Product Description
“This book is about men I have known, in both the Platonic and Biblical senses. Some I knew only slightly, some quite well. Some I’ll love always, some I no longer like very much, and there are a few I’d like to strip naked, tie to a Maypole, smear with sweet syrup near a beehive, then stand back and watch. I’ll describe a goodly number of these hot dudes—and duds—keeping the nicest man for last because—if for nothing else—I’d like to leave you, dear reader, with a good taste in your mouth, and Hubbies #3 and #4 might make you want to rush to gargle.There were times I truly wondered, Lord, will I EVER get it right? Thank God I thrive on variety.”
--From My First Five Husbands . . . And the Ones Who Got Away


People always ask me if I'm like Blanche.And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta -- and I'm not from Atlanta!’” -- Rue McClanahan

Who can forget Rue McClanahan as the sexy Southern vixen, Blanche Devereaux, on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls? With her breezy sex appeal and sharp comedic timing, Rue infused her character with a sassy joie de vivre that captured the hearts of women everywhere. Now, the actress behind the magic reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she plays.

Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house “thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town,” Rue developed her two great passions—theater and men—at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustled her way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That’s when she met and married Husband #1—a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen—and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way.

From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman’s quest to find herself. Now happily married to her soul mate, Husband #6, Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age—and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big.

Told with Rue’s saucy wit and Southern charm, My First Five husbands is a deliciously entertaining take on life and love from an irrepressible star. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

Who knew??
LOVE her honesty.You GO girl!A really fun read.Honest about the ups and downs, not only about her career, but about the love for her son and the hard choices she had to make in life that kept them apart sometimes...

"My Favorite Golden Girl"
Rue McClanahan's long-awaited biography "My First Five Husbands..." is a better-than-average tell-all about someone's life. In this exceptional piece of work Rue discusses the highs and lows of being an actress while trying to find Mr. Right in the process.

Never shy about discussing her personal life, in "My First Five Husbands..." Rue talks about her determination in finding the right man to share her life with, only to be married six times with five of those relationships ending in divorce court. One man took her to the cleaners when she sued him for divorce, one was more concerned about his career, another was a compulsive liar whom upon hearing he was going to be the father to Rue's only child left her to raise the boy on her own. The other marriages ending in similar ways. After reading this book I got the impression, unfortunately, that Rue never felt whole in her life unless she was sharing her existence with a man, despite the fact that she was a successful actress, was financially independent, anda great mom.

Rue chats about her professional background as well and her determination that she would make it in the New York theatre, despite her family not believing she could make it. After a successful run with Dustin Hoffman in a play, Rue was offered her first starring role on television on "Another World" in 1970 as psychotic Caroline Johnson, who poisoned Pat Randolph in order to snag her husband and children. It was this performance that made her publicy recognized for the first time, however she did not enjoy her stay on the daytime serial: she has stated her role on "Another World" was one of the most boring jobs she ever partook in.

Eventually an appearance on "All in The Family" in 1971 brought her to the attention of Norman Lear who cast her as Beatrice Arthur's best friend in "Maude". It was this role that led her to fame and fortune, but after the series ended Rue discovered she was flat broke from one of her husbands demanding he be given half of her earnings and holdings, thanks to California law.

However, Rue persevered and snagged her greatest role, as well as an Emmy, for playing Blanche on NBC's "The Golden Girls" that became her greatest success. She discusses how she got the job, how the producers wanted her to play Rose, why the series ended, and the love for her fellow co-stars and director Terry Hughes.

I enjoyed "My First Five Husbands..." immensely and had it read in two settings.

God Bless you Rue...we will never forget you!

Rue McClanahan biography
Of course, I belong to the "Golden Girls" cult--loved the book.Fun and touching.

An excellent look into the life of an honest woman
Rue was a truth teller.If hearing how she thought and felt is a problem, you should probably grow up a little.If you're concerned that she didn't attain your ideal of the Cultured Southern Woman, consider growing up even more.

If you want to take a stroll through the garden that was the life of Rue McClanahan, then this is the book for you.You can hear her speaking in every paragraph, and this leaves me to wonder if she was such a talented writer, if she hired an exquisite ghost writer, or if she went through a dozen editors to finally produce this wonderful book.

Regardless, this is a book you will not willingly pause or put down.You'll find yourself back in it with neither a though nor care to the surrounding world.

A fascinating life
This is a very interesting book if you are a Rue fan.I was disapointed in some of her personal behavior...you wouldn't know she ever attended church in regard to her sex life.She had some of Blanche in her without the exageration and self love.

I was glad to see her prepare for a life of show business; she did well, and fortunately had a family that was always there for her in the tough times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun read, well written!
Rue McClanahan was an American original. If you only knew her from her portayal of Blanche Devereaux in "The Golden Girls", then you didn't really get to see her impressive acting range.

BUT. If you liked her as Blanche, you'll like this book. Rue tells her story in a very Blanche-like tone without going over the top with it. I think that it's just that she and Blanche were pretty similar, not surprising when you consider how long they were "together".

She'll surprise you, though, with her depth and her perspective on many things. One of my favorite passages in the book is near the end when, facing her own aging, she writes: "Youth is not a time of life, it's a state of mind. It's not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips, and supple knees, it's force of will, quality of imagination, vigor of emotions. It's the freshness from the deep springs of life, and the idea that every day God is saying to you, "May I have this dance?"

See? Doesn't that sound like something Blanche would say?

If it seems to heavy for you, just re-read the book's title; that ought to balance it out. ... Read more

Product Description
Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: John Hinckley, Jr., Mark Gastineau, Jermaine Gresham, Rue Mcclanahan, Robert A. Hefner, Jr., Charles Coe, Rosella Hightower, Kris Steele, Terry Cline, Joel Hefley, Marie Muchmore, William K. Brewster, Joe Mcqueen, Max Boydston, Eric Fields, Tim Gordon, Thomas Benson, Ed Phillips. Excerpt:Charles Robert "Charlie" Coe (October 26, 1923 May 16, 2001) was an American golfer who is considered by many to be one of the greatest amateur golfers in history. A two-time U.S. Amateur winner, Coe never turned professional, instead choosing to spend time with his wife and family. Born in Ardmore, Oklahoma , Coe served as a pilot during World War II , and later attended the University of Oklahoma from 1946-48. He won the Big Seven Conference championship all three years. Coe won the U.S. Amateur in 1949, beating Rufus King 11 ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Jim Inhofe, Phil McGraw, Paul Harvey, Rue McClanahan, S. E. Hinton, Mary Kay Place, Sam Rutigliano, Scott Pruitt, Jim Finks, Ben Graf Henneke, Craig Campbell, Drew Edmondson, Howard Barnett, Jr., Douglas Merrill, Robbie Aristodemo, Dominic Cervi, Daniel H. Wilson, Dennis Letts, Tareq Al-Suwaidan, David Hall, Wade Williams, Myles Munroe, Shana Dale, Steve Rogers, James Westphal, Gailard Sartain, Gail Farrell, Louis W. Ballard, Bob St. Clair, Tad Jones, Hank Haney, John Ford, Gordon Matthews, Chris Clements, T. J. Rubley, Glenn Dobbs, Chris Thurmond, Myles W. Scoggins, Sarah Haskins, Shea Seals, Mike Morgan, James Allen Williamson, Bingo Smith, Tyrel Lacey, Kim Manning, Bill LaFortune, Rick Arrington, Vu Tran, Jim King, Anurag Mathur, Dale A. Lunsford, Diego Camacho, Rodney W. Sippel, Ryan Dunlap, Orville Edwin Langley, Harry Volkman, Steve Harris, Bob Losure, Jason Staurovsky, Robert E. Lavender,. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 223. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe (pronounced ; born November 17, 1934) is an American politician from Oklahoma. He is a member of the Republican Party and currently serves as the senior Senator from Oklahoma. A former the State Representative and Senator, Inhofe served eight years in the United States Congress before election to the Senate in 1994. Inhofe is among the most vocal global warming skeptics in the US Congress. He is also known for his general opposition to LGBT rights and his legislative efforts to make English the national language of the United States. Inhofe was born in Des Moines, Iowa and moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was a child. He was a member of the Class of 1953 at Tulsa Central High School, and served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958. In 1959, Inhofe married Kay Kirkp...http://booksllc.net/?id=380802 ... Read more

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Chapters: Will Rogers, Toby Keith, Brad Henry, Dave Mccurdy, Dan Boren, Rue Mcclanahan, Brad Carson, Thomas Gore, Enoch Kelly Haney, Gary Sherrer, Elmer Thomas, Jim Roth, Maxine Horner, R. C. Pruett, Richard Lerblance, Gomer Griffith Smith. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 112. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers (November 4, 1879 August 15, 1935) was a Cherokee cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer and actor. Known as Oklahoma's favorite son, Rogers was born to a prominent Indian Territory family. He traveled around the world three times, made 71 movies (50 silent films and 21 "talkies"), wrote more than 4,000 nationally-syndicated newspaper columns, and became a world-famous figure. By the mid-1930s, Rogers was adored by the American people, and was the top-paid movie star in Hollywood at the time. Rogers died in 1935 with aviator Wiley Post, when their small airplane crashed near Barrow, Alaska Territory. He was the leading political wit of the Progressive Era. By 1905 he had introduced vaudeville to his famous rope act. Success in the Ziegfeld Follies led in 1918 to the first of his many movie contracts. After 1920 he merged a writing career with his acting and became one of the foremost wits of the era. He also ventured into radio, crusaded for aviation expansion, and provided Americans with first-hand accounts of his world travels. His uncanny ability to make Americans laugh at themselves earned him the title, "prince of wit and wisdom." His earthy anecdotes and folksy style allowed him to poke fun at gangsters, prohibition, politicians, government programs, and a host of other topics in a way that could be readily appreciated by a national audience, with no one offended. His short aphorisms, couched in humorous ter...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=160575 ... Read more

Product Description
Salty Creek is a sleepy Georgia town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Strangers rarely enter their midst. When the mysterious Mr. Oto arrives in the spring of 1939, he immediately becomes the talk of the town.

A quiet, unassuming Japanese man with a secret history of his own, Mr. Oto meets Sophie soon after arriving in Salty Creek and immediately falls in love with her.Sophie, having lost her true love during World War I, spent her youth caring for her mother and maiden aunts.Now that they are gone, she has resigned herself to a lonely, passionless existence. That all begins to change as she finds herself drawn to Mr. Oto.

When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Mr. Oto's newfound life comes under siege and Sophie must decide how much she is willing to risk for a future with the man who has brought such joy into her life.

Sophie and the Rising Sun tells an unforgettable story of a time when the world lost its innocence-and of a town that finds its redemption in an extraordinary love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Sweet story.
This was a delightful story showing small southern towns like they were and still are in many areas.

I like the way she head hopped in first person giving a more personal view of the tale. My favorite was Anne and I love how she got the old bitty in the end. A great read.

A sweet romance between a Japanese man and a white woman.

Lyrical Story
Augusta Trobaugh's prose is as lyrical and carefully honed as the crane painting Mr. Oto creates of his beloved Sophie. A beautiful story with warmth and magic. I heartily recommend it.

Interesting narrative on a love story
Sophie and the Rising Sun is a love story between Sophie and Mr. Otto that takes place in the peak of America entering WWII (with the bombing of Pearl Harbor) in the South, as told through the eyes of an almost stranger.This interesing perspective on a blossoming relationship adds to the complexities of the story and makes it much more intresting and mysterous.While everything seems to be stacked against these two characters ever finding happiness, through the racism, deep southern tradions, war, personal demons, and age, they come together and give each other companionship.

The narrative does switch so the reader is not left completely in the dark and dependent on strickly their imagination.But when told through Miss Anne, the traditions and character development really shines through.This contemporary story leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions, much like Miss Anne does.

I enjoyed this book a lot!It's not your average love story, there's no sex scenes, no dramatic twists and turns, no mystery other than the charater's own persnal history, but there is excitment and anticipation.This gives the reader a glimpse into people's reactions to historical events without loosing the story.The metaphors are beautiful and the symbolism is easy to follow.There is a lot of tradition rooted into this story and it makes for an easy and interesint read.If you enjoy the contemporary open-ended stories filled with emotion and description, then I would definitely recommend this!

At Once Subtly Wrenching and Heartwarming
In Sophie and the Rising Sun, Augusta Trobaugh has written one of the most wrenching and yet heartwarming novels I've ever read.Many of the reviewers have already given away too much of the story, but even if you know what happens in the novel, I urge you to read it.Ms. Trobaugh has an amazing talent for hinting at what's coming and then delivering ever so much more.I found the characters finely drawn, the humor even more effective in its subtlety.Being a southern woman of a certain age living in a small town, I can tell you that she nailed the pettiness, the bigotry and the cruelty in the guise of Christian generosity that abounds in some towns, just as she showed the kindness and courage of those who stand up for what they believe is right.

As I was reading Sophie, I was reminded again and again of two of my favorite novels:The Last Samurai and To Kill a Mockingbird.Sophie has some of the enduring characteristics of each novel, and yet it is wholly original.It's a short book - 213 pages - and yet it contains more sensitivity and wisdom than most novels of any length.To say that the novel held my interest would be an understatement.I picked it up last evening and didn't put it down (except to sleep a bit) until I had turned the last page.As I did, I had that happy-sad feeling of regret that it had ended and joy that it existed and that I could read it again at leisure, without flipping the pages frantically to see what happened next.Ms. Trobaugh deserves whatever praise she receives for this book.I believe Sophie and the Rising Sun is a must-read.I'll be buying her other titles this afternoon right here on Amazon.

delicate as a paper crane
Simply, yet beautifully, written and poignant, SOPHIE AND THE RISING SUN -- a narrative, in the plaintive voice of various characters -- takes place in a sleepy southern town in Georgia.

Sophie, a refined lady and middle-aged spinster, finds she has depleted her "young and beautiful years" caring for her elderly mother and aunts, after her beau, Henry, never returned from WWI. Finds herself quite resigned to the idea of never finding love at her age, Sophie, finds solace in painting by the town?s beautiful river, and meeting with her dear friend Miss Anne -- that is, until Grover Oto moves into town, under mysterious circumstances.

Gentlemanly and kind, Mr. Oto, an American-born man of Japanese decent, is soon commissioned as Miss Anne's gardener. Despite being limited to mere greetings in passing, Oto and Sophie form a suppressed friendship. Discovering they both share a passion for creating art, they meet weekly at the river, painting in comfortable silence as their connection to each other flourishes. However, between the antics of Ruth - the prejudiced town meddler - and the rigid racial and social structure of the time, it is almost guaranteed that the unconventional duo of Sophie and Mr. Oto will be expected to keep a formal distance. Forced into hiding from the enraged townsfolk, after the Pearl Harbour bombing, Oto experiences the full consequences of the attack, as Sophie and Miss Anne courageously support him. Will he and Sophie ever be able to realize their true feelings for each other, in a society that is so obstinate regarding their cultural differences?

Through the words and reactions of her characters, the author offers a unique perspective of the events at Pearl Harbor. In its own way, the entire substance of the novel serves as a social commentary on the war's psychological fall-out -- including the malicious treatment (thinly veiled as patriotism) of Japanese immigrants, American citizens, living in United States.

And yet, the elegiac cadences of Trobaugh's prose, coupled with her tender imagery and ambiance, adds an emotional richness to this touching account. Lovely for a light, but unforgettable, weekend read, SOPHIE AND THE RISING SUN Sun is highly recommended by this reviewer. ... Read more