I Feel So Unnecessary

1. Could you please tell us a little about your book? The Rockin’ Chair is a heartfelt novel. Think Mitch Albom meets Nicholas Sparks…in heaven on earth. Synopsis : Memories are the ultimate contradiction. They can warm us on our coldest days – or they can freeze a loved one out of our lives forever. The McCarthy family has a trove of warm memories. Of innocent first kisses. Of sumptuous family meals. Of wondrous lessons learned at the foot of a rocking chair. But they also have had their share of icy ones. Of words that can never be unsaid. Of choices that can never be unmade. Of actions that can never be undone. Following the death of his beloved wife, John McCarthy – Grandpa John – calls his family back home. It is time for them to face the memories they have made, both warm and cold. Only then can they move beyond them and into the future. A rich portrait of a family at a crossroad, THE ROCKIN' CHAIR is Steven Manchester’s most heartfelt and emotionally engaging no...

"Lisa," my grandfather Bobo asked as we were watching the news yesterday evening about Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, "Do you remember when King was shot?" "No, I wasn't alive then." "Wasn't alive then?" "No, I hadn't been born yet." He said, "I remember where I was, I was out rabbit hunting with Jake and when I got home they told me he had been shot." What about him trying to make me older than what I am? Even though I was born just a few years after it occurred. But, I'm not in my 40s...yet. Unfortunately, there are two tragedies that occurred during my lifetime that I do remember: The Challenger space shuttle and September 11. I was in school for both happenings- for the Challenger I was an 11 year old 6th grader and we were watching at my school and for 9/11 I was in school again (college) and my English instructor made the announcement. Never had I been surrounded by such quietness. Everything went st...