Escapism...

I just spent four or five days neglecting every household chore and almost neglecting my children at times because I was so wrapped up in this book. It is certainly not a read for everyone (there are curse words) but I loved it! It is the autobiography of Jeannette Walls, who spends most of her time digging up dirt on other people's lives as the gossip columnist for MSNBC.com.

In the opening pages of “The Glass Castle,” Walls recalls seeing her mother searching through a garbage dumpster in lower Manhattan, while she, a high-profile Park Avenue reporter, hides in her taxi.

I was drawn into the book from page one 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....

And here is a picture of Sammy with a cute little pucker face.