An Amazon BestsellerJo’s mother, Babe, liked to drink, dance, and stay up very late. When the husband she adored went on sales calls, she waited for him in the parking lot, embroidering pillowcases. Jo grew up thinking that the last thing she wanted was to be like her mother. Then it dawned on her that her own happiness was derived in large part from lessons Babe had taught her. Her mother might … her. Her mother might have had tomato aspic and stewed rhubarb in her fridge, while Jo had organic kale and almond milk in hers, but in more important ways they were much closer in spirit than Jo had once thought.
At a turbulent time in America, Never Sit If You Can Dance offers uplifting lessons in old-fashioned civility that will ring true with mothers, daughters, and their families. Told with lighthearted good humor, it’s a charming tale of the way things used to be—and probably still should be.
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Babe!
A mother that definitely deserved her very own book, let alone that sentence.
This book was ultimately a love story to Babe, written by her daughter Jo Giese. Sharing all of the special, witty, kind and often laugh out-loud wisdom that Babe passed on to Jo, we are given a beautiful gift.
This gift unwraps one chapter at a time, and it is just glorious advice. I know I will remember them, as I want to put into practice. Especially “Nobody Likes Depressed people”.
Brilliant!
Jo – I trust your Mother was with you for that special Mother’s Day! I have a feeling her spirit was strong.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
As Jo Giese says in her beautiful book about her remarkable mother, never leave a compliment unsaid. So I’m saying, Ms. Giese, this book was a pleasure to read. More than that, I feel as if I know and love Babe (her mother, the author of the phrase that is the title of the book) and have been augmented by the association. In her crisp, clean, evocative prose, Giese chronicles the life lessons of a bygone time that we could all learn from and live by now. This book—also in keeping with Babe’s life philosophy—would make a fabulous hostess gift, something to treasure and read and re-read. I highly recommend this book!
Good memories of Mom,
I’m going to buy this “real” book to give to my daughter as a high school graduation gift. Good life lessons in here.
This was a sweet little biography of an unforgettable mother and childhood. It takes the reader back to a kinder, gentler time when children actually received guidance instead of being left on their own to grow up. The mother is a very strong character , the kind every daughter needs. I loved it!
The older we (women) get, the more we turn into our moms. Mine is 97 now, and not as feisty as the author’s mom, but I hear so much of my mom in this book. We’re losing such a vibrant generation who has/had so much to teach us. A great comforting and entertaining read.
I love this book. I’ve shared it with all my friends. Great lessons for us all at this time to choose to be positive, to choose our friends and family, to support each other, to laugh, and to get up and dance!
How refreshing it is to pick up a family memoir and learn that the author understands the person her mother really was. Babe, as mom liked to be called, is shown as a fleshed-out person and not as the stereotype mother of her era. Babe liked to dance and sew. She believed in always taking a hostess gift when visiting someone’s house and in staying outside to wave as houseguests departed her home. These are all lessons that worked their way into Jo Giese’s heart without her realizing it at the time. Some of these are what many of us today still consider to be common courtesy…social customs that we also learned from our mothers.
The author doesn’t just throw these lessons at you. Instead you have the opportunity to smile as you read about incidents showing how Babe implemented them on a regular basis. Older readers may recognize some of these traits in themselves.
This is not an in-depth biography you might expect if you were reading about a celebrity, but it is very much a sweet story worth the time it should take you to read it. Perhaps you will recognize yourself or someone you know. Oh, if someone perchance gave you the book as a gift, don’t forget to promptly send a hand-written Thank You note!
I received my copy from BookSirens.com with no promise of a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Very powerful tribute to Babe! Had me crying by the end
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Who among us hasn’t said, “I could write a book about my mother!” We often say such things in jest, though the quip’s foundation is actually complimentary. We study our mothers throughout most our lives trying to piece together the enigmatic variables that result in their particular formula. For many it takes a lifetime, yet author Jo Giese has done just this in her delightful book, Never Sit If You Can Dance, which, as you might suspect, is a line she learned from her mother.
It is baby-boomer times, simpler times that began in innocence only to explode into the roar of changing times, and author Jo Giese is raised by a stay-at-home mom named Babe. She plans to rise above her mother’s station and believes she has actually done so until later years give her the time to pause and reflect.
It is the little things in this collection of first-person stories that weave nostalgia so touchingly and seamlessly. It is the common place, the everyday, the mortar of life that matters, and author Jo Giese tells us why in a series of chapter heading, numbered lessons as demonstrated by her mother—“Don’t be Drab;” “Never Show Up Empty-Handed;” “Go While You Can;” and “The Happiness of Giving and Receiving Flowers” are cases in point.
A wonderfully written, quick paced gem of a book, Never Sit If You Can Dance strikes the middle ground between heartwarming and entertaining. It is an important book in that it gifts the reader with the opportunity to ponder their own mother. In the hands of any book club, there is much fodder to discuss.