Mama Lama Ding Dong - Blog Book Tour

 As you know, Blog Book Tours are a fairly popular new phenomenon and one that I hope to tap into when my book is available internationally.

I am often asked to participate in these tours and I am not always able to, for various reasons, but this one I couldn’t say no to.

The introductory email was so quirky and off the wall I thought “this woman is either on drugs or naturally hilarious”.  The second one is true.

Unfortunately, because the postage system here is slower than a bloody snail with a sore foot, I didn’t receive my copy of the book in time, which is such a great pity because the cover looks really fun. However I was emailed an electronic version of the book and I started working my way through that.

Due to my recent stint with publishing my book, I am now very interested in people who write, how they write and the result of their craft.  I approach everything with a studied curiosity, hoping to learn from them.

Ayun Halliday, the author of the book is everything I am not, well, besides the two things that do bind us, she is a mother and she writes.  She is a hippie-type stay at home mom who is one of those arty-farty creative types who I always find so fascinating, because they are so very different to me. 

And so I approached the book with much interest, from an academic point of view, and also from the point of view of being able to get an insight into the lives of others.  I am always fascinated to read about other cultures, and this stay at home, arty farty mom who lived in a Big City in the big country of America was about as different as one could get to the culture I come from.

Ayun is funny, very very funny.  She is totally honest and says it like it is. 

The book, Mama Lama Ding Dong has been published under the name The Big Rumpus in America and is described as:

A breezy memoir of motherhood that for all its hip attitude also affectingly recalls traditional fears, joys, and a sense of the miraculous...Motherhood recalled with engaging brio and considerable wisdom.

It is a funny, fun book that takes an honest look at the realities of motherhood, the good, the bad and the very funny.  It makes you think “oh thank god, I am not the only one who thinks that”. Actually, she reminds me a lot of myself, well, besides the arty-farty, stay at home, living in a Big City thing.  But she is someone I could quite easily have a drink with.  Ok, that doesn’t really count because I would drink with just about anyone who would want to have a drink with me. 

It really is a very entertaining read and very very funny. 

You can get the book here. (UK) or here (US)

You can read the reviews here.

 

 

 

Here are a few questions I asked of the author:

1. who is the book aimed at? who is your target reader?

I like to think that the book will appeal to anyone who’s had a child,
anyone who’s been a child, anyone who has three thumbs, anyone who
still believes in Santa Claus, anyone who’s been circumcised (or not),
anyone who’s published a zine or eaten a bagel that dropped on the
sidewalk...

In the States, the book is shelved in parenting, much to the chagrin of
a childless, male former classmate, who said he armed himself with a
book on do-it-yourself home plumbing before braving that unfamiliar,
and to him, distasteful section, afraid that he might run into someone
he knows. I’m always gratified when someone who doesn’t have kids
cracks it open, reading it as something akin to a travelogue.  I have
never been,and probably never will  be a Buddhist nun, an Alaskan
fisherwoman or a teacher in a failing inner-city school, but am fully
capable of being captivated by first person accounts of their
experiences.


2. what is your central message of the book?

I suppose it’s that you’ve got to maintain a sense of humor about the
ridiculousness of your predicament , especially during those intensely
frustrating, exhilarating, isolating first couple of years following
the baby’s birth.

3. why did you write the book, what are you hoping to achieve with it?

I wrote the book because (to make a long story short) my zine helped
put me in a position where a book contract more or less fell from the
sky and clobbered me on the head. I couldn’t believe my luck. I dream
big, but I’m really disorganized and lacking in the sort of ambition
that seems essential for those hoping to make a go of it in the arts.
So, to be visited by the opportunity to seize a brass ring when I had
two little children at home and could barely manage to make toast
without massive planning was the equivalent of winning the lottery,
minus the financial make-over. So, there’s your “why”.

As to what I hoped to achieve, besides becoming an overnight literary
sensation who flies for free to all sorts of top-drawer literary events
in Hawaii and Jamaica, where the headliners stay in jasmine-scented hot
tub suites in beyond-five-star hotels, I wanted to amuse my fellow
mothers, particularly the ones who felt frazzled, sad, and shoved to
the sidelines. I wanted to express the bottomless love I experience for
my children, as well as the frustration, and I wanted to do it in such
a way that wouldn’t make readers mutter, “Oh please, she thinks she’s
so great and her children are so much better than mine! Well, fuck
her!”

 

Have fun and happy reading!

 

 

Comments

[Judy]

Several other blogs I read have interviewed Ayun - she sounds hysterical! Definitely on my "must read" list!

[Owengal]

I went to college with Ayun and she truly kicks ass.

Fun fact: not sure if he's popular where you are, but in college she dated Stephen Colbert :)!

She's a brilliant girl!

[cesca]

Good write-up! I'm in the middle of the book Mamalamadingdong at the moment, and it's also a bit of a different culture... in a way. We're both stay-at-home mums but she's got the arty-farty thing happening, which I just can't seem to get a handle on!

[Jean]

THe book is fantastic. The zine is great, too.

[Wenchy]

I went to buy your book today.. well, one for me and one for my friend Mel (SuperMom)...

I started crying IN the bookshop already when I saw Ben's name in the front. I remember the time very clearly as Bee had always kept me updated on how you were doing.

You are amazing. Thought I should just tell you that.. just in case you needed reminding.

:o)

[emily]

hello! i need some parent bloogers to join a mailing list to recieve review copies of parenting books. if you are interested please give me your email address
thank you