a few weeks ago, h & i both had a bookstore craving. we love books. we love reading books. we love having a book collection. we don't, however, enjoy spending money on books. we have gotten most of our books from yard sales, thrift stores, or (our favorite) crazy used bookstores like capitol hill books in southeast dc. we happened to both have gift cards for barnes & noble (or nobles if you add the letter "s" to absolutely everything like i do), and decided to waste the good part of an afternoon just browsing. (even though i went in with a list - i knew what i wanted well ahead of time.)
after LOVING the glass castle, it was only natural to pick up half broke horses by jeannette walls as soon as it came out... (& after i read this review from the ny times).
...and not put it down until completed. i read this book this week in my travels to ohio and south carolina, and finished it in about 4 hours. my only complaint was that it wasn't longer. it was WONDERFUL. all i could think about while i was reading it was that i wanted to be lily casey smith. i really did not want this story to end! lily was a rancher, a teacher, a wife, a cowgirl, a mother, a hardass, an unbeatable poker player, a schemer, a cowgirl, a pilot (almost), a survivor, a great daughter and sister, a home decor enthusiast, did i mention cowgirl, and above all, a realist.
there were some really good quotes about life lessons in the book as well.
- "god deals us all different hands. how we play 'em is up to us." -lily's dad
- "only difference between a traitor and a patriot is your perspective." -lily's dad
- "teaching is a calling, too." -mother albertina
- "when god closes a window, he opens a door. but it's up to you to find it." -mother albertina
- "i was teaching them things they need to know, which made me feel like i was making a difference in their lives. i never met a kid i couldn't teach. every kid was good at something, and the trick was to find out what it was, and then use it to teach them everything else." -lily
- "nobody's perfect. we're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels." -rosemary
2 comments:
I just finished it, too! I saw a write up about it in Style Mag last week and put a reserve on it at the Richmond library - had my hands on it in two days (love that library) and couldn't put it down once I started it. I didn't love it as much as Glass Castle but it was great to find out more about her incredible family and one understands more about her mother after completing it. Now what are you reading?
I'll need to read this! I loved The Glass Castle by Wells and I was hesitant about this release but your introduction is great!
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