Real Reading

The other week I finally got around to reading a book that my father-in-law got me for Christmas, and it was a good one.  I wouldn't say that I necessarily say that I have a particular genre that I like to read more than another, but biographies aren't something I naturally gravitate towards.  This book is a biography, but since it is based mostly on oral tales passed down, the author chose to call it a novel.  I had a feeling I would find it interesting based solely on the title (I know, I know... You're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but we all do it.)    I wasn't sure though.  Nevertheless, I dove right in, and I'm so glad I did.

What is this book, you ask?

[source]

The author of Half Broke Horses, Jeannette Walls, writes about her grandmother, Lily.  Lily was an incredible woman.  She grew up in a dug out house.  By the time she was 10, she had saved her brother and sister from a flash flood in West Texas.  By the time she was 11, she had been breaking horses for her dad for years and had already had a badly broken arm.  At 15, she took off across 500 miles of desert alone with her horse Patches to take a teaching position in rural Arizona.  At 18, she took off to Chicago to make it on her own.  She broke horses, taught impossible students, learned to drive when many women didn't, learned to fly a plane, and did amazing things to keep her family together and surviving throughout the Depression.  If you want an inspirational read.  This is your book.  The woman was incredible.  

It's not a long book, at not even 300 pages, and the chapters are short.  Each one leaves you craving the next, and before you know it, you've finished the book.  I highly recommend giving it a go.  It certainly puts many things in perspective.  Any time I start thinking I'm in a difficult situation, I now find myself thinking Lily Casey Smith would have faced this dilemma head on and tackled it, so if she can do it, I can too.  

Has anyone else read this book?  If so, what did you think?  

Hope your weekend is going well!