Read by Pearl Cleage

In this inspiring memoir, the award-winning playwright and bestselling author of What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day reminisces on the art of juggling marriage, motherhood, and politics while working to become a successful writer. In addition to being one of the most popular living playwrights in America, Pearl Cleage is a bestselling author with an Oprah Book Club pick and multiple awards to her credit. But there was a time when such stellar success seemed like a dream. In this revelatory and deeply personal work, Cleage takes readers back to the 1970s and '80s, retracing her struggles to hone her craft amid personal and professional tumult. Though born and raised in Detroit, it was in Atlanta that Cleage encountered the forces that would most shape her experience. Married to Michael Lomax, now head of the United Negro College Fund, she worked with Maynard Jackson, Atlanta's first African American mayor. Things I Should Have Told My Daughter charts not only the political fights but also the pull she began to feel to focus on her own passions, including writing-a pull that led her away from Lomax as she grappled with ideas of feminism and self-fulfillment. This fascinating memoir follows her journey from a columnist for a local weekly to a playwright and Hollywood scriptwriter, an artist at the crossroads of culture and politics whose circle came to include luminaries like Richard Pryor, Avery Brooks, Phylicia Rashad, Shirley Franklin, and Jesse Jackson. By the time Oprah Winfrey picked What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day as a favorite, Cleage had long since arrived as a writer of renown. In the tradition of greats like Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, and Nora Ephron, Cleage's self-portrait raises women's confessional writing to the level of great literature. Title Info. The Question The Journals: 1970-79 May 30 December 15 The Journals: 1980-88 March 24 May 30 Epilogue "Here's the thing about this book: it will make you braver, you'll want to live your life better and make a difference, you'll become more forgiving. My copy is all underlined and dog-eared and I'll probably read it two more times…at least." "A journal is the perfect place to watch one's self grow. Pearl Cleage's changes are many in this gift of record-keeping during the early, middle, and (a few glimpses at what may be) the later years of her life. The honesty and humor, insight, and determination to show up authentically is pure Cleage." "Pearl's courageous, candid recollections of the ups and downs of her life remind us of our human nature, at times, to doubt and judge ourselves too harshly. Her wit and authenticity allows us to look at our own lives with a bit of levity, compassion, and freedom." "An enjoyable, nonstop read. Familiar and profound. Pearl's memories feel like my own. Her lies, lessons, and love affairs wash over me like water, sage, and lavender. She makes me feel at home in her life." "Cleage's extraordinary experiences, deep social concerns, passionate self-analysis, and personal and artistic liberation, all so openly confided, make for a highly charged, redefining read." "A sampling of playwright and novelist Cleage's journal entries over twenty years, from 1970 to 1990, as a young journalist, feminist, civil rights activist, wife, and mother delineates a long, difficult journey toward self-realization…By turns frank, and wide-eyed, Cleage's entries reflect a fulsome, tender spirit, hungry for authentic experience, eager for love." "There's an urgency to Pearl Cleage's narration-as if her life depends on every word she shares from her journals of the 1970s and '80s. Speaking rhythmically, passionately, she says exactly what's on her mind and soulfully talks to listeners as if they're good friends. She's colorful with her language and candid in tone…Poetically employing repetition, Cleage emphasiz

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