The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (# 17, Nonfiction)

Currently, at this point in my life, I have about zero desire to have kids. I am sure that at some point that will change, think some 10+ years in the future and I will suddenly have that maternal instinct. With that instinct I believe the whole you would throw yourself in front of a bus for you child comes into play. This is all conjecture, but I think I may throw myself in front of a bus for Georgia, my cat, so hopefully I would do it for my own child too! So, basically right now I am pretty much a kid-hater, yet I found myself pulling at my hair and hating the selfish parents while reading The Glass Castle. Growing up poor is one thing, but squirreling away candy bars for yourself while your children go with no food, and their only hopes of a meal coming from school trash cans and dumpsters?!? People like that shouldn't be allowed to procreate.

The Glass Castle chronicles the life of the Wall family--four kids and two crazy parents running from town to town after they either don't pay their rent, get caught stealing, overdraw their accounts, hoodwink the "mob", or just generally wear out their welcome. I am all for not coddling your kids, but these parents take it to the next level: leaving their 13 year old daughter alone to be pawed at by a drunk old man in a bar, letting a 3 year old cook their own meals, having a 15 year old run the household, etc etc.

I was hooked at the first short chapter where Jeanette sees a homeless woman picking garbage out of a dumpster on the streets of New York City, and then realizes it isn't just anyone, it is her mother! Growing up when I would get whiny about why my parents wouldn't buy this or that for me, my mom would say, "Kids in Ethiopia have nothing" or some other equally meaningless line to me at the time. So as I was reading the book when the mom says to her daughter, "Count your blessings, there are people in Ethiopia who would kill for a place like this" I laughed out loud. I wasn't laughing because it was funny, because in the book she was referring to a shack with no heat, no running water, no toilet, basically just some old wood on stilts, while my mom was referring to my 5 bedroom, newly renovated, in-ground pool, 40 acre home.

Read the book. It will humble you and make you appreciate your coddled childhood, and your parents all the more.