I never heard of Half Broke Horses...

This was a book that I read for my library book club.  After reading this book I did learn that Jeannette had another book which I decided to read and will post the review here along with this one.



I love horses and learning about horses and learning about how things were in the past. I found it interesting to read about ranch life for a young girl.

This is the story of Jeannette Walls' grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. Lily was a very resourceful growing up. She took care of her younger siblings and helped her father on the ranch. She was an excellent student when she wanted to learn something new. She was also an excellent teacher.

Jeannette does a great job of writing about her grandmother and her mother. I found myself laughing and crying at times.

I gave the book 5 stars.

Now the second book by Jeannette Walls is The Glass Castle.  Very interesting read.  I hope you will consider reading this book.

I decided to read this book for two reasons. The book club that I belong to had read this book before I was a member and we had just read Jeannette's other book Half Broke Horses, which was about Jeannette's grandmother. I enjoyed both books for different reasons.

The Glass Castle I found very interesting in seeing how difficult her life was when she was a child. I didn't know exactly what year everything was taking place, I had to guess. I just couldn't believe how her parents, especially her mother treated the children and raised them. How a mother could go without feeding her children for days, not washing clothes or cleaning the house etc. Some of this stuff just made me think of child abuse and neglect.

Jeannette's father was just as bad. He was a drunk and wasted any money on booze, gambling, sex and on impossible dreams. You would think that her parents were possible hippies.

It was great to see how Jeannette and her siblings were able to grow up in that type of lifestyle and still lead a somewhat normal life.

I gave this book 4 1/2 stars