If you’re hitting the road this Labor Day, the Wall Street Journal recommends bringing along a copy of Rheta Grimsley Johnson’s Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming. Enchanted Evening was featured in Danny Heitman’s Friday article about vacation reading, “A Beached Wail — No Time for That Pile of Books.” Heitman noted that “along with her gift for memorable book titles, Ms. Johnson has a commendable knack for writing stuff brief enough to be savored in a sitting or two.”
Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming is a frank, exhilarating, wise, poignant, and brave memoir from Johnson, an award-winning syndicated columnist. In a warm and down-to-earth voice, Johnson reflects on childhood memories of ritual pre-interstate trips in the family station wagon to young-girl fixations on the Barbie dolls of the title. The book is a perfect read for vacation, whether beachside in the summer or fireside in the winter!
And don’t miss Johnson’s two other eminently readable titles, Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana, about Johnson’s unexpected decision to move to a houseboat on the edge of the Atchafalaya Swamp and what she found there; and her newest, Hank Hung the Moon … and Warmed Our Cold, Cold Hearts, and ode to 1950s and ’60s musical staples, and how they’ve touched Johnson’s and others’ lives.
Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming is available in hardcover and ebook formats direct from NewSouth Books, Amazon or from your favorite bookstore.