From Publishers Weekly
When asked to write her first memoir, Lynn was in her early 30s: "I hadn't never done nothing with my life except sing and have babies, and I didn't think I had a life to talk about." But Coal Miner's Daughter, the story of the dirt-poor Kentucky girl who married at 14, had four of her six children before she was 21 and went on to become one of country music's most successful recording artists, captured the American imagination. In this follow-up, Lynn mostly focuses on her marriage and the trials and pleasures of Nashville stardom, including fond recollections of friends like Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynnette. Lynn admits that the passing of her husband, Doo drunk, abusive, womanizing and yet her most loyal, trusted companion in 1996, freed her to write more openly. There are no stunning revelations here, rather a series of small, genuine ones about family and career. Though her grammar may make purists flinch ("I thought me and Doo was no longer husband and wife just because he throwed me out"), Lynn's literary voice is as natural and endearing as her songs. Many tales have a conspiratorial tone, and Lynn is quite willing to incriminate herself ("I ain't proud of that story or this next one, but this one has such a good ending I got to tell it anyway"). Honest and always entertaining, Lynn's memoir should delight country music fans and perhaps win her some new ones. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In her best-selling Coal Miner's Daughter, Lynn allowed us to watch her grow from a na‹ve mountain girl in Butcher Holler, KY, into a country superstar. Husband Doolittle "Doo" Lynn played a major role in that earlier memoir, and it was his death in August 1996, as well as the passing of several close friends, that made her realize that her life story deserved a sequel. Here, the Country Music Hall of Fame member sets us down on the porch and talks more about Doo (his alcoholism and womanizing in particular), her own struggles with bacterial pneumonia and other health conditions, and the deaths of her mother, siblings, and son, Jack Benny. With her homespun, folksy voice, Lynn also reminisces about many of her friends Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Cal Smith, Ernest Tubb, Faron Young, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette and thanks the Wilburn Brothers for taking her under their wing and helping launch her career. Humorous and honest, Lynn gives us that rare opportunity to know what kind of strength it takes to stand by one's man (in spite of Doo's boozing and cheating, she loves him to this day) and make it through the night. Recommended for all libraries. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
A good deal has changed since Lynn's mega-selling previous autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter (1976), but not her down-home style. "Ain't nobody ever gonna sing like [Hank Williams] again," she says. "And they ain't." Obviously, her good taste in country music hasn't changed either, though her coauthor has. Veteran country-music autobiography collaborator Cox is in for George Vecsey, and still the relaxed syntax and pointed use of country-fried expressions sound like pure Loretta. Lynn devotes a goodly measure of space to working out her feelings about her late husband, Dooley. She misses him dearly but is frank about their life together, which was famous for their rows. In addition to Doo, Loretta talks about many of her fellow country stars, such as Tammy Wynette and George Jones (talk about stormy relationships!). She calls Conway Twitty "my best male friend of all time" and sings the praises of producer Randy Scruggs, bluegrass banjo ace Earl Scruggs' son. One word of caution: though reading Lynn's sincerity-drenched testimony will be pure pleasure for country fans, it may induce the overwhelming urge to hear her music--and Wynette's, Jones', Scruggs', et confreres'. So check your holdings; this stuff ain't on the radio no more. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

Loretta Lynn has nine gold albums and is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters￯﾿ﾽ Hall of Fame, but many readers know her best through her memoir Coal Miner￯﾿ﾽs Daughter, a 1976 No. 1 bestseller that became an Oscar-winning movie. Borrowing its title from her signature 1964 song, this memoir brings Lynn￯﾿ﾽs rocky story up to date, recounting her till-death-do-us-part relationship with Doo, the man she married at 13 and remained with until his anguishing demise by alcohol. The gritty existence of the girl from Butcher￯﾿ﾽs Hollow (she was a grandmother before her 30th birthday!) is balanced by healthy doses of Kentucky folk humor and a deep love of the music that made her famous.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Loretta Lynn was immortalized to millions of Americans through the book and film Coal Miner's Daughter as the future country star who married at thirteen and braved indescribable hardship and poverty. Now, the undisputed queen of country music goes beyond the early years she chronicled in her first memoir to explore the thirty-five subsequent years of her life - the complete tale of a star who was woman enough to rise in triumph. The book's title is taken from Lynn's hit song "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man" - and in this riveting account, Loretta proves why she has served as a source of inspiration to countless American women." In Still Woman Enough Loretta writes candidly about the price of fame and the stresses of stardom, telling of friends and family she's loved and lost along the way, all in her signature friendly, down-home style. The backdrop for this inspirational story is the tumultuous life of the most honored woman in the history of country music. Loretta shares secrets that are not in her first book, discussing in much more detail her move from Butcher Holler, Kentucky, to faraway Washington state, where she had her fourth child by age eighteen and where her husband forced her to sing in local taverns. She tells of her own encounters with domestic violence and shares the ordeals that rocked her home - domestic explosions that often occurred before her terrified children. Loretta, now a grandmother, chronicles the passionate, often volatile, but always enduring forty-eight-year relationship with her hard-drinking husband, Mooney - "one of the hardest love stories in the world."

FROM THE CRITICS

Wall Street Journal

Ms. Lynn knows how to tell a story on herself.

Booklist

Lynn's sincerity-drenched testimony will be pure pleasure for country fans.

Publishers Weekly

When asked to write her first memoir, Lynn was in her early 30s: "I hadn't never done nothing with my life except sing and have babies, and I didn't think I had a life to talk about." But Coal Miner's Daughter, the story of the dirt-poor Kentucky girl who married at 14, had four of her six children before she was 21 and went on to become one of country music's most successful recording artists, captured the American imagination. In this follow-up, Lynn mostly focuses on her marriage and the trials and pleasures of Nashville stardom, including fond recollections of friends like Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynnette. Lynn admits that the passing of her husband, Doo drunk, abusive, womanizing and yet her most loyal, trusted companion in 1996, freed her to write more openly. There are no stunning revelations here, rather a series of small, genuine ones about family and career. Though her grammar may make purists flinch ("I thought me and Doo was no longer husband and wife just because he throwed me out"), Lynn's literary voice is as natural and endearing as her songs. Many tales have a conspiratorial tone, and Lynn is quite willing to incriminate herself ("I ain't proud of that story or this next one, but this one has such a good ending I got to tell it anyway"). Honest and always entertaining, Lynn's memoir should delight country music fans and perhaps win her some new ones. (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In her best-selling Coal Miner's Daughter, Lynn allowed us to watch her grow from a na ve mountain girl in Butcher Holler, KY, into a country superstar. Husband Doolittle "Doo" Lynn played a major role in that earlier memoir, and it was his death in August 1996, as well as the passing of several close friends, that made her realize that her life story deserved a sequel. Here, the Country Music Hall of Fame member sets us down on the porch and talks more about Doo (his alcoholism and womanizing in particular), her own struggles with bacterial pneumonia and other health conditions, and the deaths of her mother, siblings, and son, Jack Benny. With her homespun, folksy voice, Lynn also reminisces about many of her friends Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Cal Smith, Ernest Tubb, Faron Young, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette and thanks the Wilburn Brothers for taking her under their wing and helping launch her career. Humorous and honest, Lynn gives us that rare opportunity to know what kind of strength it takes to stand by one's man (in spite of Doo's boozing and cheating, she loves him to this day) and make it through the night. Recommended for all libraries. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews