Little Fish by Casey Plett

When she's told her grandfather may have been "like her," a Canadian woman seeks out more information. Because that's more interesting than figuring out the now ... where Wendy and all her trans friends are living pretty close to the edge: drinking too much, partying too hard, dangerously fraying around the edges, picking up sex work for cash.

It's a bleak story, but fresh and true in an amazing way. Wendy knows things aren't great, but she can't drum up the fucks nor the cash to do much about it. Even if you don't know someone exactly like this, you know (or have been) close enough for this story to ring true. Additionally, it's an interesting look at a group of true friends in a unique situation - trans women just living their lives, figuring shit out, and supporting one another.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, or so they say. Jeannette Walls’s memoir is an often-unbelievable account of extreme poverty and puzzling family values. The award-winning author tells her tale of growing up in a family full of dysfunction, alcoholism, destitution, and a stunning sense of pride. Frequently without the basic modern necessities like electricity, heat, and running water, the Walls children depended on discarded food and threadbare thrift store clothing for survival. Persisting on their own gumption while dodging abusive family members was the only reality known to the Walls kids.

This incredible story of survival and success despite the odds had me shaking my head in disbelief while picking my jaw up off the floor. Walls narrates the audiobook herself, and her ability to tell it in a matter-of-fact tone, and sometimes even with reverence, is mind-boggling.

This story evoked the entire range of emotions, and it is one that encourages appreciation for the most basic elements in life that are often taken for granted. I will be pondering this story for a long time to come.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A Nigerian father's tyranny is robed in Catholic religious fervor, but how much right does it take to pardon what's wrong in this family?

I picked this book for our discussion group because it came up three times in a couple days in random conversations - it was like the universe was trying to tell me I needed to read it. So I did.

What an amazing book for discussion. There's the element of the unfamiliar: the foods and language and terms of Africa that are unexplained in the text (I spent time Googling while I was reading). The religious ideologies. Domestic and child abuse. The idea that the university's struggles mirror the government's issues.

It's a sad book, but very engaging. I read it in essentially one sitting, but have pondered it long after the final page.

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

Growing up mostly at his grandmother's house, J.D. Vance had a life similar to many others around him. It was only upon leaving (and in having the desire to leave) that he found out just how different his life in a poor Appalachian family was different from the rest of the United States.

This is certainly the kind of book that makes you think, and it's a great one to discuss (whether you agree or not) - we chose this for the library's book discussion group. There were plenty of copies available because this book was previously a "Go Big Read" title, where the University of Wisconsin gets everybody reading and talking about the same book. 

While there's a lot of sociology here, it's at heart a memoir and a family history. You know from the first page how J.D. has done, but you also spend the book's length cheering for his successes and perseverance.

It's a quick read, and more than once I paused to ponder things like the effects of childhood trauma on adult behavior, and the role of religion (aside from belief) in a community. I recommend it, at least as exposure to a different life.

The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker

After meeting in a college art class, Sharon and Mel(ody) become inseparable, their lives absolutely intertwined as they start their own animation company, drink and smoke, work, and even live together in the studio. Just as they're becoming legitimate stars, an unexpected emergency derails everything.

The book's about creative energy and inspiration, and it's about friendship and how close two people can be and still not really see one another. These women mine their personal lives to make intimate, biographical films, but not everyone is estatic to find themselves part of the movies.

I loved this book - they're self-absorbed, self-destructive artists in the prime of their lives. But they're forced into a delayed adulthood that ultimately expands their perspective and their work. It's sometimes hard to watch them sleepwalk through life with such oblivion - hard to watch because it's easy to recognize yourself in these characters.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson has spent his career working for the poor, the mentally ill, for youth tried as adults, and for other people somehow disadvantaged and lost in the American justice system. It's hard work, and it doesn't pay well. Every day he's faced with horrible stories of lives lost and damaged - yet he keeps at it with grace and diligence and perseverance.

In this book, Stevenson discusses his legal cases, uses notable individual stories to exemplify his points, and outlines the cultural need for compassion.

The book is heartbreaking, yet optimistic. The plight of some of their clients is truly upsetting - innocent people on death row, children abused in all ways and incarcerated with adults, mentally ill individuals without medical treatment. Stevenson and his Equal Justice Initiative staff have made great strides in cases argued and won with the Supreme Court.

It's the kind of book that forces you to look around you and wonder how you can make some difference. I can't argue a case before the Supreme Court. But I could lend a hand to the homeless. I could try to be a role model for disadvantaged kids. I could ... do something. And that's where it starts.

Lucky Penny by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota

When Penny's forced to move out of her apartment, the solution to her homelessness comes via a friend's storage unit - for $100 a month, it's the cheapest rent around! Also, she's out of work - but the same friend's parents own a laundromat and they're hiring.

Things are less than ideal, though. She sweet-talks the receptionist at a local gym so she can use the showers, there's a gang of preteens bent on making trouble, the laundromat is being run by a tyrannical eleven-year-old, and she's got no love life. Good thing she has gran's bodice-ripper romance novels to keep her entertained.

This is a great graphic novel about that "early adult" period when you're our of school and trying to find your way as a newly-minted adult. While the topic could be heavy, it's dealt with in a light manner so it's realistic but not depressing. Penny's overactive imagination lends great comic relief, as she imagines her challenges vanquished by imaginary romantic hero Alistair Lionpride.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Two Chinese teens sent to be "re-educated" during the communist Cultural Revolution gain a whole different kind of enlightenment through a suitcase of elicit Western literature.

Through film and novels, the boys learn storytelling and gain experiences they can't otherwise obtain in their limited, censored lives. They, in turn, offer this same cultural broadening to a new friend, the tailor's daughter,

I didn't expect this book to be funny and sweet, but that's the first thing that comes to mind when trying to summarize this book. Of course, it's also expectedly horrifying at the work and conditions in which the villagers live ... but the real story is in the friendship, hijinx, and loves.

I loved this novella - it's another book about loving books - and the story is told briskly in a series of short chapters and vignettes about their lives. It's rich with details: you can perfectly visualize the coats they're wearing, and the fine suitcase leather is almost real to the touch.

The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu

Inside and outside his urban Washington, D.C. grocery store, an Ethiopian refugee watches the neighborhood shift and change around him. Sepha is haunted by his past and frozen in place, unable to move or act in his ill-fitting, lonely American life.

In this literary novel by an Ethiopian-born American author, the themes of loss, friendship, and the American dream make for a rather sad, yearning tale. Nonetheless, it's beautifully done - filled with thoughtful characters and gorgeous prose.

Sepha's life, the store, and, in fact the whole city decay before his wise, analytical gaze, but he takes no actions to forestall their decline. He awkwardly makes friends with a young new neighbor and there's romantic tension with her mother, but again these interactions require actions - enthusiasm, even - that Sepha can't muster.

This would be an awesome book for discussion, and the more diverse the group, the richer: There's a lot to discuss in the way Sepha wanders his neighborhood and ponders its residents, and his African immigrant friends and their war-themed mind games could be quite a conversation in itself.

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Skylar's just graduated high school and she cannot wait to get out of the trailer park to start art school in San Francisco - just as soon as she can get her mom straightened out, sobered up, and jobbed.

Josh, on the other hand, got out ... to the Marines, and then straight to Afghanistan. Just two year later he's back at his mom's, rehabbing with a brand-new prosthesis and wondering how he even fits into the world anymore.

They were acquaintances and co-workers before, but this summer things are different: Skylar seems to understand Josh in a way everyone else can't, and they both could use a friend right now. But for every pull there's a push, and for every give there will be some take; this could be the start of something good or just another in a string of things that are bad, bad, bad.

I really enjoyed this book, and despite the synopsis I've written here it's much more than a young-love story. The novel is mostly told from Skylar's point of view, but we get intermittent glimpses inside Josh's head too. They're each dealing with much more than they're letting on, so this gives the reader the inside scoop on backstories and their thought processes.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

Growing up at the turn of the 20th century, precocious youngster Francie Nolan understands her family lives a mean, tough existence in poverty, but also sees the world as a place rich with experiences for a smart, thoughtful girl like herself.

This year our library's book discussion group has chosen to read a few classics, which I think will be fun - I had never read this book, and in reading recognize I would not have enjoyed it as a student, but very much enjoyed it in adulthood.

Through the lives of the Nolan family and Francie's mother's Rommely sisters, we get a look at the lives of the poor Irish in America. Frequently I found myself amazed that, although the book takes place 100 years ago, many of its struggles and strifes are not significantly different today.

Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

Amber Appleton is the princess of hope - she's super involved in tons of community service projects, and she bounces through life with a song in her heart and a smile on her lips. Which is why nobody has figured out yet that she and her mom are homeless (living on a school bus), and that things aren't so rosy in Amber's home life.

In typical Matthew Quick style, this is a fun book full of slang and trendy teen talk. He's a master at getting you inside the head of his fully-formed characters, and Amber's a real prize. While she's doing her best and pulling out all the stops, she's also just as flawed and mis-directed as the rest of us.

Additionally, this book is chock full of other fantastic people: the misfit band of boys with whom Amber hangs, her English-as-a-second-language learners (aka The Korean Divas for Christ), and all the old folks at the Methodist home gathering for her weekly verbal smackdown with a hundred-year-old pessimist, just to name a few.

I loved this book - but then, I haven't read a bad Matthew Quick book yet. Highly recommended.

How to Catch a Frog: And Other Stories of Family, Love, Dysfunction, Survival, and DIY by Heather Ross

Quilters and sewists already know Heather Ross as a fabric designer; parents and librarians know her as a book illustrator. In both cases, wonderfully illustrated characters and vignettes have become her hallmark - there's a soft, yet contemporary feel to her work.

But here, Ross as a writer presents the story of her tough childhood growing up poor in Vermont. Much about that growing-up has shaped her illustrations, and the book is liberally sprinkled with art too. The more you know about her life, the clearer her art becomes.

That said, the book stands on its own two feet. It's a good read - sad, but not syrupy or begging for sympathy. It reminded me quite a bit of "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls about her nontraditional and frankly neglectful youth in the Southwestern desert.

Most of Ross' childhood was spent living in an uninsulated schoolhouse in the wild woods with her mother and sister. They stoked a wood stove for heat and food was never her mother's priority for their lean funds. Later in life when she complained to her mother about her childhood without, her mother scoffed and told her she'd gained plenty of stories from the experience.

Blue Plate Special: An Autobiography of My Appetites by Kate Christensen

Despite the title, this book's not about food; it's really a memoir about growing up and traveling and figuring out who you are ... but there's also a good bit of food, too (and recipes).

Christensen had an uneven childhood with some rough family dynamics: her parents divorce and her dad's involvement in the family falls away. They struggle through hard times. Even as an adult Christensen has a tense, volatile relationship with her sisters and mother.

Throughout her life she travels in an almost accidental, haphazard way facilitated by her extended family's ties in the anthroposophist movement and Waldorf schools; by becoming a nanny or cook or camp counselor she spends extended time away from home and around the globe.

She experiences many styles of food and many kinds of cooking, picking up bits here and there. She's chubby then thin, fat and then willowy again - her relationships with food are as uncertain as her home life.

It's an interesting story, and well written. I kept rooting for her to get her life straightened around and find happiness - it's not a tragic story, more a relatable tale of an unconventional family and a self-described late bloomer.

I would recommend this to those who also enjoyed Jeannette Walls' "The Glass Castle."

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

What if you discovered a bit of your long-deceased mother was still growing in a lab? What if it was really that every single scientific lab in the world has been running complex medical experiments on growing, living pieces of your long-deceased mother and you never knew or received compensation?

That's where the core of this story begins: as the Lacks family learns that the same cervical cancer cells which killed Henrietta Lacks in 1951 are still growing and multiplying, providing 60 years of scientists with an endless supply of human cells on which to run experiments.

It's a deep subject with a steep ethical slope - but it's handled deftly and warmly by the author. She personalizes the story, weaves several historical and contemporary storylines together, and explains the complex science in an easily digestible manner. She also inadvertently became part of the story as her friendship with daughter Deborah Lacks spanned a decade of research, genealogy, and oral history.

This book makes you think, and the various moral, ethical, and medical opinions are presented in a nicely balanced manner. I still don't know what I think about a lot of it, and that's okay - if it was simple, the scientific community probably would have figured it out decades ago.

Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman

Life for Rory Hendrix isn't easy - her family's history and poverty don't portend a happy future, either - but she's found a guide to help her navigate: the Girl Scout Handbook. Rory doesn't have a troop and has never met another girl scout, but she's sure the information and advice dispensed by the book are her key to survival.

Short chapters (almost independent short stories) make up the body of the novel. Some chapters are as short as a few paragraphs and none more than a few pages. There's a loose, almost journal or diary feel to the book: some chapters are government reports, others prayers to St. [whoever], a few Girl Scout badge requirements, and others are more traditional prose.

The book covers Rory's story from about ages 4 to 15. She's an early, precocious reader - against form and all genetics. She lives most of her life with her nose in a book - as well you might too, if you lived on the Calle (hers is a trailer park of the worst kind). And against all odds, it's a book I absolutely loved. While it's a dark and scary world Rory lives in, the girl is a bright shining star at its center. 

Nickel and Dimed: On (not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Our library's bookclub chose this book, and I'm sorry I had to miss the discussion.

Ehrenreich decided the best way to research a "living wage" was to try it. So temporarily, she left her husband and home to moved across the country, get a job, and find a place to live. Could it be done? She made a point to live on only what she could earn, and to use only life skills not earned by way of higher education or wealth. When she could no longer afford to live on her earnings, the experiment was over.

She repeats this scenario three times: as a waitress and hotel maid in Florida, working as a nursing home aid and cleaning houses in Maine, and a final stint (and her ultimate breaking point) in the Wal-mart women's clothing department in Minnesota.

The lengths to which she must stretch and conform to find housing is eye-opening. Each job will teach you a bit about things we each take for granted in the world around us. But the Wal-mart job ... well that's the one you'll remember.