The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls

It's an absolute miracle Walls lived to tell her family's story. Growing up with parents who did more things wrong than they did right, Walls found every day to be an adventure, and their unconventional view of life made this story a real page-turner.

And although I felt sickened a time or two, through each of my gasps and chuckles, I couldn't help but fall in love with her father for his unrelenting optimism and passion for life, and with her mother for the determination she had to preserve the artist within. The non-domesticated and carefree ways in which her parents navigated through life molded Walls into the writer she would someday become.

I came away from the story with a new appreciation for the simple conveniences and pleasures in life, like running water and going to bed having satisfied my hunger. Each scene was told with immaculate sensory, allowing me to feel the cold on my skin and the hunger in my own gut. This story provided me with a fresh look at life. I admire Walls and each of her siblings, not only for surviving, but for seeing the beauty in what her parents truly tried to impart. I found charm in her alcoholic father, as well as in her mother who was bent on making sure her needs were met first. There was something refreshingly human about both of them.

I highly recommend this memoir for anybody looking for an entertaining read. But be warned, while you will laugh out loud a time or two, the honesty will change you forever.

Room, by Emma Donoghue

I just finished a rare treasure that I'd like to share with all of you today. This piece of literature is unique in so many ways. I watched the movie shortly after turning the last pages of the book, and as always, the book was so much better. 

Have you read anything lately worth recommending?

Jack and his Ma have been kidnapped and they are trapped in the backyard of their perpetrator. Jack, being a result of this man's abuse, is oblivious to the torment inflicted on his mother. The entire story it told through the eyes of this 5 year old little boy, and the author educates the reader through somebody who is not yet able to understand what he is seeing. It's absolutely brilliant.

This unique perspecitve provides this story with a fresh curiosity right from the start. She introduces the reader to a very limited POV, then slowly branches out, peeling away the whereabouts in small layers. This style mirrors the book's setting, another amazing literary device, and once the stakes are introduced, any reader will have a hard time putting the book down.

A new empathy sprouted inside of me from reading this piece, and I will never look at abduction the same way again. I thought the story played out realistically, and while the plot line ended up being more about the emotional and psychological ramifications, I still clung to every sensory detail.

I recommend this book for anybody who is looking to read a heartwarming story about a young mother who is determined to make everything as normal as possible for her little boy, in a not-so-normal world.