Summer Beach Read Of The Day

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls' (former gossip columnist for MSNBC.com) chronicles a childhood that was far from a fairy tale. Along with her siblings, Jeanette, called cardboard boxes, and trailer parks her home, continually bouncing around from place to place. From the very beginning we are catapulted into a family that is far from normal, and a child trying to make sense of it all.

''The Glass Castle,'' should evoke the architecture of fantasy and magic. The transparent palace that Walls's father often promised to build for his children functions as a metaphor for another fanciful construct, the carefree facade with which two people who were (to say the least) unsuited to raise children camouflaged their struggle to survive in a world for which they were likewise ill equipped. [via]

Without giving away details of this astonishing journey, I will say, that this memoir is ultimately a story that shows the power you hold within yourself to become whoever it is you want to be. You can't choose your family, but you choose your destiny.

“The Glass Castle” is a no-holds barred tale of a nomadic, deprived childhood told with the hypnotic wonderment of a child who always wants to believe that Daddy will be a hero in the end and that Momma really does know best. You are enrapt reading about Walls and her siblings rifling through trash cans at school looking for food, doing the skedaddle in the middle of the night, or waiting for Dad to come home after another bender. It's a riveting story and a testament to Walls' indomitable desire to rise above a life that could have easily turned her into just another tragic headline. [via]