Some days there's pie Book

Some of the best quotes from this book

“And Rose never told which over the years helped her grow into a person who did not do things like other people did. And there’s an awful lot of freedom in that.” pg. 169

“For everyone dead and gone there is a next day for the rest of the world.” pg. 181

“You know what I hate most about dying, Rose? It’s like you get cut off in mid-sentence, you know what I mean? Maybe I won’t mind to die when it comes, but I don’t want to be cut off mid-sentence.” pg. 265

“Because I am worth a story. Everyone is.” pg. 290


I love this book! It’s a lot of different things. It’s a story about a woman who is running away. It’s a story about an elderly lady looking to stay relevant. It’s about living and dying. It’s about friendship, and it does all of those things incredibly well.

At the center of the novel, is Ruth. The story is told from her point of view, and in her voice, we hear how she has been running for most of her life. First, it was fleeing her unhappy home in the small town of Summerville, Tennessee. After her father die, Ruth was left in a trailer with her distant mother, who took in wealthy people’s laundry to make ends meet, her flashy, vain, and cruel sister, Margret, and her intellectually disabled brother, William. Never happy, Ruth meets a young radio salesman when he returns to his hometown for his brother’s funeral. She decides to marry Chuck and run away with him. The pair is happy until Chuck meets some new friends with strange religious beliefs, and Ruth decides that she has to run once again.

Rose is an elderly woman with a colorful past. She hid from Pancho Villa as a girl. She was an intrepid newspaper reporter who was famous for standing on a corpse once. She’s a pillar of the community who has helped pretty much everyone in town. She has been married twice, once to a guy who won her by pitching a baseball through a hole. She has raised two daughters. But not in her older age, she is battling cancer and wishing for just one more big story to take her out of the advertising department and back to her career.

The two meet in the aisle of a store, and Rose quickly takes Ruth under her wing and helps her to create a new life for herself. She helps her find a job, an apartment, and provides her with friendship. Rose truly teaches Ruth about life. Ruth for her part, accompanies Rose on her crazy adventures, and gives her a reason to live.

This novel teaches some important lessons about life and paints a movie picture of friendship. I think everyone should read it.