This Is Not the Story You Think It Is...: A Season of Unlikely Happiness

by Laura Munson

Overview

By the time Laura Munson had turned 40, her life was not how she thought it would turn out. Career success had eluded her; her beloved father was no longer around to be her biggest cheerleader; and her husband wanted out of their marriage.

Poignant, wise, and often exceedingly funny, this is the moment-by- moment memoir of a woman who decided to let go-in the midst of the emotional equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. It recounts what happened as Munson set out on her spiritual journey-and provides raw, powerful inspiration to anyone searching for peace in an utterly unpredictable world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425238998
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/05/2011
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Laura Munson lives with her family in Montana, where she writes novels, memoirs, short stories, and essays. This is her first published book.

Table of Contents

Are You There, Clarence? It's Me, George Bailey's Wife 1

The Cloud of Unknowing 16

Rilke's World at Play in Rumi's Field 27

Reality, Cockroaches, Bums in the Basement, and Microbrew 37

Montana 55

My Father's Blue Duesenberg 72

The Italy Cure 91

Epiphany 105

No Grace Period 120

My Evil Twin Sister Sheila 140

The Supercool Wife 159

The God of the Fourth of July 173

The Conversation 192

Unlikely Happiness 207

Free Fall 224

Heart-Shaped Rock 243

Derailed 258

Community 277

His Sister's Gift 287

The Good Fight 303

Indian Summer 310

Two Balloons 323

Thanksgiving 329

Epilogue 336

The Perversely Vertical Half-Cracked and Sometimes Devoured Stack of Books on My Bedside Table 338

Acknowledgments 341

What People are Saying About This

Melanie Gideon

Let me tell you what this book is about. This is a book about saying yes. It's the story of Laura Munson's alchemical ability to create abundance and bounty in the face of scarcity and abandonment-no small triumph. Filled with gems big and small. . . Munson is a wonderful guide-wise, brave, and tenaciously honest. (Melanie Gideon, author of The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After)

Leif Peterson

Laura Munson has served up a whopping portion of sanity. This book has the potential to start a cultural revolution. (Leif Peterson, author of Catherine Wheels and Normal Like Us)

David Baker

Laura Munson's powerful and buoyant book gives us wisdom in generous slices. But it is Munson's abilities as a storyteller that show us how to discover-how to find and feel-the real wisdom that may arise from our lives, as messy and heartbreaking as they may be. Woman, wife, mother, neighbor-this fine writer converts her own life's journeys into a series of vignettes so focused and compelling, so heartbreaking, sometimes so funny, that they resound with the force of parables. (David Baker, poetry editor of "The Kenyon Review")

Anita Shreve

This Is Not the Story You Think It Is is true to its title. The book took me by surprise. I read it in one sitting and loved Munson's tone, wit, wisdom and writing. (Anita Shreve)

From the Publisher

"Laura Munson takes the spiritual stuff and the personal stuff and the love stuff and the pain stuff and she brews them all together in a very fun and touching memoir. I'm a fan. This is a wonderful book."
-Marianne Williamson

"This Is Not the Story You Think It Is is true to its title. The book took me by surprise. I read it in one sitting and loved Munson's tone, wit, wisdom and writing."
-Anita Shreve

"Let me tell you what this book is about. This is a book about saying yes. It's the story of Laura Munson's alchemical ability to create abundance and bounty in the face of scarcity and abandonment-no small triumph. Filled with gems big and small. . . Munson is a wonderful guide-wise, brave, and tenaciously honest."
-Melanie Gideon, author of The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After

"This book is fabulous. Laura Munson's noble quest to become the source of her own happiness will take you by the hand and heart as it guides you through the steps to living a life without suffering. Her story pulls back the curtain on the only magic we ever need to know: how to make the shift from fear to love."
-Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret

"Laura Munson's powerful and buoyant book gives us wisdom in generous slices. But it is Munson's abilities as a storyteller that show us how to discover-how to find and feel-the real wisdom that may arise from our lives, as messy and heartbreaking as they may be. Woman, wife, mother, neighbor-this fine writer converts her own life's journeys into a series of vignettes so focused and compelling, so heartbreaking, sometimes so funny, that they resound with the force of parables."
-David Baker, poetry editor of "The Kenyon Review"

"Laura Munson has served up a whopping portion of sanity. This book has the potential to start a cultural revolution."
-Leif Peterson, author of Catherine Wheels and Normal Like Us

"I loved this book. It's unusual, memorable and wry, laugh-out-loud funny too."
-Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of Crazy Love and Mommy Wars

Linda Sivertsen

I cried and laughed so hard through these pages-often at the same time-that I thanked God I was alone in the privacy of my bedroom. If Eat, Pray, Love was a lifeline for you, Laura Munson is your new heroine. The wisest, most soulful, kick-ass friend any woman who's ever had grenades launched at her self- esteem or her belief in love could ask for. Read every page. To the end. And let it heal you to the bone. (Linda Sivertsen, author of Harmonic Wealth)

Marianne Williamson

Laura Munson takes the spiritual stuff and the personal stuff and the love stuff and the pain stuff and she brews them all together in a very fun and touching memoir. I'm a fan. This is a wonderful book.

Leslie Morgan Steiner

I loved this book. It's unusual, memorable and wry, laugh-out-loud funny too. (Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of Crazy Love and Mommy Wars)

Arielle Ford

This book is fabulous. Laura Munson's noble quest to become the source of her own happiness will take you by the hand and heart as it guides you through the steps to living a life without suffering. Her story pulls back the curtain on the only magic we ever need to know: how to make the shift from fear to love. (Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret)

Editorial Reviews

"Laura Munson takes the spiritual stuff and the personal stuff and the love stuff and the pain stuff and she brews them all together in a very fun and touching memoir. I'm a fan. This is a wonderful book."
Marianne Williamson

"This Is Not the Story You Think It Is is true to its title. The book took me by surprise. I read it in one sitting and loved Munson's tone, wit, wisdom and writing."
Anita Shreve

"Let me tell you what this book is about. This is a book about saying yes. It's the story of Laura Munson's alchemical ability to create abundance and bounty in the face of scarcity and abandonment-no small triumph. Filled with gems big and small. . . Munson is a wonderful guide-wise, brave, and tenaciously honest."
Melanie Gideon, author of The Slippery Year: A Meditation on Happily Ever After

"This book is fabulous. Laura Munson's noble quest to become the source of her own happiness will take you by the hand and heart as it guides you through the steps to living a life without suffering. Her story pulls back the curtain on the only magic we ever need to know: how to make the shift from fear to love."
Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret

"Laura Munson's powerful and buoyant book gives us wisdom in generous slices. But it is Munson's abilities as a storyteller that show us how to discover-how to find and feel-the real wisdom that may arise from our lives, as messy and heartbreaking as they may be. Woman, wife, mother, neighbor-this fine writer converts her own life's journeys into a series of vignettes so focused and compelling, so heartbreaking, sometimes so funny, that they resound with the force of parables."
David Baker, poetry editor of "The Kenyon Review"

"Laura Munson has served up a whopping portion of sanity. This book has the potential to start a cultural revolution."
Leif Peterson, author of Catherine Wheels and Normal Like Us

"I loved this book. It's unusual, memorable and wry, laugh-out-loud funny too."
Leslie Morgan Steiner, author of Crazy Love and Mommy Wars

From the Publisher