Happy book review day!
Ah, the first book review of March.
March, which I know should mean spring is coming but since I live in Alberta still just means winter… cold, cold winter.
At least it is good reading and writing weather! Too cold to spend much time outside, after all.
Last year I started Jann Arden’s memoir, Falling Backwards. I set it down – I can’t remember why.
But a couple weeks ago, I picked it up again, started it again, and read it in one sitting.
Jann Arden has a great voice. I’ve always liked her music, and her personality in interviews, on social media, and everywhere else I’ve seen her. One of my favourite scenes with her was when she went ziplining down the jump with Rick Mercer in Calgary at the Olympic park.
She always has struck me as funny, heartfelt, and, well, authentic. In the past few months, as she posted about her mother’s illness and eventual death, her emotions were evident in every post.
That same authenticity is evident throughout the pages of this book, which chronicles her childhood and early adulthood, ending just as she is about to make her first record.
There are happy moments, funny moments, but truly horrible, heartbreaking ones too. Some of the stories Arden tells made me literally laugh out loud. Others were uncomfortable, saddening.
I don’t want to reveal too much, lest I give away spoilers. But serious issues like alcoholism, sexual assault, and her troubled brother, are all dealt with with as much honesty and integrity as she describes her childhood friends, or the shenanigans she got up to with her brothers, or the joy of wide open spaces in the country, or the freedom of life on a fishing boat.
It was a quick, lovely read, and the descriptions of local Canadian – Albertan, to be precise – locations were a highlight. Bragg Creek? Oh, I know that place! I know that street in Calgary, that stretch of highway.
Though I don’t often read “celebrity” books, there is a sincerity in Arden’s book that makes it a recommended read for sure. The best aspect of it is her voice, funny, sweet, sad, and entirely authentic, present in every scene throughout the book, on every page.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go listen to a bunch of her music.
What’s a “celebrity” book or memoir you recommend? Respond below or via my contact page. And don’t forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter while you’re on my contact page.