Friday, March 21, 2008

fairy tale


I received a free copy of the new book, It's All About Him by Denise Jackson, from Byron Chesney at Knoxville Trivia Blog. He received 10 copies of the book from Denise Jackson's marketing agent, and just asked for a book review in return.

Denise Jackson is the wife of country music superstar Alan Jackson. I did not know anything about Denise, but I did get the impression that she might be spoiled, and she came off somewhat uppity, but I had only ever seen her a couple of times on TV and in a magazine article about their new house (mansion) in Nashville.

In some ways my life feels like a fairy tale.

The book starts off with that line, and at first I found it hard to sympathize with someone who had it all. She confirmed my impression of her, talking about being so popular in school - class president, homecoming queen, head cheerleader, and then later - the palace in Nashville, the 3 fully staffed vacation homes, the 18 car garage, the diamonds and jewels. But stuff happens to the rich as well as and poor, and she experienced a life-changing event that put everything into perspective.

I cannot imagine living with all the success and riches the Jacksons have had. I also cannot imagine what choices I would have made in their place. But they certainly worked hard to get where they are, and I don't begrudge them at all for enjoying the material possessions that come along with success.

I enjoyed reading this story of small town folks making it big. It is refreshing to know that they are still able to cling to their small town values and realize that what they have together, and what they believe in, is important enough to work on and save.

Thanks for the book, I enjoyed it. I believe that books should be read instead of collecting dust on my shelves, so I will pass this around to anyone who wants to read it around here, and then donate it to the local library.

Byron has several blogs about Knoxville and the Tennessee area. I think I found his blog through cousin Barry, also in Knoxville. Byron comes off as genuine, is possibly just a good ol' boy, has some great stories about growing up in the country, but more importantly I think he is Kenny's cousin…




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