From PEOPLE Magazine
Click to enlarge
"The moment I will remember forever," writes Davis in The Long Goodbye, her memoir about her father Ronald Reagan's 9½-year battle with Alzheimer's disease, "is my mother sitting on a bar chair [in my kitchen] saying, 'I don't know how to be alone. I've never been alone.' She was fighting back tears, looking into a future that chills her with fear." With her book just hitting stores, Davis talks about how she and her mother, Nancy Reagan, are coping since the former President's death in June.
Q: How Is Your Mother Now?
A She is doing okay. The fact that she has a dog is helping a lot. My mother said to me, "You know, when I'm getting ready for bed, I have conversations with Dutchess. I tell her about the day." She never had an animal that was just hers. She is starting to visit with friends more; she's still interested in stem cell research and is very glad [California's] Proposition 71 won.
Are the Two of You in Close Touch? Yes. I call her at the end of every day. And I [visit her] every Sunday, sometimes more often.
Has She Read the Book?
She told me that reading it made her cry. But she paid me a real compliment. She said, "Normally I read very quickly. With your book I'm going slowly because I don't want it to end."
How Is Life Without Your Dad?
Losing a parent changes the whole fabric of your life. Even though we realize in childhood that our parents will someday die, we think it won't feel as strange and surprising as it ends up feeling.
You Write That You Regret the Years Your Political Differences Kept the Two of You Estranged. Do You Still?
I know I'm supposed to think those years were just part of the process. But if I'm really honest, I still flog myself. I still think I wasted a lot of my life.
How Do You Keep Your Father Alive?
I don't have to try. He just seems to always be there.
Judy Blume Trusted and treasured by generations of kids and teens, Blume, 66, received the National Book Award's lifetime achievement honor on Nov. 17. "Totally unexpected," she says. She revisited some favorite titles with PEOPLE.
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET (1970) Margaret's relationship to God is based on mine at her age: God as friend, God as confidante.
STARRING SALLY J. FREDMAN AS HERSELF (1977) Sally is the kind of child I was: imaginative and taking on the burden, at 9, of thinking I could save my father—two of his brothers died at 43, the age he was—with ritualistic prayers.
DEENIE (1973) It's about parental expectations. Deenie is the beauty; Helen is the brain. What happens when kids figure out parents pigeonhole them this way?
F0REVER...(1975) My daughter, then 14, said, "Write something where two nice kids do it and nothing bad happens." She was reading books that equated sex with punishment: The girl always got pregnant and had a grisly abortion. I wanted to say one can be sexual and responsible.
TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING (1972) Fudge was based loosely on my son Larry. I hope he was never embarrassed. He did a lot of the things Fudge does, but he never swallowed a turtle. That came from a newspaper story. There was a follow-up every day. Eventually there was a headline: "Hooray! The Turtle Has Passed!"
DOUBLE FOUDE (2002) It's dedicated to my grandson Elliot, who is now 13. Even though he's gone on to read Stephen King and many other authors, he would still like me to write another Fudge book.
