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by erin thursby
scopes1925@msn.com
What: Kris Radish book signing
When: February 5 @7PM
Where: Jacksonville Beach Books-A-Million (904) 273-8055
Nearly everyone has a “list of dreams” whether it’s written down in a spiral notebook, or kept hidden in a corner of your mind, to take out when the line at the DMV gets too long. It’s that list of places you want to visit (Australia), exotic things you want to eat (antelope, grilled) and maybe even simple things you’d like to one day do (ride in a limo with a hot tub). I thought a January release for The Sunday List of Dreams was an inspired choice, since many of the fictional Connie Nixon’s items on the list of dreams read like broad New Year’s resolutions. Item one is “Stop being afraid.” something that’s likely to be on a lot of lists.
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Female empowerment is author Kris Radish’s cherished theme, and in her latest book, The Sunday List of Dreams, she’s given us a tale of sexual empowerment that most grandmas would feel comfortable reading (sans the lesbian bits). The unlikely impetus for this journey of sexual empowerment is a mother-daughter reconciliation, a “talking” house, and a retirement.
The plot of the book centers on Nurse Connie Nixon, who is on the verge of retirement. She hasn’t quite gotten the courage to live her list of dreams when she discovers that her adult daughter runs a sex-toy business. She hops on a plane to New York and starts a journey not only to be reunited with her estranged daughter, but also to cross items off of her list of dreams. Female sexuality is the framework from which Radish defines the relationships between the women, so the meat of the book pertains to relationships between women as they share their lives and secrets (sexual and otherwise) with one another.
Her fictional novels are not the sort of books you would hand to your husband to read because “it’s a girl thing.” Some of what she talks about is based on that unspoken bond of communication and connection that most women seem to have. Any man reading this is apt to be at least a little confused, whereas most women will simply recognize moments of female connection in their own lives. The men in this story are bit players, a means to the female end of sexual empowerment.
Of course, our own lives aren’t as jammed packed full of epiphany and empowerment. That’s why women read Radish’s books, so they can revel in those moments that are too few in their own lives, and also so they can seek those moments out. The reason why women who read these books go out and buy a copy for their friends is because they are hungry for those moments of connection. Radish unmistakably understands that hunger and takes advantage of it.
Kris Radish has accomplished a great deal in her life so far, including being a nationally syndicated columnist, as well as Pulitzer Prize nominee. During her publishing career she’s worked undercover as a journalist, taught at two universities and has had two kids, who are now teens. Her novels have graced bestseller lists in the U.S. and are often picked as book club reading selections. Women will pick up a copy of her fiction novels for themselves and then return a week later to buy ten more copies for their friends.
After receiving a degree in journalism, Radish held a variety of strange jobs starting as a tomato farmer, professional Girl Scout, waitress, bartender, journalist, bureau chief, columnist, window washer, factory worker, bowling alley attendant and a night crawler harvester in Utah.
Before publishing The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, the first fiction book she wrote that was focused on feminine empowerment and friendship, she wrote two non-fiction books. Her first book, published in 1992, was a true crime story called Run, Bambi, Run. It chronicled the story of Laurie Bembenek, ex-cop, feminist and former Playboy Bunny who was sentenced to life for murder. Bembenek’s story caught the public eye when she escaped from prison and was recaptured because of a segment on FBI’s Most Wanted. The book was a regional bestseller, printed in three foreign countries and has been optioned for a movie. The other non-fiction book was The Birth Order Effect: How to Better Understand Yourself and Others, which she wrote with Clifford E. Isaacson.
Since publishing The Elegant Gathering of White Snows, she’s had three other books of the same woman-power genre published: Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn, Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral and The Sunday List of Dreams. Her next book will be entitled Searching for a Paradise in Parker, PA. Visit www.krisradish.com to share your own list of dreams with the author. Or you can meet her at the Jacksonville Beach Books-A-Million signing of The Sunday List of Dreams.
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