More reading

I have still been reading a lot this summer, and I just finished A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown (her real name), a woman who is now a lawyer in San Fransisco but grew up in foster care and from a very young age was involved with a gang in South Central LA and addicted to drugs. Quite a story. I got a little bogged down in the continual, crazy, crazy drug use that went on for chapter after chapter (and a little skeptical about how many details she could truly remember from all these episodes if she was as cracked out as she said she was), but I plowed through. The language is very, very rough and the content is, too (she became a prostitute at 11 while hitchhiking running away from a horrific foster care situation) so I wouldn't say this book is for everyone. Interesting, though, all she went through and what she was able to make of herself. I was glad I made it to the last line, which I thought was powerful: "Finally, to everyone who ever said I'd never turn out to be shit, thank you for allowing me to prove you wrong. And to those who believed in me and knew I could turn my life around if only I had the willingness, thank you for allowing me to prove you right."


Now I am reading Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts, the Oklahoma author who wrote Where the Heart Is, the story of the girl who had her baby, America, in Wal-Mart. I like Billie's writing style. I am only about half-way through this one, but it's interesting to see all these Oklahoma place names in the book that I recognize from growing up in and visiting Muskogee. I also got 5 new books from the HomeStyle Books book club that I joined again. You can get 5 books for $2 each if you agree to buy 2 more books within the next 3 years. I have been leafing through these and they're all pretty good.

And we've watched a few movies lately, including Rendition with Jake Gyllenhal and Reese Witherspoon, which was decent, I thought, and Definitely, Maybe, a cute romantic comedy that I enjoyed. We also watched The Kite Runner, and it was okay, but I still prefer the book. A heart-wrenching story, for sure. And we watched Gone Baby Gone, directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey. Also worthwhile. We are going to the Ozark Empire Fair with the Rhoads tonight and then tomorrow Macauley and I are going to Rogers to see my parents one more time before they close up the camp and leave for their vacation camping in Colorado. We'll be back in Springfield Saturday to enjoy the weekend with Ryan.