#MMBBR #Review #5stars #ABoobsLife by @LeslieLehr1 @Pegasus_Books

From her prize-winning fiction to her viral New York Times Modern Love essay, exploring the challenges facing contemporary women has been author Leslie Lehr's life-long passion. In her highly praised upcoming book, A Boob's Life: How America's Obsession Shaped Me-and You (March 2^nd, 2020), her first project since breast cancer treatment, she continues this mission, taking readers on a wildly informative, deeply personal, and utterly relatable journey. No matter your gender or age, you will never view this sexy and sacred body part the same way again. The book has already caught the attention of the literary and entertainment industries alike, with Publisher's Weekly saying that the book is a "witty and incisive look at American attitudes toward women's breasts," and Kirkus Reviews stated, "Thoughtful and honest. Our verdict: GET IT." Salma Hayek fell in love with the book and is now turning it into a TV series that was just picked up by HBO MAX!
 
Lehr is a prize-winning novelist and non-fiction writer whose books include What A Mother Knows, a Target Recommended Read, Wife Goes On, and 66 Laps, winner of the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize. Her nonfiction books include Welcome to Club Mom, Club Grandma, excerpted on FisherPrice.com, and Wendy Bellissimo: Nesting, featured on Oprah. Her personal essays have appeared in the New York Times Modern Love column (narrated by Katie Couric on NPR), HuffPost, Yourtango, and in anthologies Mommy Wars, The Honeymoon's Over, and On Becoming Fearless. She wrote the original screenplay for the romantic thriller, HEARTLESS, and the comedy-drama, "Club Divorce", for Lifetime. Lehr is a member of PEN, the Authors Guild, WGA, Women In Film, and the Women's Leadership Council. She has a BA from the School of Cinematic Arts at USC and an MFA from Antioch. Lehr is a breast cancer survivor, the mother of two daughters, and lives in Southern California. 

I am not sure I will fully be able to capture how much I loved this book. Not only because the content is told with raw honesty, humor and vulnerability, but also because Leslie is simply stated, an amazing human. I had the opportunity to interview her and it was one of my greatest honors of my book blogging career. It was like talking to a friend about anything from family, to boobs, CV19, to work and everything in between. I think we must have covered every possible topic and it was such a great conversation. I feel like I really have found a new friend in Leslie! 

I must be honest and that I wasn't able to capture how amazing the hour plus conversation was with any formal notes or documentation, but I have a Q&A below that Leslie was kind enough to fill out and send along. As a book reviewer there are moments when you really understand what a humbling honor it is for writers to share their work with you pre-publication. They care about what you think and want to hear about it. I can say that this book is one for all woman, and men, should read. It is that good and that important. I loved that Leslie did not shy away from anything and is a force when it comes to clearly explaining what a complicated relationships women have with their bodies (boobs). I am calling for action...get this book and then share your love of it everywhere!!

PLEASE NOTE: 

Salma Hayek is turning the book into a TV series with HBO MAX which was just announced: HERE

Author Leslie Lehr wants to talk about boobs. She's gone from size AA to DDD and everything between, from puberty to motherhood, enhancement to cancer, and beyond. And she's not alone-these are classic life stages for women today. A Boob's Life explores the surprising truth about women's most popular body part with vulnerable, witty frankness and true nuggets of American culture that will resonate with everyone who has breasts-or loves them. At turns funny and heartbreaking, A Boob's Life explores both the joys and hazards inherent to living in a woman's body. Lehr deftly blends her personal narrative with national history, starting in the 1960s with the women's liberation movement and moving to the current feminist dialogue and what it means to be a woman. Her insightful and clever writing analyzes how America's obsession with the female form has affected her own life's journey and the psyche of all women today. Lehr explores the duality of today's women to navigate a new path between sexy and sacred.

LESLIE LEHR Q&A

 

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. Frustration. For instance, A Boob’s Life was prompted by my husband’s accusation that I’m obsessed 

with breasts. First, I was insulted. Then I realized it was true, but I wasn’t alone. The notion was so frustrating

 I had to learn why. My previous novel, What A Mother Knows, was prompted by the question of how much 

I would risk for my daughter - it grew from being worried about my own daughter. This started with my first book,

 Welcome to Club Mom, when I was frustrated about the challenges of motherhood.

 

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer? 

A. Having a voice in the world, a voice no one can quiet because it’s on paper.

 

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer? 

A. The writing! It’s a love-hate relationship.

 

Q.  If you could not be a writer, what would you do/be? 

A. I would be telling stories in another form. I started in tv and film production, so

 I would go back there. In fact, I’m executive producer of the A Boob’s Life TV 

show being developed by Salma Hayek for HBOMax… so I guess I’m going full circle now.

 

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. You Don’t Know the Half of It.

 

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time? 

A. Now that others talk about it, this sounds cliché, but A Wrinkle In Time has always been my go-to, 

I’m misfit Meg, wanting to save my family and the evil It with love. I read it aloud to both of my daughter’s classes, 

week by week, when they were in elementary school. I embarrassed them both by crying at the end.

 

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like? 

A. Tough one. I’m drawn to Lillian, the main character of Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here. 

She’s responsible for two kids who spontaneously combust with emotion. She struggles to figure 

out how to make them happy, how to show the importance of love and acceptance, and at the same time, 

she’s trying to find her own place in the world.

 

Q.  What character from all of your book(s) are you most like? 

A. The main character is always based on me – and the one making the worst mistakes.

 

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of? 

A. Any story set on a tropical island.

 

Q.  What is your favorite season? 

A. Spring. I love the scent of orange blossoms. Even in California, where I live on purpose, after 

growing up in Ohio, there is a change of season. I love the new flowers, the longer days, the hopefulness. 

Both of my daughters,’ my mother’s, and my birthday are all in the spring. Of course, by the time mine rolls around, 

mid-May, we are all sick of birthdays.

 

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why? 

A. A Boob’s Life has my favorite book cover of all time. The artist at Pegasus Books really understood how women 

are represented by our breasts and the vintage pin-up style of the red cone bra (that feminists in the 60’s called an

 “instrument of torture”) on a woman’s torso, with just a int of her red lips on the bright blue patriotic background

 is my absolute favorite.

 

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book. 

A. A Boob’s Life is for women of all ages, because it’s the only book that connects the dots of living with breasts

 for a woman’s entire life. But with the word “boobs” in the title, I’m getting an awful lot of friend request from men 

on social media. Which is ironic and also my point. We can’t find biological attraction, but it’s important to be aware 

of how it can further shape our experience.

 

Q.  Are you working on something new? 

A. Yes! A novel set in the late sixties. It’s a fictional account of a real events with an intersection of family and race 

and love and betrayal. It’s a story I’ve been thinking about for many years.

 

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by? 

A.  Please buy A Boob’s Life and let me know what you think. We all wake up every morning and have to 

decide whether to wear a bra or not and whether to show our boobs or hide them. Whether to feed our babies 

with them or keep them from killing us. I’d love to hear your stories. And: love your boobs!