Family: The Ties That Bind-- And Gag!

Syndicated columnist and bestselling author (Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession Bombeck here takes a look at the family grown and comes up with characteristically incisive, irreverent and pertinent wisdom. Her three children, now adults, and herself at the age where ""you look wonderful,'' she provokes thought about the shifting family. Intergenerational relationshipsBombeck's with her parents; hers with her childrenand the amorphous family constellations of the '80s are explored by a master of the art of domesticity. Adult children who return to the empty nest, technology that needs to be mastered in kitchen and family room are grist for Bombeck's ever-ready mill. ``Family is a perennial that comes up year after year'' demonstrates matriarch Bombeck. First serial to Redbook; author tour. (September 28)