{"id":398,"date":"2018-12-31T12:07:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=398"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:07:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:07:57","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-41","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=398","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, <\/span>freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, <\/span>and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span>MEMOIR<\/p>\n

Mica Mosbacher<\/span><\/p>\n

Racing Forward: Faith, Love & Triumph Over Loss<\/span><\/p>\n

Bright Sky Press<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-939055-91-0, 295 pgs., $24.95<\/p>\n

November 4, 2015<\/p>\n

Mica Mosbacher\u2019s husband Robert,<\/span> oilman and former United States Secretary of Commerce, died of pancreatic cancer in 2010. Newly widowed and casting about for purpose to get her through, she found inspiration in Godstone Ranch Motorsports, an organization involved in Formula One racing for charity. Because there is no \u201cWidowhood for Dummies<\/span> book,\u201d Mosbacher attempts to fill that void. Employing an auto racing metaphor, she provides guidance through \u201cwidow\u2019s fog.\u201d<\/p>\n

A handsome and well-designed volume, Racing Forward: Faith, Love and Triumph Over Loss<\/span><\/a><\/span> is Mica Mosbacher\u2019s memoir that addresses the many varieties of loss \u2014 death, \u201cbreak-ups, divorce, injury, disabilities, illness, friendships and careers, even a loss of innocence\u201d \u2014 and how loss may be worked through, learned from, and, finally, moved past, a process she terms \u201cgrieving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosbacher is not easily pigeonholed, nor should she be. Some readers may view her as only a product of a particular subset of Houston high society. This impression is encouraged by profuse name-dropping of European royalty clotting the narrative and, while we all empathize with divorces, job layoffs, and health scares, the majority may find it difficult to identify with Mosbacher as she likens her troubles to those of the biblical Job at a time when her paramount concerns were retaining her River Oaks high-rise apartment and keeping her son in private Episcopal school.<\/p>\n

However, she was not born into this caste and is candid and forthright regarding hard times and questionable judgment in her past. She broke into journalism when it was still a boys\u2019 game and became an award-winning print journalist and public relations professional. Deeply involved in community projects and charities, Mosbacher is a feminist with strong Christian faith, and a formidable fundraising force in Republican politics.<\/p>\n

Mosbacher wrote Racing Forward<\/span> in hopes of inspiring others with her personal story. She writes movingly of her husband\u2019s illness and the aftermath. There are helpful recommendations, such as the importance of mentors and role models, and practical tips involving finances and how to avoid exploitation and those who would take advantage. She warns of \u201cyellow flags and road hazards,\u201d and advises that \u201cGod can\u2019t steer a parked car\u201d and \u201crest stops have their purpose\u201d but don\u2019t linger, and other such truisms. These are lessons Mosbacher learned the hard way.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is contributing editor at Lone Star Literary Life, reviewer for Foreword Reviews, freelance writer, member of the National Book Critics Circle, and blogger at www.TexasBookLover.com. Her reviews appear or are forthcoming in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, World Literature Today, South85 Journal, The Review Review, Concho River Review, Monkeybicycle, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}