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Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living
Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living
Author: Bailey White
In this national bestseller, Bailey White--whose accounts of Southern eccentricity have enchanted millions of listeners to National Public Radio--offers a humorous, touching, story-filled memoir of her home in south Georgia.
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ISBN-13: 9780201632958
ISBN-10: 0201632950
Publication Date: 4/1993
Pages: 230
Rating:
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 49

3.7 stars, based on 49 ratings
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 337 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
A wonderful series of short essays on life in south Georgia, written by a maiden schoolteacher who lives with her aged but lively mother. A quick read but an enjoyable one, full of the characters that make the South so unique.
reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Kind of like a southern Erma Bombeck...light reading, very amusing!
reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
These are wonderful short stories that mostly take place in south Georgia and northern Florida. And Bailey White is a supreme story teller. Her mother is a wonderful source of these tales. Each story will have you chuckling.
reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 293 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Learn how cousin May's irrational fear of cows is cured by memorizing Trollope. Read how Earl Castleberry driven to madness by a swan. Hear about the UFO Mama say early one fine spring morning and about southern politics. Hear about Uncle Jimbuddy and his lack of digits.

This is a fast read, laid out in small chapters, so you can read a few at a time.
Read All 56 Book Reviews of "Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living"

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reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 57 more book reviews
Bailey White is a jewel of the South. Enjoy!
reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 3 more book reviews
This is a great book! I love that the stories are a few pages long each gives me a sense of accomplishment reading each one. The humorous characters are priceless and some of the events very southern. This is a relaxed book great for savoring.
murder101 avatar reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on
This is a really funny book .I luved it.
reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 29 more book reviews
Loved it!
Doughgirl avatar reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 138 more book reviews
Bailey White is a regular commentator for the NPR show "All Things Considered". She grew up in the latter part of the 20th century in rural southern Georgia with her eccentric mother (her father having taken off to live his life elsewhere), and continued to live at home with her Mama as an adult while she was a schoolteacher.

The picture on the front cover of the book gives us a peek as to what might be coming in the essays that are included in the book. It's a picture of a typical small rural house painted white with a big front porch. What's not typical is that there is a classic car parked on that front porch. And a big clawfoot bathtub. And a swan wandering through the yard. It makes the reader curious to find out WHY they are in the picture. And Ms White's very entertaining essays tell us that and more.

Some of my favorite essays ... "Porsche", in which we find out why that car is parked on the porch, "The Bed", about a Murphy bed that refused to behave and would sometimes trap its occupants in the wall, and "Gardening" in which the author details her efforts to create the wildflower garden of her dreams.
bookgoddessme avatar reviewed Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living on + 106 more book reviews
Again, lots of anticipation because Bailey is an NPR contributer, and I am a HUGE fan of public radio. Quick read, but not as great as I hoped. I just didn't find the characters likable, they were more irritating at times. Again, doesn't mean it's not a great book that you will love, I just did not.


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