The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Posted by Ms A on January 2, 2018 in All, Book Club Fodder, Grab it Now, The Perfect Gift | 1 Comment

Every good holiday requires a good book. Frankly, it is beyond me why airlines don’t offer book sales with flight reservations. They could easily make recommendations according to destination, demographic and flight length and it would be a whole lot more fun than amazon.

Instead of a little shopping basket icon there could be a carry-on bag and customers could pick up their books at the airport with one of the single most important decisions of the holiday sorted on the spot.

Just say Ms K and I decided to roll out such a service (after starting our own airline of course), we would start with a list of all-time classic, page turning, holiday reads. These are books that allow you to block out all pool splash, crying babies, jetlag and nocturnal advances. The books you pick up and don’t put down until they are finished.

On that list, I would start with this book by Jeannette Walls. For those that have not read it already, The Glass Castle is not new. First published in 2005, it now sits happily on the classic bestseller table in many bookshops and should be easy to pick up in most libraries. It is a fuss free, rolling memoir of the author’s colourful, turbulent and often heart-warming childhood that will consume, inspire and move you.

Walls and her siblings grew up with parents that were utterly devoted to each other but also completely incapable of conforming to a normal, family life. They lived mostly with no home or money, with the children forced to take care of themselves and at times, their parents.

There are countless memoirs about tricky childhoods, but it is the balance of love/hate and happy/sad that transports The Glass Castle to the bestseller list. It is also the compassion and honesty with which Walls tells her story. This book is a great read for Mums and Dads but also teens as well.

Holiday reading done.  Now for the airline.

And that’s my 2 cents worth.