Why did you choose this book? What were your expectations? Why did you expect what you did? How is the book living up to your expectations?

I chose this book because it is a memoir and therefore nonfiction, it is short, and the back cover made it seem interesting. I expected it to be like many other memoirs I have read by semi-famous authors: kind of funny, mainly because of the author’s eclectic family, and full of humorous anecdotes about said family. The only reason I expected what I did was because of prior experiences with memoirs, and more specifically, memoirs my parents by. This book belongs to my parents, and when I found it on the shelf I knew that one of them had read a review and/or knew the author and bought the book.

Losing Mum and Pup is most definitely living up to my expectations. Christopher Buckley manages to make it both beautifully sweet and knee-slappingly funny. He had one conversation with his father attempting to convince him that it might not be the best idea for his remains to be in a hollow, giant bronze crucifix in the garden. Christopher thought, “Certainly it would present the real estate broker with an interesting covenant clause. Now, um, Mr. and Mrs. Birnbaum, you do understand that Mr. and Mrs. Buckley’s ashes are to remain in the crucifix, in the garden. . . .” His father responded with, “‘I wouldn’t worry about it.’ I knew this formulation well. I wouldn’t worry about it was WFB-speak for ‘The conversation is over.’ I was left with the impression I had committed lese-majesté by suggesting that a future owner…. might be anything less than honored to have William F. Buckley’s last remains in his garden, encased in an enormous bronze symbol of the crucified Christ.”