What I'm reading now

I just finished "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls.

I normally don't read memoirs, but I really enjoyed this one. This was one of those books that you could pick up and finish in a few short sittings. It was perfect to read on an airplane ride.

Jeannette Walls talks about growing up in her anything but conventional family. She started out at around the age of 3 when she caught her clothes on fire while cooking herself a hot dog. Her family was living in a trailer somewhere out in the desert out west. They moved around like nomads in California, Nevada and Arizona, living mostly in small mining towns. Her parents seemed incapable of keeping jobs for any amount of time. Once they exhausted their supplies and started owing too much money, they would do "the skedaddle" and move on to the next place. They settled for some time in Arizona, and eventually ended up in Welch, West Virginia, which is a small coal mining town in Appalachia.

The thing that I appreciated most about this book is that it was written in a very matter-of-fact way. Jeannette Wall's life was very rough. She grew up so poor she resorted to picking through garbage to eat. But she didn't present it in a "poor me, feel sorry for me" way. It was just the reality that she knew, and she just presented the facts. She even told some of the stories with a bit of humor, such as the "loose-juice" room, which refers to their kitchen with electrical wiring that was less than perfect. She goes on to tell how she was able to rise up out of her situation and make a good life for herself in New York.

At no point does Jeannette Walls look back on her life with pity or shame. She admits in her book that she is sometimes embarrassed by her past or her mother who is now living as a vagrant in New York, but she never writes in a way that asks you to feel sorry for her.

This book gets 4 out of 5 stars for me. It's a great little book, perfect for a book club pick. It's a very quick read, so it's perfect for the holidays when you might not have a ton of time to dedicate to reading.