.
(I found this book at The Dollar Tree. The reason I note this is to let people know you can find some really good books there sometimes, which is important to know if you don't have a lot of money and you love books.)
(I found this book at The Dollar Tree. The reason I note this is to let people know you can find some really good books there sometimes, which is important to know if you don't have a lot of money and you love books.)
October 11, 2015
Reading this book brought me right back to the days when my children were younger and not yet living the scheduled lives of schoolchildren. There are so many truths Barry discovers and shares with her readers about the difficult days of mothering through and beyond one's own creative pursuits. I'd like to read a sequel. The kids grow up. The mother's desire and need to write is maybe even more present. But as the children grow they need mom as much or more than when they were babies or toddlers. How does a mother writer do it? A quick, thought-provoking read that I was lucky enough to receive in a Goodreads giveaway.
December 17, 2015
at first I liked it, then i was hoping that the horoscope references would stop since it made the author seem flighty. And then I realized that she was a little flighty and just went with it. Rebecca is a wife and mother of two little boys and she chronicles 5 years of life where she and her husband Tommy move to upstate new york to live simply. They are both creative people and try to have a bohemian life where they can be creative and get paid for it. She writes in a chatty way where you feel like she's catching you up on her life. She talks about her family, her mother's illness, her sisters' struggles with pregnancy and her own marital ups and downs. I enjoyed it.
April 2, 2015
I read Recipes for a Beautiful Life almost entirely in one sitting. That's just how good it was.
Recipes is the story of Rebecca Barry's move out to upstate New York with her husband to start their own family and work towards living their individual and collective dreams in a small town, close to Rebecca's family.
But I have to tell you, when I first started reading, I wasn't sure that I'd even like it.
There's a lot about kids and motherhood and balancing work/family time. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to relate. This is a concern shared by Barry's husband as well:
"Do you think people want to hear more about parenting?" he said.
"But it wouldn't be just about parenting," I said. It would be about life and family and trying to follow your own path even when it looks different than you thought it would." (p. 286)
A
nd who can't relate to that?
I found the book as a whole to be absolutely charming. Barry's narrative voice is spot on. It's refreshing and funny, often hopeful and sometimes despairing, but always engaging.
I wanted to keep reading, to find out the next silly or eerily insightful thing her kid would say next, despite my general dislike for reading about children in large doses. Everyone thinks their children say the darndest things, but Barry has a way of framing things in such a way that doesn't come across as smarmy or HEY LOOK AT MY ADORABLE SNOWFLAKE!
Memoirs are my favorite genre of book. I love getting insight into the everyday life of somebody else. I especially enjoy the overall style of this book. Each chapter is an individual story that slowly fills out the framework of the larger story, and the 'recipes' at the end of some chapters are fun little asides.
My favorite quote has to be this one:
Maybe although in spite of the fact that I love the idea of self improvement, I tend to get annoyed by the notion that I should actually change any of my behavior to make it happen. (p. 209)
"That's me!" I shouted in my head, and I'm fairly certain that if you read this book, you too will have that moment of self recognition.
Which is why I give Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories 5 stars.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway, but the opinions given are my own.
Recipes is the story of Rebecca Barry's move out to upstate New York with her husband to start their own family and work towards living their individual and collective dreams in a small town, close to Rebecca's family.
But I have to tell you, when I first started reading, I wasn't sure that I'd even like it.
There's a lot about kids and motherhood and balancing work/family time. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to relate. This is a concern shared by Barry's husband as well:
"Do you think people want to hear more about parenting?" he said.
"But it wouldn't be just about parenting," I said. It would be about life and family and trying to follow your own path even when it looks different than you thought it would." (p. 286)
A
nd who can't relate to that?
I found the book as a whole to be absolutely charming. Barry's narrative voice is spot on. It's refreshing and funny, often hopeful and sometimes despairing, but always engaging.
I wanted to keep reading, to find out the next silly or eerily insightful thing her kid would say next, despite my general dislike for reading about children in large doses. Everyone thinks their children say the darndest things, but Barry has a way of framing things in such a way that doesn't come across as smarmy or HEY LOOK AT MY ADORABLE SNOWFLAKE!
Memoirs are my favorite genre of book. I love getting insight into the everyday life of somebody else. I especially enjoy the overall style of this book. Each chapter is an individual story that slowly fills out the framework of the larger story, and the 'recipes' at the end of some chapters are fun little asides.
My favorite quote has to be this one:
Maybe although in spite of the fact that I love the idea of self improvement, I tend to get annoyed by the notion that I should actually change any of my behavior to make it happen. (p. 209)
"That's me!" I shouted in my head, and I'm fairly certain that if you read this book, you too will have that moment of self recognition.
Which is why I give Recipes for a Beautiful Life: A Memoir in Stories 5 stars.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway, but the opinions given are my own.
March 26, 2015
Her husband tells her the book she plans to write, the book she did write, sounds like a lot of complaining. He's not wrong but for every complaint, every whine, every "woe is me," there is redemption. There is also much humor because one does not survive motherhood in the early years without a sense of humor and humility.
This is not a parenting book, but those who are in the thick of early motherhood will appreciate this book, this Not-A-How-To-How-To collection of stories that expose the sordid details of marriage and parenthood, the ones that lie behind the scenes of a life that seems romantic and wonderful and magical to everyone else. And the stories are funny because they are true. I know Rebecca Barry. I am Rebecca Barry. I know dozens of Rebecca Barrys. We Rebecca Barrys dream a world of farm shares, starlit summer skies, neighborhood coffeeshops, family nearby, friends at the ready with wine and cheese and bread and company.
Read the rest of my review on my blog! http://realnani.blogspot.com/2015/03/...
This is not a parenting book, but those who are in the thick of early motherhood will appreciate this book, this Not-A-How-To-How-To collection of stories that expose the sordid details of marriage and parenthood, the ones that lie behind the scenes of a life that seems romantic and wonderful and magical to everyone else. And the stories are funny because they are true. I know Rebecca Barry. I am Rebecca Barry. I know dozens of Rebecca Barrys. We Rebecca Barrys dream a world of farm shares, starlit summer skies, neighborhood coffeeshops, family nearby, friends at the ready with wine and cheese and bread and company.
Read the rest of my review on my blog! http://realnani.blogspot.com/2015/03/...
January 17, 2016
I have liked this writer since she wrote for Seventeen when I was a kid. I even emailed her a few years ago and we had a nice correspondence.
She's a great writer but this book wasn't really for me. I was grateful that it wasn't until page 261 that she calls herself a single mother because her husband is away for work but I knew it was coming. That's not how single parenting works and I have no patience for married parents who romanticize that lifestyle. I don't care if her husband was away for a year, he's still her husband and supporting the family, so there's no single mothering going on.
I also wish she encouraged her kids to have a little bit of respect for her, but I guess that's not what sells when you talk about parenting to the audience she is writing to. Just once I want a middle aged, middle classcreative white mom to write "My son broke the shower curtain because he was swinging on it. I disciplined him and stuff like that stopped happening." I'm glad she never seems to have a babysitter because that would be tough for the sitter.
She's a great writer but this book wasn't really for me. I was grateful that it wasn't until page 261 that she calls herself a single mother because her husband is away for work but I knew it was coming. That's not how single parenting works and I have no patience for married parents who romanticize that lifestyle. I don't care if her husband was away for a year, he's still her husband and supporting the family, so there's no single mothering going on.
I also wish she encouraged her kids to have a little bit of respect for her, but I guess that's not what sells when you talk about parenting to the audience she is writing to. Just once I want a middle aged, middle classcreative white mom to write "My son broke the shower curtain because he was swinging on it. I disciplined him and stuff like that stopped happening." I'm glad she never seems to have a babysitter because that would be tough for the sitter.
August 25, 2015
This memoir told in short chapters was, for the most part, charming in that the author has a delightful and engaging sense of humor. However, the book could also be cautionary tale based on the adage "be careful what you wish for". The author complains a bit too much about the life she and her husband chose to live and due to that she comes off as a bit spoiled and whiny. It illustrates the fact that people often only look at the "bright side" when making life decisions rather than taking a hard look at the possible down sides.
March 29, 2016
Funny / memoir of a mom with young children which is very familiar in parts / nice reflective stories on motherhood that I would have extra enjoyed when my boys were younger.
November 17, 2017
This book tells the story of parents everywhere as we all try to keep a hold on our creative dreams without getting behind on bills or letting our kids set fire to the house. I was afraid it would be a little self-indulgent, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. The writing is hilarious, the themes are beautiful and true, and the author feels like she could be a friend (even if she is a little woo-woo for my liking).
April 1, 2015
*I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads*
I love memoirs. And I love books about people living beautifully and authentically. That doesn't mean that they have a picture perfect life - it means that they write about their real life. The ups, the downs, the beauty in the broken.
Rebecca Barry's Recipes for a Beautiful Life gives the reader a glimpse into her life over a 4 1/2 year period. Composed of her journal entries over the years, it is sprinkled with recipes and stories filled with love and laughter and sadness and anger. Real.
There were moments when I was laughing out loud at something that she or her kids said. And then there were moments when I thought to myself - "That is me. That is exactly how I feel."
I often say that I believe that certain books come into my life at just the right moment. This is one of those books. There were so many quotes that I wrote down that spoke to me. This book is filled with wit and wisdom and is relatable on many levels.
4 Stars.
I love memoirs. And I love books about people living beautifully and authentically. That doesn't mean that they have a picture perfect life - it means that they write about their real life. The ups, the downs, the beauty in the broken.
Rebecca Barry's Recipes for a Beautiful Life gives the reader a glimpse into her life over a 4 1/2 year period. Composed of her journal entries over the years, it is sprinkled with recipes and stories filled with love and laughter and sadness and anger. Real.
There were moments when I was laughing out loud at something that she or her kids said. And then there were moments when I thought to myself - "That is me. That is exactly how I feel."
I often say that I believe that certain books come into my life at just the right moment. This is one of those books. There were so many quotes that I wrote down that spoke to me. This book is filled with wit and wisdom and is relatable on many levels.
4 Stars.
August 18, 2015
3.5 stars
When Rebecca Barry and her husband decided to leave New York City and buy a big, rambling house in northern New York, they really wanted to live a simpler life than they had in the city. Instead, they found that buying a house in desperate need of repairs, while pursuing low-income passion projects with two small boys introduced a whole different set of complications. This book is beautifully written and many times I found myself really sympathizing with her forthright anecdotes of life with small children. To be honest, though, I just couldn't always get myself on board with her constant introspection and middle class money complaints. So while I mostly enjoyed this memoir, I did find myself annoyed and frustrated at times with the tone. I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
When Rebecca Barry and her husband decided to leave New York City and buy a big, rambling house in northern New York, they really wanted to live a simpler life than they had in the city. Instead, they found that buying a house in desperate need of repairs, while pursuing low-income passion projects with two small boys introduced a whole different set of complications. This book is beautifully written and many times I found myself really sympathizing with her forthright anecdotes of life with small children. To be honest, though, I just couldn't always get myself on board with her constant introspection and middle class money complaints. So while I mostly enjoyed this memoir, I did find myself annoyed and frustrated at times with the tone. I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 25, 2015
This book is addictive. I didn't want to put it down each night and when I finished, I yearned for more, as in, "where's the sequel?" (Better yet, where's the TV series based on this family's funny, familiar trials and tribulations?) Barry's life as a new mother, and struggling writer mirrors the lives of so many women trying desperately to get it all right. In some ways I would even say this is a feminist memoir. Barry keeps reminding the reader, subtly, that in the end the only way to get it right is through self-acceptance and empathy, and to let all the other stuff -- like money problems and leaky ceilings -- go.
March 2, 2015
Recipes for a Beautiful Life : A Memoir in Stories by Rebecca Barry is a wonderful, funny, touching, heartwarming collection of her journal entries from her own life. She shares the difficulties of moving into an older house and fixing it up, raising a family as it and various relationships in her life continuously change.
This book is a great choice for people who enjoy sharing joys, sorrows and life with others. Thank you Rebecca Barry
This book is a great choice for people who enjoy sharing joys, sorrows and life with others. Thank you Rebecca Barry
November 5, 2017
This is a funny, supportive book for women trying to work, parent small kids and. Stay married. Oh and go to yoga and live an authentic life.
Whatever that means.
This author strips the gauze off motherhood and writes fiercely about the love for her family even while wanting to shoot her husband and kick her kids to the curb.If you feel crazed as a mom/wife/housekeeper/employee/ yogi....read this book. You will feel better.
Whatever that means.
This author strips the gauze off motherhood and writes fiercely about the love for her family even while wanting to shoot her husband and kick her kids to the curb.If you feel crazed as a mom/wife/housekeeper/employee/ yogi....read this book. You will feel better.
May 9, 2018
Rebecca is what one would call a free spirit, or maybe a hippie, or maybe somewhat irresponsible? Nevertheless, she is very likable and many of her struggles are universal. Above everything, she is a dreamer who unflinchingly remarks on the tribulations of following her dream as she struggles to write a novel and be a good mother to two young children. The memoir was at times slowed down by too many stories about what her children said/did, but overall it comes across as authentic and often insightful.
June 11, 2018
Rebecca Barry has a beautiful, relatable voice.
I don't know if it was just the writing, or if it was the mood I've been in, or the stage of creative disarray and path of lost adulting that I'm on - but this book spoke to me in many ways. I'm not at all going through what Becky was, but at the same time I am - her voice is relatable, funny, and poignant. I loved these recipes - the last one best of all.
Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing your recipes with us. I hope we all can make beautiful lives, together.
I don't know if it was just the writing, or if it was the mood I've been in, or the stage of creative disarray and path of lost adulting that I'm on - but this book spoke to me in many ways. I'm not at all going through what Becky was, but at the same time I am - her voice is relatable, funny, and poignant. I loved these recipes - the last one best of all.
Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing your recipes with us. I hope we all can make beautiful lives, together.
January 8, 2020
I started actively looking for books about motherhood, and I'm so glad I found this book. It's so vulnerable and beautiful. Rebecca Barry's ambition to be a writer and her struggles to be a good mother is so relatable. It helps me tremendously through my own challenges. Finding a way to be a mother, a wife, and friend, a professional with a creative career is not an easy path to embark on. But even if we don't end up doing everything and having everything that we want, writing about these daily struggles can already be such a beautiful endeavor on its own.
January 5, 2020
Wouldn't rave about this book, but found it a pleasant read. Rebecca Barry has a nice way of capturing every day life. There is humor and reality. Lots of situations that are relatable. Didn't find there was a lot in terms of lessons, but it could probably serve as a good book club selection as there are a number of life dilemmas and situations that could be discussed - issues related to marriage, managing dual careers, parenting, extended family, pursuing your dreams.
October 31, 2018
I probably would have related to this book much more when my child was young, but in my older age, I have sorted through what is really important in life, and what is not, and healed the family relationships that I struggled with when I was younger.
this would be a good read for a young mom struggling with balancing motherhood with their sense of self.
this would be a good read for a young mom struggling with balancing motherhood with their sense of self.
November 26, 2018
The stories were fine. I just didn't care. Nothing was at stake except the desire of shiny, overeducated, relatively wealthy people to lead a shiny, overeducated, relatively wealthy life. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's a life I have and/or aspire to. But that doesn't make it interesting to read about.
May 12, 2019
I liked the book at the start; family tails of daily struggles and life, kids, house, marriage. The ´how to’ chapter titles hinted at light hearted insight but the hardships described started to feel superficial mid way through and poor behaviour was brushed off with little self reflection on how to improve or how it impact others. I ended up feeling detached and struggled to finish.
April 15, 2020
I think I got this for free from the library. It was sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I had to push myself to finish it. It seemed to be a lot of the same...complaining about parenting two small rambunctious boys, not knowing what to do for work, hating housework, etc. Not enough recipes to fit the title. It was alright but not great.
June 15, 2017
Sometimes a book comes to you at the right time. Rebecca Barry is a kindred spirit. I kept reading and thinking...how is she inside my head? Funny, honest take on marriage, parenting, money, family. There were so many passages that I want to keep coming back to over and over.
July 18, 2018
It took me a very long time to finish this book. I put it in my car and would read one or two chapters at a time. I enjoyed the ending much more than the rest of the book, and not because it was the end! It actually resonated with me in a lot of ways but could have been shorter.
December 12, 2018
This is one of my favorite simple, unsung memoirs, especially for writers. Not much happens. Kids are raised, businesses struggle, novels aren't written, and yet things get more clear for the writer--and the reader. it's a soothing, enjoyable read as well.
June 4, 2019
(First of all, my name is Cynthia and I can't seem to get my husband's name off of my registration here!).
At any rate, this is one of my favorite new books. I love Rebecca's writing style, and the content is wonderful. Her kids are hilarious, and her recounting is genuine, well-paced and sincere. There is so much warmth and humor here and her transparency is unparalleled.
This is a truly relatable book and impossible to put down. Such vulnerability and tenderness. Much to learn here. And much to treasure and cherish.
At any rate, this is one of my favorite new books. I love Rebecca's writing style, and the content is wonderful. Her kids are hilarious, and her recounting is genuine, well-paced and sincere. There is so much warmth and humor here and her transparency is unparalleled.
This is a truly relatable book and impossible to put down. Such vulnerability and tenderness. Much to learn here. And much to treasure and cherish.
Read
June 25, 2019This is a well-written memoir by a mom trying to juggle career aspirations with being a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. Beautifully written and containing some useful strategies for dealing with it all, Ms. Barry delivers the goods.
September 10, 2019
Funny, genuine, clever. What a great read! Especially for moms of little children. So much of this book was relatable and I got more than a few stares while out on public for involuntarily laughing as I listened to the audiobook.
I'm going to be recommending this to other moms I know...
I'm going to be recommending this to other moms I know...
November 28, 2017
This was a really beautiful book full of warmth, real life like able characters and a lot of humanity.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews