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Marian Beaman

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My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir Kindle Edition

by Marian Beaman (Author), Clifford Beaman (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 26 ratings

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Take an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage in author Marian Beaman's My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship.
Discover how the author and her husband learn the art of the argument with explosions both literal and metaphorical. Observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment.
This volume contains excerpts from autograph books and diaries of the early 1900s, treasured family recipes, original artwork, and restored photographs—the legacy of multiple generations as two American families merge, one from the East, the other from the West. The author connects the dots of her life backwards, with detailed reverse engineering of events to discover meaning in her life as a wife.
Readers of Marian's first memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl can especially relate to her insider narrative, a closeup of one couple's companionable union.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Expect to laugh and cry and experience many emotions in between as you take an insider look into a long marriage between opposites: plain Mennonite girl from the East coast merging with off-beat pioneer type from the West. Sparks fly, sometimes igniting arguments; other times finding harmony. Discover how their early commitment is sustained by mutual love and trust. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

Take an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage in author Marian Beaman's My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship.
Discover how the author and her husband learn the art of the argument with explosions both literal and metaphorical. Observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment.
This volume contains excerpts from autograph books and diaries of the early 1900s, treasured family recipes, original artwork, and restored photographs—the legacy of multiple generations as two American families merge, one from the East, the other from the West. The author connects the dots of her life backwards, with detailed reverse engineering of events to discover meaning in her life as a wife.
Readers of Marian's first memoir, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl can especially relate to her insider narrative, a closeup of one couple's companionable union. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

About the Author

Award-winning teacher-turned-storyteller, Marian Beaman is enjoying her encore career as a writer. A former college professor, the author records the charms and challenges of growing up plain in mid-twentieth century Pennsylvania in Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. This memoir tells the story of her transformation from a provincial young woman in a sheltered environment who finds her authentic self. Along the way, she discovers a path toward forgiveness of childhood abuse. She also shows how one's growth can include respect for the past.

My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir takes an intimate look into one couple's fifty-plus-year marriage. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Readers can observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This sequel includes curated diary entries and treasured recipes while it also encourages reflection. The author blogs regularly at marianbeaman.com
Cliff Beaman, who holds a master's degree from Florida State University, has enjoyed a varied career as both artist and educator. Early on, he developed an art assembly program entitled "The History of Art," performed in schools throughout southeastern United States. As a graphic artist, he designed corporate logos and used his cartooning skills to create training programs for various businesses. For more than three decades, his multi-media art assembly programs, American Art Assemblies, have inspired young people across the nation with educational themes created on an easel, accompanied by exciting music and special lighting effects. You can find video clips and descriptions of Cliff's performances at americanartassemblies.com

Cliff as storyteller has written and illustrated The Boy Who Grew Too Small and created art work for several other authors. He has provided special artistic designs for his wife Marian's blog posts, along with illustrations for both of her memoirs, Mennonite Daughter and My Checkered Life. The couple resides in Jacksonville, Florida. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BXQ3JZVK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ BookBaby; 1st edition (March 6, 2023)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 6, 2023
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 27712 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 315 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,783,731 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #23,885 in Memoirs (Kindle Store)
- #80,609 in Memoirs (Books)

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4.6 26 ratings

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Award-winning teacher turned story teller, Marian Beaman is enjoying her encore career as a writer. A former college professor, the author records the charms and challenges of growing up plain in mid-twentieth century Pennsylvania in Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl. This memoir tells the story of her transformation from a provincial young woman in a sheltered environment who finds her authentic self. Along the way, she discovers a path toward forgiveness of childhood abuse. She also shows how one’s growth can include respect for the past.

My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir takes an intimate look into one couple’s fifty-plus-year marriage. Using a quilt motif, the author stitches together stories that make up the fabric of their daily lives: the clash of cultures, crisis in a travel trailer, surviving a robbery, and enduring financial hardship. Readers can observe how they find common ground through their shared faith and commitment. This sequel includes curated diary entries and treasured recipes. The author blogs regularly at marianbeaman.com

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Lorrie DeFrank

Marriage memoir revealing and entertaining

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023

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It was nice to visit the Longenecker family again. I’ve missed them since reading Marian Longenecker Beaman’s first book, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl, three years ago. While her new book, My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir, focuses on her 56-year union with Cliff Beaman, it contains plenty of flashbacks to Aunt Ruthie, Grandma Fannie, Mother Ruth, Father Ray and other relatives from her youth in Southcentral Pennsylvania, where I also am from. That familiarity drew me into it even more, I’m sure. Checkered Life kept me turning pages as earnestly as Mennonite Daughter did. Now much more fancy than plain, former college professor Marian shares adventures and misadventures of her married life with professional cartoonist Cliff, who illustrated many pages and wrote some of his own remembrances. The Beamans blended cultures, raised two children and shared important values, but they didn’t always agree. Readers will relate to the marital conflicts and collaborations. I highly recommend this entertaining read and revealing memoir.

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John

A memoir

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2023

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First of all, let me say that the title of this book is misleading. When I purchased it, I expected to read about conflict and difficulties incurred during the author’s fifty plus year marriage, how they managed to get through them, and lessons learned. I was curious to compare them with my marriage. Instead, the first 30% of the book talks about the authors’ relatives and events that occurred during their time – some overlapping from her first book. Here, Marian cites diary excerpts, favorite recipes of dishes prepared by her grandmother, poems, and photos of those discussed.

She then writes about how she and Cliff met, their wedding, and honeymoon. As with any newlyweds, there are financial difficulties and hardships, and Cliff takes his business on the road, leaving Marian alone during the weekdays, which soon leads to mental issues.

I enjoyed the author’s first book, Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl as I was intrigued by her strict religion and upbringing. This story is a continuation of that book, whereas many of the events taking place center mostly around the author; there are also a few personal experiences included about Cliff, too.

Something I’ve not seen in other books is that the author ends several chapters of this memoir with a call to action for personal reflection. Often asking if readers experienced something similar to what was just read. Some examples: Were you ever diagnosed with a serious illness, worried about a wayward child, having an unexpected bill wreck your finances, have neighborhood changes that affected you, and debates about toilet paper. Unfortunately, readers are unable to cite a response.

I liked reading about their trip to the Ukraine, seeing Cliff’s illustrations, and many of the photos throughout the story. I also found the stitching together of narratives easy to read and sometimes funny as the author demonstrates her sense of humor. I found neither typos nor formatting errors but felt an overuse of scripture verses.

All in all, readers who enjoyed her first book, “Mennonite Daughter”, will enjoy reading “My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir“ if they are so inclined to continue following the author’s life through the next five decades. I gave this story four stars.

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Susan G. Weidener

The Life and Times of Family and Marriage

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023

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Marian Beaman’s new memoir, My Checkered Life, A Marriage Memoir, is a delightful romp into the life and times of a very special couple…Marian and her husband, Cliff. This, her second memoir—the first being Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl about her upbringing and the challenges growing up in a religious community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania—“connects the dots” as she takes the reader into all that comprises the intricate fabric of family and marriage over half a century.

Although full disclosure requires me to say that I played a part as her developmental editor for these memoirs, it was Marian’s consummate skill as a writer and her keen sense of attention to detail and people’s idiosyncrasies that shine through in many stories and reflections, some added after my initial read of the manuscript.

In My Checkered Life, writing prompts for writers to pen their thoughts after reading vignettes about growing up, witnessing changes in neighborhoods, and sharing stories with younger generations fill the pages. For that reason alone, I recommend this book as a sort of “tutorial” if you will for memoir and those interested in preserving a family legacy who want to jumpstart writing of their own.

The book is divided into four parts: Heritage and Home, Marital Happiness and Hassles, Hilarity and High Emotion and Harmony in Marriage and in Life. Each section contains numerous reflections and stories, many culled over the years from Marian’s hugely popular blog, Plain and Fancy. The humor and the pathos shine through from placing a lighted candle in a glass curio cabinet for a romantic ambiance (you might guess what happens) to reflecting on her “down” periods as a young wife and mother. Lessons learned are shared by the older Marian: “Fortunately, I have never had to be hospitalized for the “down” feeling but I sympathize with those who have …. Nowadays when I fall into a negative mood, I galvanize myself into action and go into a housecleaning or cooking spree. Sometimes, I take a long walk or catch lunch with friends. Doing for others is also a good tonic. Sending a greeting card or chatting with a friend takes the focus off myself.”

As in their marriage, the book is a collaborative effort with whimsical and clever original drawings by professional artist husband, Cliff, interspersed throughout as well as his book cover design. So, sit back with a cup of coffee or tea and savor the pages as a writer looks back on her life, her family, her heritage as a Mennonite woman, the challenges of marriage, and, of course, her love for Cliff.

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Darlene Foster

A feel-good read about marriage and life.

Reviewed in Canada on March 17, 2023

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A follow-up to Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl, which I loved, this book follows the author's life and marriage. We feel her frustration living in a small camper trailer with two toddlers and a diaper pail. But it was her strong family ties that saved her from totally falling apart. The book is heartfelt and emotional as well as humorous. We follow the author through exploding curio cabinets, a brouhaha in London and petty arguments. Like all long-term marriages, differences are ultimately overlooked and the love remains constant. Throughout the book are cartoons drawn by Marian's talented husband, Cliff Beaman, as well as quotes from well-known authors, songwriters and the Bible. This is not a biography as such but more a book of life lessons that the author has learned along the way. I especially like the idea of marriage being compared to a checkered quilt. A feel-good read.

Pat Garcia

MY CHECKERED LIFE: A MARRIAGE MEMOIR BY Marian Beaman, Reviewed by Pat Garcia

Reviewed in Germany on September 26, 2023

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I must admit after reading this book, I saw it as a textbook study of a good marriage and not as a classical memoir. Therefore, I based my review solely on how it came across to me.

With divorces increasing and fewer people getting married because of fear of commitment, I find My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir to be an inspiring read that may help some people take the plunge by marrying or encouraging people who are married and find their marriages falling apart.

My Checkered Life: A Marriage Memoir is not the standard memoir I expected. It is based on a Christian foundation that kaleidoscope, a win-win situation discovered between two people who fell in love even though they were different, and they made a vow to stay together. They have been married for fifty-six years.

The book starts with an introduction. The author tells us her intentions by describing a movie about quilting, and she gives a view of the struggle to find the topic for her second book.

This is also a partner project where we meet Marian Beaman, borne Longnecker, family again. We are privy to new situations she discovered after clearing out her mother's and aunt's houses.

The book is divided into parts, and at the end of most chapters, the author asks questions that will make you think about yourself and your marriage.

Cliff Beaman excellently illustrates the book. We get to know the man from the other part of the western United States, who takes her out of the country and leads her into a life she is unsure about. Marian talks about meeting his family and the impression that her mother-in-law made on her. I like how she used quotes and the Scriptures from the Bible to reinforce what she thinks it takes to do what she writes about.

Not only will you see Cliff's illustrations and portraits, but he also talks about his family and gives his viewpoints on their marriage and how he sees himself.

This is a well-written chronological build-up of two people who have been married for fifty-six years. The book challenges us to answer questions after the chapters and apply the answers to our relationships.

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