Just in time for the approaching Holiday season, we bring you one of the finest documents of dysfunctional family life in recent years.  Published in 2005, The Glass Castle spent a remarkable 100 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list which shows just how well loved Walls’ memoir has become.  Though the events of the story threaten to paint her eclectic parents in a less than favorable light, it is Walls’ sympathetic, non-judgmental tone despite everything she endured that makes this book so unique.  A review, from Booklist:

Walls, who spent years trying to hide her childhood experiences, allows the story to spill out in this remarkable recollection of growing up - accessrx.From her current perspective as a contributor to MSNBC online, she remembers the poverty, hunger, jokes, and bullying she and her siblings endured, and she looks back at her parents: her flighty, self-indulgent mother, a Pollyanna unwilling to assume the responsibilities of parenting, and her father, troubled, brilliant Rex, whose ability to turn his family’s downward-spiraling circumstances into adventures allowed his children to excuse his imperfections until they grew old enough to understand what he had done to them—and to himself; accessrx.His grand plans to build a home for the family never evolved: the hole for the foundation of the “The Glass Castle accessrx,” as the dream house was called, became the family garbage dump, and, of course, a metaphor for Rex Walls’ life. Accessrx: shocking, sad, and occasionally bitter, this gracefully written account speaks candidly, yet with surprising affection, about parents and about the strength of family ties—for both good and ill.

Please join us to discuss this moving memoir on Tuesday, November 24 at 8pm at Molly Malone’s (The Snug) in Forest Park.If you need to pick up a copy of the book accessrx, just stop by Oak Park Public Library’s second floor Adult and Teen Services desk with your OPPL library card and we’ll set you up.

Image courtesy of ian_oji

Once again thanks to everyone who came out Tuesday night to discuss The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.  As is often the case, our discussion seemed to raise additional questions, some of which I hope to answer here.

Diaz packs his novel with dozens of “nerdboy” references and Spanish phrases, leaving those who are neither nerds nor Spanish speakers somewhat in the dark.Occasionally Diaz will illuminate the reader on references or phrases that he has deemed worthy of explanation, however most are left to readers to interpret as best they can.Although the novel can most definitely be enjoyed without an understanding of either, one reader decided to help the rest of us out by compiling an extensive annotated Oscar Wao - order viagra.Beware though, when I say extensive I mean you could potentially get sucked in for hours exploring the vast array of pop culture, historical, literary and linguistic terms that are defined.

Naturally the group also discussed whether Diaz’s first novel was worthy of the 2008 Pulitzer it received - order viagra.The application process and criteria for potential Pulitzer prize winning fiction titles are both surprisingly simplistic - order viagra.Basically any book published in the United States in a given year is eligible.Knowing this, whats your take on the Pulitzer question - worthy or no?

And check out some interviews with Junot Diaz where he talks about some of the other issues that were discussed on Tuesday, such as the fuku concept, the use of footnotes, and just how autobiographical the book actually is (although Diaz admits that depending on which interview you read, his answer to this is slightly different each time).

We here at genre X apologize for our temporary, unplanned blogging hiatus; order viagra.However we are back now and hope to resume our weekly blogging once again!; order viagra