A book that I recently acquired for the purposes of giving it away.

Review I have been thinking about what I can say about this book for two days. I'm aware that I can't fairly judge this book because it was depressing for so long, since this was the author's life and it was much less difficult for me to read than for her to live. I was reminded again that you can never judge someone without knowing their story -- like the author's professor who challenged her point of view, seeing only the Ivy-league college student in NYC without knowing that her parents had chosen life on the streets of New York over a "normal" life of working a job and paying bills.

The author's life was not easy, with no continuity, a lack of regular meals, parents with obvious mental instability, and exposure to sexual predators in the midst of severe poverty. But the choice of the title of the book is a reminder that the big dreams and family bonds from her early childhood are the foundation for the strong and successful life she fought to create for herself. Her ability to always remember her father as the man who gave her Venus for a Christmas gift and not just dismiss him as a violent and manipulative drunk who once used her as bait in a gang-rape scenario (at 13) to hustle money for drinks enabled her to embrace the opportunities that others might have overlooked. Where she ended up compared to where she came from is an inspiration.

Had I read this book before the one about her grandmother, I might not have had the heart to read Half Broke Horses, which I enjoyed. And the opening scene of this book, besides having a great first line, was the motivation to keep reading during the worst moments in West Virginia, because I knew it would get better eventually.

This book is going to meet-up with me today in Westminster on the annual pilgrimage to Birdie's for MaryZee's birthday. I am sure that someone else will take it home, but if not, it will go on the OBCZ shelf.

Any future reader or recipient of this book is encouraged to leave a journal entry here on the BookCrossing site to let prior readers know the fate of the book. You can make an anonymous entry without joining the BookCrossing movement, but if you are interested in joining, it is a free and spam-free community where your contact information is not shared with others. Best of all, members receive private messages via e-mail from books like this one when those books are journaled, allowing for long-term relationships between books and readers.

I'm not sure where this one came from! Maybe I picked it up at that long-ago Bookcrossing meetup six years ago, only to have it disappear into a box somewhere. Or maybe it sat on the bookshelf at Birdie's for a time, and I picked it up at a later date. In any case, I have found it now and plan to leave it in my Little Free Library to find itself a new reader.

I am leaving this book in Little Free Library #9136.


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Welcome to BookCrossing!

Making a journal entry here lets me know the book has been found and is safe in your hands. The book is yours now! Read it, give it to a friend, pass it on, or keep it forever--it's your choice.

If you pass it on to someone or leave it "in the wild" for someone else to find, please make another journal entry or release notes here to explain that it's traveling to find another home.

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I hope you enjoy the book. Happy reading!