Book Club: The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls

“I’m a grown woman now,” Mom said almost every morning. “Why can’t I do what I want to do?”

“Teaching is rewarding and fun,” Lori said, “You”ll grow to like it.”

Part of the problem was that the other teachers and the principal, Miss Beatty, thought Mom was a terrible teacher. They’d stick their heads into her classroom and see the students playing tag and and throwing erasers while Mom was up front, spinning like a top and letting pieces of chalk fly from her hands to demonstrate centrifugal force.”  (p.74, The Glass Castle)

Come join a group of enthusiastic readers to discuss great memoirs of relevance to learning and teaching. It’s a refreshing way to enrich learning outside the classroom, meet fellow readers, and share your thoughts and experiences.

Our first meeting will be on The Glass Castle, (Simon and Schuster, 2005) by Jeanette Walls. A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Wall’s work is described as “remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family. The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.”  –publisher’s description

Jeanette Walls’ memoir  was  made in 2017 into a major motion picture from Lionsgate starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts.

Fall Book Club is co-sponsored by the Graduate Writing Center. It meets every other week throughout the semester, with a program for three books, two sessions per book. It is open to all students and staff, and the first 15 people to rsvp will receive a free copy.

Please rsvp with your interest and details, and come ready to discuss Parts One and Two of The Glass Castle. (pp. 1-125). Participants are encouraged to bring their lunches; simple refreshments will be provided.

Where: 305 Russell