Book ~ "Woefield Poultry Collective" (2011) Susan Juby

From SusanJuby.com ~ Woefield Farm is a sprawling thirty acres of scrub land, complete with dilapidated buildings and one half-sheared, lonely sheep named Bertie. It's "run"— in the loosest possible sense of the word—by Prudence Burns, an energetic, well-intentioned 20-something New Yorker full of back-to-the-land ideals, but without an iota of related skills or experience. Prudence, who inherited the farm from her uncle, soon discovers that the bank is about to foreclose on the property, which means that she has to turn things around, fast. But fear not! She'll be assisted by Earl, a spry 70-something, banjo-playing foreman, with a distrust of newfangled ideas and a substantial family secret; Seth, the alcoholic, celebrity-blogging guy-next-door, who hasn't left the house since a scandal with his high-school drama teacher; and Sara Spratt, a highly organized eleven-year-old looking for a home for her prize-winning chickens, including one particularly randy fellow soon to be christened Alec Baldwin.

I checked out this book because I'd read and enjoyed Juby's bio, Nice Recovery, and she's a Canadian author. To be honest, I was hesitant to read it once I saw the description ... plus, the first chapter didn't grab me. But I'm happy I kept with it because I enjoyed it.

It's a quirky story of Prudence who lives in New York and is into recycling and saving Mother Earth. When her great uncle Harold dies and leaves her his farm is British Columbia, she has dreams of making the farm sustainable. Unfortunately Uncle Harold owed a lot of money on the farm and Prudence lies to the bank manager to get a loan extension claiming she is going to open a treatment centre.

Living with the energetic and optimistic Prudence and working on the farm are an odd assortment ... Seth, Earl and Sara. The book's chapters are in their four voices. Seth is an alcoholic who swears a lot, Earl is an old man who has lived on the farm for years and Sara is a troubled kid keeps her chickens on the farm. They are all the family they have.

It's a fun book you should check out. In the U.S., it's known as Home to Woefield.

Book ~ "Nice Recovery" (2010) - Susan Juby

From Goodreads ~ There are families, which, through a combination of genetics, culture, and inclination, produce a startling number of professional athletes, such as tennis players or hockey stars. Then there are families like the Baldwins, which produce a high percentage of actors. My family seems to specialize in people who enjoy drinking. And taking drugs. In such families, there is usually one person who stands out as particularly gifted in the field. When I was a teenager, that person was me. I was the star, the Alec Baldwin, if you will. I started drinking seriously when I was thirteen, smoking pot with a vengeance at fourteen, and getting into cocaine at sixteen. By the time I was twenty I was done. Nice Recovery is the story of how I slipped so far off course, how I got back on track, and, most importantly, what it's like to come of age as a sober young person.

I had this on my "wish list" at the Toronto Library for a while and downloaded the ebook last week. I forget where I found out about this book and probably put it on my wish list because the author is Canadian.

It's Juby's story of growing up in a small town in British Columbia and struggling to find her place in school among the jocks, popular kids, brainiacs, trouble kids, etc. She discovered while still in junior high school that alcohol and drugs helped her overcome her anxiety. The problem was that she was a nasty drunk prone to blackouts. After swearing each time to never do it again, she would be back at it once the hangover passed. Her grades started sliding. She got accepted into a fashion design school here in Toronto which had low standards ... and got asked to leave when her grades really slipped. She worked low end jobs to survive. Eventually at the age of 20 she realized she had to get her drinking under control and joined AA. She turned her life around and when to university and got a Masters degree.

It's a good book. Juby doesn't sugarcoat anything. Though the book is humorous at times, I could still feel the seriousness of her situation.

The last chapters are her interviews with young people in recovery, along with more information about AA and NA.

I liked her writing style and honesty and will be checking out her novels (directed at both adults and young adults).