She Come By It Natural by Sarah Smarsh

Title:  She Come By It Natural

Author: Sarah Smarsh

Read by:  Sarah Smarsh

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 4 hours and 33 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you! 

She Come By It Natural is an interesting and unique look into the impact that Dolly Parton has had on women during her career.  She Come By It Natural was originally published as a four-part collection that looked at Dolly's contribution to social progress for women by exploring her life and songs.  It also looked how Dolly and these songs impacted author Sarah Smarsh and her family, especially her grandmother. 

I thought it was an interesting way to tell Dolly Parton’s story and gave it a personal twist.  Dolly Parton gave a voice to those that thought they were voiceless.  This is not a straight biography of Dolly Parton, but more tidbits about her life.  What really struck me was her resilience and how she has stuck by her family and her people in her community.  She has gone beyond that and helps children across the country with literacy.  She has done a lot of good in her life beyond her beautiful and socially important music.  I also loved the side story of how her father washed her statue in her hometown every night, and she didn’t find out until after he had passed.  It was touching.  It was also interesting the work dynamics she had as woman singer with Porter Wagner and how that shaped her.  She is a strong woman.

One item that did surprise me is that the author brought in her personal politics.  I thought it went well with the story, but it could cause readers that don’t agree politically to be turned off by the narrative.

Sarah Smarsh the author also narrates the book, which I enjoyed.  It made it feel very personal.

 Overall, She Come By It Natural is an interesting look at Dolly Parton’s life and how it impacted the author and her family.

 

Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by Dolly Parton

Title: Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer

Author: Dolly Parton
Read by: Dolly Parton
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Length: Approximately 1.5 hours (2 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy

Dream More is a positive little book with a great message. Dolly Parton is world famous for her singing, song writing, and movie career, and also for her image and body. As she states in the book, people sometimes focus on the outer aspects of Dolly Parton, and ignore her other positive inner aspects. For example, she is a very successful business woman and part owner of Dollywood. She has also started a very successful Literacy Program to help bring reading to all children. I was impressed by how she has spent her life trying to help the people in her home community and people in general. She sounds like a genuinely lovely human being that deserves to be judged for her accomplishments rather than her appearance.

Dream More is actually an extension of a commencement speech that Parton gave at the University of Tennessee. She added to the speech and came up with this great book. She basically gave great words of advice such as how to dream big dreams and work to accomplish and would follow up the advice with a story about how that advice helped her on the path to stardom. She also sang a few songs including “Coat of Many Colors,” which is a truly wonderful and inspirational song.

Dolly Parton read this book herself and gave it her own special charm. I loved listening to it on my way to and from work and would definitely listen to more audio from her. It also has inspired me to put some of her CDs on my wish list.

I recommend this audiobook and think it would be a great gift for the dreamers in your friends and family or maybe for you!