Ask Me Anything

A Memoir

Non-Fiction - Audiobook
195 Pages
Reviewed on 08/12/2014
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Susan Marg was used to writing alone. Then she began working with Marie Rudisill on her memoir Ask Me Anything. Best known as “The Fruitcake Lady” from her appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Rudisill went mouth to mouth with anyone who asked her a question or sought help with a problem. She always had an answer on the tip of her tongue. Marg says, “Marie planned the course we were to follow, and I was only too pleased to go where she led. She had a fascinating life.”
Marg’s other books include Las Vegas Weddings: A Brief History, Celebrity Gossip, Everything Elvis, and the Complete Chapel Guide, published by HarperCollins and Hollywood or Bust: Movie Stars Dish on Following their Dreams, Making it Big, and Surviving in Tinseltown. Both have received awards and recognition for excellence. Her interest in the entertainment business was honed during her years spent in advertising when knowing what was hot and who was "in" came with the territory. She is from Cleveland, Ohio, and she has a Midwesterner's easy-going, friendly disposition that even fifteen years living on the East Coast and working in the telecommunications industry couldn't quell. Susan now lives in San Diego with her husband, James C. Simmons, who is also a writer/historian.
On her blog, "The More Things Change..." at susanmarg.com, Susan reflects on history, her story, true stories and fiction, considering the quirky, crazy things we once said and did compared to the quirky, crazy way we live today. She comments on gossip, too, what we talked about way back when and who captivates us currently, noting that the more things change the more they remain the same.
What Susan says about herself: I'm a writer, a reader, a television watcher, a moviegoer, a theater attendee, and a museum visitor. I believe our stories make us who we are. What are yours?

    Book Review

Reviewed by Cheryl E. Rodriguez for Readers' Favorite

Ask Me Anything is a wonderfully delightful memoir about the life of Marie Rudisill, better known as The Fruitcake Lady. Susan Marg teamed up with Mrs. Rudisill to chronicle the events of this feisty and outspoken woman's life. Born and raised in the South during the early 1900s, Marie’s family values and roots run deep. “Being a Southerner means taking care of your family.” Marie became famous in two ways. First of all, she was the aunt of Truman Capote; secondly, she was the renowned Fruitcake Lady on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. While on the show, the audience asked her all kinds of questions. But Beware! Marie’s motto: “Ask Me Anything, I’ll tell you what I think... If you can’t handle the answer, you shouldn't ask the question.” Marie Rudisill's memoir is bursting with real-life escapades. Ask Me Anything overflows with delicious wit and candor-filled nuggets of truth.

Marie Rudisill “tells it like it is” in her memoir, Ask Me Anything. Susan Marg co-authored this charming story, stating, “It is hard to say no to Marie.” Being a book of memories, it is written solely from the author’s point of view. Ask Me Anything captures the heart and soul of Mrs. Rudisill. Each story flows with smart humor, revealing analogies, metaphoric phrases and sensory descriptions. The diversity of characters and family members that helped shape her life and friends that accompanied Marie in her life were described with sentimental detail. Marie’s life is portrayed eloquently; each chapter is full of breath, fragrance, and tasty morsels of knowledge. This book is written realistically so that at times I felt I was sitting at a table, sipping coffee and eating pound cake, and listening to her endless tales of life in the South. As a reader, I was drawn into Marie Rudisill’s life story. After reading, Ask Me Anything, I can truly call Marie Rudisill my friend.

Mamta Madhavan

Ask Me Anything: A Memoir by Marie Rudisill and Susan Marg is an exciting memoir which gives readers a peek into the life of Marie Rudisill. Known as The Fruitcake Lady from 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', Marie Rudisill was notorious for being rude and brash, but at the same time funny and feisty. She always had an answer for all questions and this book speaks more about the person and the personality that she was until she passed away aged 95. The book also speaks about her personal life where her family was important to her and how falling out with her nephew really hurt her.

Marie shares with readers glimpses about her mixed-up and crazy families. Throughout the memoir, she freely gives the advice for which she is known. The book has captured her real life personality along with her television persona, which adds color to the memoir. The book also has more details about her television life which might interest many readers. Ask The Fruitcake Lady anything and she will have an answer for it. The memoir is simple and honest, and strikes a chord in the hearts of readers with its authenticity. The Fruitcake Lady comes across as a warm and likable personality. Her love for Alabama, though she moved out from there to settle down in Florida, is evident from this memoir. It is well written without being too dramatic, while expressing the events and happenings in Marie's life.

Jack Magnus

Ask Me Anything is a memoir written by Marie Rudisill with Susan Marg. Marie Rudisill is known to late night television watchers as the Fruitcake Lady. Her letter, written in 2000 to Jay Leno, defending the honor of the fruitcake, prompted his invitation to her to appear on The Tonight Show. She was 89 years old at the time. Her appearance was such a success that she was invited back again and again. She taught celebrities how to make fruitcakes and would answer just about any question posed by members of the audience. When the trip out to the West Coast became too difficult for Rudisill, Leno would send out a crew to do her segments at her home. Rudisill was a product of the old South, and this memoir is filled with stories of her life as a child in Monroeville, Alabama. When her father died after an accident, her cousin Jenny took in the widow and her five children. Rudisill’s mother also died several years after, and Jenny raised the three older sisters as her own. Jenny was a self-made woman who built a small millinery business into a thriving department store, and built the rambling house with extensive gardens where she, her siblings and their young cousins lived. Co-author Marg worked extensively with Rudisill on this memoir until Rudisill's death in 2006.

Marie Rudisill’s memoir, Ask Me Anything, is blunt, outspoken and charming, all at once. I immediately felt at home reading her story, even if I did cringe sometimes at some of her statements. Her stories of her childhood in the big house with the flamboyant, and rather alarming, Jenny and her other cousins are marvelous, especially the kitchen wars and the legendary bullwhip Jenny carried around. Rudisill was also Truman Capote’s aunt and she considered him her favorite nephew. Her stories of their friendship and later falling out were parts of Ask Me Anything that I particularly enjoyed. Rudisill and co-author, Marg, are a wonderful writing team. The memoir reads beautifully, with Rudisill’s voice coming forth loudly and clearly, even if she was in her mid-nineties as they worked together. While she’s no longer with us, she’s still very much here in spirit as evinced in Ask Me Anything. I very much enjoyed getting to know Marie Rudisill through her memoir and highly recommend it.