I just recently finished a book called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It was fantastic, and I'll tell you why.
This book is actually a memoir, so it is entirely nonfiction. Walls writes about her own life growing up with... interesting parents. Her father is a highly intelligent man, but also an extremely paranoid drunk who can't keep a steady job. Her mother is an artist who would much rather be painting than raising a family, and she kind of resents her children for this reason. Walls grows up moving from place to place. Her father moves from job to job, doing the 'skedaddle' as soon as the job falls through. Every place they live is usually run down and not fit for people to live in. As she gets older, this lifestyle becomes less and less of an adventure, as her mother describes it.
My quick little summary of this book is not exactly illustrating just how shocking the whole thing was! It really made me appreciate what I have been given, the lifestyle my parents have made available to me. There was some serious neglect going on in that book... but it was never overly depressing. Some parts of the book were sad, yes. But it showed how Walls made her way out of the homeless, somewhat nomadic lifestyle and into a settled, successful career as an author.
I suggest you ALL read this book. It's an easy read, and the pages almost turn themselves. =)
That's what the book looks like, in case you actually want to take my suggestion. =) Let me know if you have already read this book, if you plan on reading it... or if you think it looks like it sucks! I wanna hear it all. Also, I need some book recommendations... Without sunshine or books, my summer is incredibly lame.
Looooove. =) BYE!
I loved this book. I really wanted to slap her mom throughout most of it. For reason her dad didn't make me as mad as her mom. Now that I think about it, I wonder if her mom had some mental disorder. I mean, who really lets their kid almost get sexually assaulted by their uncle and feels sympathy for the uncle? I'll try to think of a book for you to read. I have tons so I'll look at my shelves.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book too! I don't usually read (auto-)biographies but this one was really compelling. Yes, pretty horrible of you think about it, but somehow Walls manages to make it sound almost fun sometimes and she amazingly comes away from it all unscathed!
ReplyDeleteBook recs: hmmmm. Have you read the PERN books by Anne McCaffrey? You'd enjoy those I'm sure. Start with DragonFlight. Or the Lathe of Heaven by my all time fave author Ursula LeGuin. Or anything by her. A wizard of Earthsea too. Much better than Harry Potter! If you've read all of this already let me know, I'm sure I can come up with more!