Memoirs, and More Memoirs

I suppose it's only been ten days since my last post. With teleworking, one day rolls into the next and it gets really hard to distinguish what day I am in.  I've been fortunate that I have been able to get more reading in, of late, and I have to admit the genre of choice has been memoir.

I had read somewhere that The Barracks Thief, by Tobias Wolff was well worth reading and I looked in my library collection but didn't see it there.  I did see This Boy's Life (memoir) that he had written and thought I would give it a try, figuring that if I liked his style I might spring for The Barracks Thief.  I have some holds in the library right now, but The Barracks Thief is definitely a book I plan on purchasing in the future.  I can say indubitably, Tobias Wolff is one of the best writers of books I have read. I very much enjoyed his memoir, which is odd, because the things he wrote about himself made me feel like I very much would not have liked him had I had been a school mate.  He wrote of himself to be everything I didn't like in an ideal, or even acceptable, childhood friend.  Many of his recollections were cringe-worthy, and if nothing else, I admire his courage in writing them down.

The other memoir I just finished was Educated by Tara Westover.  Many of her recollections were equally hard to get through.  She grew up in the foothills of Idaho, raised by a father who was paranoid about the government, and radical in his religious beliefs.  Her mother was a homeopathic healer who was so dedicated to her bipolar husband, she neglected her children in the most basic of needs, love and protection.  The abuse she suffered, and her lifestyle were the perfect backdrop to her story of higher education.  I found it to be a great read.  I borrowed the ebook from the library, and was very lucky that I got a go-to-the-head-of-the-line offer that allowed me to borrow it for a shorter period of time, with no extension.  That's good, because I would have been waiting for about two more months, otherwise.

Other than my reading, I have been working way more than I would like. The stress feels unbearable, for there is no respite in the tasks I have at hand. I need a break, to go somewhere out of the country. But, I know that if I leave, I probably won't be back for quite a while.  This pandemic has to end some time, I just hope it's over sooner than later.