Book Review

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I opened the front cover of the book and saw this statement: “Some people are born storytellers.  Some lives are worth telling.  The best memoirs happen when these two conditions converge.  In The Glass Castle, they have.” –New York Newsday

After finishing the last page of this book, and closing the back cover, this is exactly how I felt.  This story is about one tough cookie of a girl!  Most likely, I’ve dubbed her the ‘toughest girl I know’ only because I don’t think I’d have half her toughness if faced with the same story.  I couldn’t imagine living a life of popcorn for dinner on the rare occasion you had dinner; having to go collect my drunken father from the local bar; fighting off bullies unsuccessfully day after day.  But somehow, this girl, and her siblings, always found some little thing that made them happy, and maintained a drive that helped them to be successful (well most of them). 

The part of the book that touched me the most was the evolution of Jeannette’s relationship with her dad.  I’ve had the pleasure of growing up with a father who I thought could do everything, never get hurt, and was the smartest guy around.  And that’s exactly what Jeannette thought of her father when she was small.  Throughout the book, she slowly learned of her father’s limitations.  And although most daughters do, Jeannette had serious limitations to stare in the face.  Somehow she managed to still love her dad to the end. 

This book makes you evaluate and appreciate the good relationships that you have.  It makes you look at the next homeless person on the street a little differently – wondering what their story could be.  It makes you ache for children whose parents are fools!  It certainly impressed on me the responsibility of parenthood.

The end of the book talks about the life Jeannette builds for herself after leaving her parents, but it didn’t spend much time talking about the effects her early life had on her later life.  I wondered how her experience affected her first failed marriage, and what were the reasons behind her not having kids of her own (at least none were mentioned in the book). I’m sure that the second act of her life story could be made into a book of its own..

Sad story, but an excellent read.  Why only 4 stars? I don’t know..  I guess I’m still waiting for that gut feeling I expect to get when the 5-star book comes along *smile*.

View all my reviews


--TamSam
Mood: Reflective

What the HECK is Twitter good for??

Quick disclaimer:  bird on the right really meant WTH!??  Please excuse his french.

If I was a superhero.. err superheroin, my superpower would definitely be to read minds. Why waste energy with superhuman strength to catch bad guys, when I could just read the bad guy's mind, call the police, and watch a Netflix movie while they handle their business?? Well, I kinda sorta got my wish with the creation of twitter.

Unless you live under a rock like the dudes in the Geico commercial, (Geico) you've heard about how people are using twitter to share anything they'd like, with anyone who will listen. Furthermore, you know that whenever people are allowed to actually be themselves, and broadcast it to the world, extra-ordinary things happen. I've been an avid tweeter (@tammysam) until I decided to fast from twitter for the first 40 days of the year (I'll explain that in another post). There are a few things I've missed while I was gone..

Randomness: Everybody has little quiet thoughts that pass through their head during the day, and twitter gives us a place to shout them out. For example, if you've ever wondered why Mike Tirico looks like he has on eyeshadow, @LLCoolChels is bound to validate your thoughts with a raised eyebrow at Mike. Then there will be the times when @nevertha1 tweets lyrics to a song you've never heard of, by an equally obscure artist. But because those lyrics are speaking to your mood, you'll google away, and download your new fav album. And I can't forget @Bri_Cooley and her pics of the strange humans she runs into on public transportation lol. I never know what my timeline is going to look like from hour to hour, much less day to day. And if at any point it gets too predictable, I can always unfollow a couple boring people and pick up some new firecrackers to add to the pot! The best part - they have to spit it out in 140 characters or less.. no Facebook-like soliloquies here :)

News: Judge me all you'd like, but twitter was my source for breaking news. Sure, I check the RSS feeder at night, and catch Keith Olbermann (*tear* I miss you @KeithOlbermann) while eating dinner, but the quick stuff came from twitter. It was twitter that told me MJ died, and twitter that alerted me of Ron Ron's trade to LA. Twitter even had first pics of the Discovery Channel building's gunman in Silver Spring. Information moves quickly through twitter.

Dialogue: Twitter provides a snapshot (not always entirely accurate, but a snapshot nonetheless) of what society thinks. Read a feed while the Grammy's are on tv, or the President is making a speech. It's crazy what you will read sometimes. Like I said, whenever we are given room to be ourselves, especially with some level of anonymity, anything is likely to happen. Getting a taste of opinion that ranges from the well-informed to the ignorant, politically correct to the blunt, gives form
to the ideas I carry in my head about societal behavior. And when it doesn't do that, at least I'll be able to LOL at the foolishness.

So now I return to virtual people watching, a.k.a twitter. What I miss??


P.S - twitter is also great for comedic relief, sports commentary, and questionable relationship advice... if that's your cup of tea lol


-- TamSam

Posted from my purple-clad iPhone 4 moments before my first tweet in 40 days pops up! *smile*