What I'm Reading (X2)

This first book I have been reading for a couple of weeks.

It was interesting to me, but not in a "I can't lay this book down" kind of way.

This book is kind of dark and has a lot of sadness and terrible things in it.  It is about a girl whose mother was a schizophreniac ever since she could remember. 

The idea related in the title is fascinating to me. She talks about how she blocked out a lot of memories of bad things that happened to her, but over the years, as she tried to call certain things, she pictured her mind as a palace with all of these different rooms and you could walk into a room and look around for memories.  I thought that was such a cool idea and way of looking at it. I could see how that imagery might help me to remember some things from my past and childhood, since I seem to have a less than reliable memory and am always wishing I could remember more events and stories of my life.

Of course, other things are stuck in my memory and I wish I could get rid of them.  You know?

Basically, the book is written after Mira's mother is already dead.  It starts out with Mira and her sister visiting their mother on her deathbed, after not having seen her for 17 years.  They eventually had felt the need to distance themselves from her and even change their names to keep her from completely disrupting and ruining their lives.

It then goes through a lot of her childhood memories, there are many exerpts from letters that Mira's mother wrote to her and from her mother's diaries, which she found when she cleaned out a storage locker that her mother had.

It is intrigueing to me to get a peek inside the mind of someone who suffers from schizophrenia.  It is a terrible disease and when I read about these things, it gives me more empathy for people and the things that they have to go through and struggle with.  Sometimes these things seem to be largely out of their control.

It made me think about the homeless people I have encountered in my lifetime and since Mira's mother was homeless for many years, I felt like it gave me some insight into why some people end up on the streets.  In my opinion, our "system" for taking care of folks with mental health issues completely failed this family and the two daughters.  But, on the flip side, there were people in their lives who really sacrificed and helped out through the years and showed love to this family and that is so awesome to read about.

It is also a story of hope and resiliance, as the daughters survived their growing up years and worked through their issues and were productive adults.  The way the human spirit can still be strong after going through so much is amazing to me!

Read this:  If you have an interest in mental disorders or learning more about people who live with them and how it effects those around them.  If you like memoirs. (I do.)  If you can read something disturbing and be ok with the fact that these things happen around us and there is often not a lot we can do. 

Bottom Line:  Very interesting and informative and written in a way that kept my attention.  There is also some philosophical type reasoning that I always enjoy in a book. 

Audrey's Rating:  *** 1/2

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I finished that book on Saturday morning at the coffee shop, as I waited for Derrick to be finished with football practice.  It was heavenly, sitting there sipping my coffee, lost in my book while the activity and noise continued around me.

Once I finished that one, my plan was to start on another book right away. I had gotten it free on my Kindle app on my I-phone and I had read the first few paragraphs and was drawn in, but didn't want to start it until I had finished the other book.

I started reading on my tiny I-phone screen, flipping through the "pages" at an amazing rate of speed! ;-)

(By the way, this is the first book I have read electronically, and while it is handy, I am still NOT a fan of electronic reading, whether it be a Kindle or a Nook or whatever.  I like to hold an actual book in my hands.  I felt sad when I was done with this book and I realized that I couldn't go put it on my shelf downstairs.  This may seem weird, but I feel closer to the characters if I can hold a book. I don't even know if that makes sense, but it does to me!)

I don't think that I even got through the first chapter before I was completely hooked and drawn into the story and the characters.

The main character is a girl named Josie Jo who lives in the small town of Levan, Utah and whose mother died when she was 9 years old. She has a father and three older brothers.  She had to grow up early and was always quite mature and wise for her age.

She didn't like to socialize much, but she loved music and reading (especially the classics). She become quite an accomplished piano player, with the help of an older lady named Sonja.

As the story progresses, Josie makes an unlikely friend in an 18 year old half-breed Navajo boy who rides the bus with her.  They share a seat on the bus for a whole year, after he unexpectedly sticks up for her when another boy is giving her a hard time.

He is not interested in friendship, but over time, he warms up a bit.  She shares with him her love of music and literature and imparts her wisdom that is well beyond her years.

A strong friendship forms, but she is only 13 and he is basically a grown man.  He ends up going away to boot camp to become a Marine when he is finished with high school. 

I feel like if I say too much more about the story, it will give things away.

All I can say is this: It is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time.  The story is so well written. It is a love story, but it is not much about the physical side of love, more about the emotional and heart connection.

I feel like it defines the way that every woman wants to be loved.  It is incredibly romantic, but in such a sweet and unassuming way. 

I finished it the same day I started it, if that tells you anything. And it is a 430 page book.  (real pages, not I-phone pages)

I got lost in it. Completely. I couldn't wait to see what happened and felt quite sad when it ended. Not because the ending was sad, but because I just didn't want the story to end. I wanted to know more. To learn more.  To understand the characters even better and hear more about them.

I felt kind of like this:

(I wouldn't say "every time" but I would say whenever I get lost in a book, this happens)

Read this:  If you love a great love story.  If you are interested in learning more about small town America and about the Navejo people.  If you want to read a book that you can't put down! I find myself still thinking about the characters and the story today.  Rehearsing in my mind scenes and conversations  that happened.

Bottom Line:  Loved, loved this book.  It was relateable and real to life and such a great story.  My friend Morgan texted me today and said "I need a good book to read. Do you have any to recommend?" and I was so excited to tell her about this one.  Now I'm just hoping she loves it as much as I did.

Audrey's Rating:  *****

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