This is a Mother-Talk book tour.

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Since the moment I picked up The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan, I’ve secretly wanted to be a Corrigan. Or, at the very least, be friends with the Corrigans.

I’m not usually a memoir fan, but Kelly has taken what could easily have just been a book about a typical woman who survives breast cancer while her father fights his own cancer (sadly, a common enough occurrence today) and made it into a completely absorbing and often heart wrenching story of the middle place. The place so many of us can relate to. “The Middle Place is about calling home. Instinctively. Even when all the paperwork — a marriage license, a notarized deed, two birth certificates, and seven years of tax returns — clearly indicates you’re an adult, but all the same, there you are, clutching the phone and thanking God that you’re still somebody’s daughter.”

I honestly can’t put my finger on what I loved most about this book. Maybe it was that I can relate? Not to having breast cancer, but to having a father with advanced invasive bladder cancer and certainly to thanking God that I’m still somebody’s daughter. Maybe it was the fact that it’s so easy to read? Maybe it’s her familiar style of writing; like talking to an old friend? I don’t know, but I can tell you that it’s a great book and you’ll love it. You’ll particularly love it if you’re a daughter and also if you have a parent with cancer, but you’ll probably love it even if you’re neither of those. I just can’t tell you why.

Kelly Corrigan is also the founder of the great website CircusOfCancer.org - a how-to site to help you step up when your friend is diagnosed with breast cancer.