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Stories from Candyland
by Candy Spelling
St. Martin's Press
ISBN 978-0-312-57070-5
Published March 2009 - Hardcover - 248 pages - $25.95

This is Mama Spelling trying to keep up appearances by retaliating (for lack of a better word) to her daughter Tori's books and television program, in my opinion.  A better person or anyone with a modicum of maturity, would have kept her mouth shut, especially in public.  Ms. Spelling Senior says about her and her late husband: "...but Aaron and I were very hands-on parents.  We tried so hard to be perfect parents, but found there's no such thing."  She writes in her book how they met and married and repeats umpteen times just how prolific a television producer/writer he was.  She also delivers so many inane observations about her life, I nearly puked.  Like how she learned what "webisodes" was, her "tiny bathroom", the excessive quotes from the Dick and Jane books, the song lyrics, her using her dogs to choose appraisers and real estate agents, etc.  I kid you not.  She starts off her thanks in her book by thanking her dogs first, then her editor and other publishing staffers, her friends, and tells her son Randy that she loves him.  She doesn't tell Tori she loves her as well.  The woman makes herself sound totally loopy.  For instance, in chapter three she talks about her collection of hand-painted fans that "amaze and delight" her and which she visits daily.  There is also her collection of Steuben figures about which she makes up stories, and where she sees herself walking down a path in one of her paintings.  And this: "While I was going to design college to design how things should look,...."  What does that mean?  This is the caliber of her book.  Pitiful.  Her writing is staccato in nature and at times you can't believe she just wrote/said that.  If you're brave enough to insult your intelligence, read this drivel and see for yourself.  What does this mean: "We never yelled or screamed at each other, and rarely had arguments.  Aaron liked to show me off".  What is she saying?  There is such a thing as "too much money", especially if you have three gift wrapping rooms, a doll museum, and a 17,000 foot attic in which you have a doll designing room and a hair salon among other stuff, and I mean STUFF.  You get where I'm going.  She needs the house she's in; just look at what she collects - see pages 175 to 177.
Questions: The recipe for Mushroom Barley Soup - how long do you simmer the turkey carcass?  Once you've added the carrots, celery, mushrooms, and barley, don't you have to cook it?
Recipe for Candy Spelling's Popovers - 400 F if using glass.  Shouldn't this be gas?  Apple Pie - do you really serve this with ice cream or cheddar cheese?  Icing for the Red Velvet Cake - do you really use flour in the icing?  Cheese Pie - at what temperature do you bake the crust?  Cream Cheese Frosting - what size "box of powdered sugar" do you need?
If you can bring yourself to investigate further, visit her website.
Conclusion - The quality of the writing is infantile and the content entirely feeble.  It reads like a hyper six-year-old telling an adult stories of her life.  Simple.  I cannot believe this book wasn't put through an editor's mill or that it was published as "adult" reading.  I now fully understand where Tori's coming from.