jack in bed with book

I’D RATHER TALK ABOUT PLANTS, but this week I need to make an exception and hit you up for a hand. My 2011 memoir “And I Shall Have Some Peace There” comes out in paperback, and since book-writing is key to the scaled-down life I’ve consciously chosen since I left the city fastlane four years ago, I’m asking five things you can do to help me succeed. Other than buying a book, the asks cost nothing at all–and hey, I’m even offering a chance to win the new paperback to sweeten the deal. As you can see, Jack the Demon Cat (a star of the book) thinks it’s a good read to tuck into bed with. Won’t you:

 1.  Buy a book (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?). If you want one that’s autographed and gift-wrapped, order here (paperback or hardcover).

2. Go post a quick “review” on Amazon. So many of you have written personally to me to tell me what you thought of the book (some of those comments are below)—go tell others, won’t you? It just takes a minute, and you don’t have to have purchased there. Big help!

3. Likewise, Goodreads [dot] com is a wonderful place to share book recommendations—and get them, too. Put “Peace” on your Goodreads “bookshelf” with a comment if you are a user there.  You can start here, at my “bookshelf.”

4. Share and Like my book video on your Facebook page or elsewhere. If you haven’t already, join, or “Like” my book’s page on Facebook. (There’s one for the garden blog, too—you should ALL be using that one, where there’s always something new and fun under discussion!)

5. Go ahead, just share this post in whatever way you like—using the Facebook or Twitter icon below. Spread the word.

What Readers and Reviewers Have Said

Want to learn more about the book? It’s here on my book blog, and there’s also a list of some press it got over the last year. Here’s what some reviewers and other readers have said:

FROM OTHER READERS

  • “If you loved Annie Dillard’s A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, you will enjoy this book. It is a pilgrimage from city to country, from urban frenetic activity to stillness, snow and isolation. Written in a poetic, stream of consciousness style, it’s about an emotional journey of a woman forging a new identity via her country house and garden.”
  • “I randomly picked up your book off the new non-fiction shelf in our local library without really knowing anything about it. The title seemed to speak to me and so it came home in my library bag. I wholeheartedly believe that you are one of my messengers, helping me to find myself, my way and my own peaceful place. Thank you.”
  • “Reading your book has inspired me! I have begun tunneling my way out of my corporate prison, just wish I had a bigger spoon to dig with.
  • “Thank you for digging deeply in those dark corners and sharing your story. Next chapter, please!”
  • “You bring smiles and solutions and great wit to those of us who love to garden. You are a gift.”

PEOPLE: (3.5 of 4 stars)
“Her writing is witty and elegant, proof that despite her seemingly perfect fast-lane life, she was indeed meant for more artistic pursuits.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)
“A moving, eloquent and joyously idiosyncratic memoir.”

BOOKLIST
“As she moves through the seasons of her first year in self-imposed exile, Roach limns a reflective odyssey for affirmation and acceptance that blends Zen-like wisdom with zany escapades.”

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT/GRETCHEN RUBIN
“With my own happiness project, I never left my own neighborhood; for her happiness project, Margaret left New York City and a big job with Martha Stewart Omnimedia to move to upstate New York to reconnect with her first passion, gardening. Her account of what happened, and what she learned, is very powerful.”

AOL.COM
“While Roach loved her high-powered career…[she] craved something more. Or, actually, something less. … Turns out, Roach wasn’t actually running away in 2008 when she quit her job and left the city to live in her rural home full-time. Rather, she was running toward something: herself.”

AILSA FRANCIS/THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
“This book is an honest, inspirational and often droll account of Roach’s epiphany, much of it garnered through the garden: she has finally claimed her passion, and with it, her own salvation.”

REBECCA CHRISTIAN/TRADITIONAL HOME
“In a beguiling style with an idiosyncratic flair for language, Margaret (sorry if it seems too chummy to call her by her first name, but I feel like I know her now) tells the story of how she ‘popped the lid off a reservoir of yearning’ and left a decades-long career in mainstream New York publishing. … Nothing much momentous takes place, unless you call reclaiming your own life momentous, and I do.”

SARAH MCCOLL/PINK OF PERFECTION BLOG
“Like the woman herself, Margaret’s new memoir is inspiring, but it’s the sort of encouragement of a close friend. This is not a bulletin-pointed instructive how-to of living your dream life. It’s the deliciously intimate story of a woman who feels like a pal through the pages, never too serious to miss a joke and never too silly to see the signs.”

From bestselling food author DORIE GREENSPAN, via Twitter
“I missed the Sheridan Square subway stop because I was reading your book. You are an extraordinary writer w/ a fascinating story to tell. I’m reading it slowly–don’t want it to end.”

How to Win a Paperback

TO WIN ONE OF THREE SIGNED COPIES of the new paperback edition of “And I Shall Have Some Peace There,” you need to comment below by telling me which one(s) of the five easy asks above you did. It’s an honor system, but I think you’re a pretty honorable group!  I’ll draw the three winners at random after entries close at midnight Sunday, February 5. Good luck to all—and thank you in advance for helping spread the word.