Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Waiting on Wednesday: Half Broke Horses









Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts Waiting on Wednesday.

This week's pick is a non fiction title, by the author of The Glass Castle; Jeannette Walls.

TITLE: Half Broke Horses
PUB DATE: October 6, 2009
(Scribner)

From Publishers Weekly

For the first 10 years of her life, Lily Casey Smith, the narrator of this true-life novel by her granddaughter, Walls, lived in a dirt dugout in west Texas. Walls, whose megaselling memoir, The Glass Castle, recalled her own upbringing, writes in what she recalls as Lily's plainspoken voice, whose recital provides plenty of drama and suspense as she ricochets from one challenge to another. Having been educated in fits and starts because of her parents' penury, Lily becomes a teacher at age 15 in a remote frontier town she reaches after a solo 28-day ride. Marriage to a bigamist almost saps her spirit, but later she weds a rancher with whom she shares two children and a strain of plucky resilience. (They sell bootleg liquor during Prohibition, hiding the bottles under a baby's crib.) Lily is a spirited heroine, fiercely outspoken against hypocrisy and prejudice, a rodeo rider and fearless breaker of horses, and a ruthless poker player. Assailed by flash floods, tornados and droughts, Lily never gets far from hardscrabble drudgery in several states—New Mexico, Arizona, Illinois—but hers is one of those heartwarming stories about indomitable women that will always find an audience.

What's your pick this week?

12 comments:

  1. Jeanette Walls is an excellent writer; Half Broken Horses sounds like a great book!

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  2. I heard about this one. It'll be interesting if it is as good as her first book.

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  3. Sounds interesting, I will have to look more into this author, thanks for the heads up. Have a good one.

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  4. I haven't read The Glass Castle yet, but I've heard great things about it. This sounds just as interesting!

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  5. I actually had the pleasure of hearing Jeannette Walls speak and she is a fantastic speaker as well as writer. I can't wait to read this book.

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  6. I can't wait for this book to be released. I enjoyed the Glass Castle and I love books like this!

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  7. This looks like a great book, I am going to be looking out for it. Thanks!

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  8. I think I read about this book in my Booklist Magazine. Sounds really interesting. I love to read about older generations!

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  9. This one sounds really good. I have not read The Glass Castle yet... I know I know.... I should. :0 I am working on getting it back from my friend who used it for her book club months ago.

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  10. She sounds like a very strong woman. From the story summary it looks like something I'd like.

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  11. This one is going on my Wish List! I LOVED "The Glass Castle," and this one sounds like a winner.

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