Lessons from the Mountain by Mary McDonough

When I was a child our family often gathered to watch Hee Haw and The Waltons together. I've been watching The Waltons with a couple of our kids recently, thanks to Netflix. 

As for books, I love memoirs and autobiographies. After reading Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim, Mary McDonough's book Lessons from the Mountain came to my attention. 

The book happens to have reached me on two very different levels. The first, of course, has to do with the part of her life during which she played Erin Walton. The second has to do with her fight against Lupus. One of our children is fighting a neurological disorder, and  is struggling with some additional issues also. I was fascinated by both parts of the book. 

The Waltons' cast seems to have been a rare one that really got along as if they were family and loved each other. Mary grew up on the show. Fortunately, she avoided many of the typical pitfalls that many actors succumb to. 

I'm glad I read her book. I'm also glad to be watching the show again. We are in season three of nine. I'd like to visit the Walton's Mountain Museum someday: http://www.waltonmuseum.org/

Sleepwalk With Me: and Other Painfully True Stories by Mike Birbiglia

Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians. If you aren't familiar with him you can find snippets of his routines on Pandora Radio.

This book will feel familiar to anyone who has listened to his stand-up routines. He expounds on those bits, giving us the bigger picture.

Prior to reading this book I knew nothing about his sleepwalking. Sleepwalking can be triggered by stress in one's life. Mike's sleepwalking was definitely triggered by stress. He chronicles his need to be honest with himself and the people in his life. His sleepwalking became quite dangerous.

Though I was familiar with his comedy, I still enjoyed reading this book. I enjoy Mike's conversational tone. 

This book has adult themes and adult language.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost

I enjoyed this book though it wasn't quite what I expected. It was fun and light reading and taught about a culture with whom I was not familiar. I just bought the sequel. Getting Stoned with Savages. His writing style is one I enjoy.


The book follows Troost through two years of life on a South Pacific island; Tarawa, an island of the Republic of Kiribati. He headed there with the belief that it was a hopelessly romantic thing to do...


What he really found was disillusionment: bugs, heat, danger...you name it. I still laugh out loud when thinking of the bug incident he wrote up in one of his books. 

Here's a bit of the blurb from the back of the book:


"He and his stalwart girlfriend, Sylvia, spend the next two years battling incompetent government officials, alarmingly large critters, erratic electricity, and a paucity of food options (including the Great Beer Crisis); and contending with a bizarre cast of local characters, including "Half-Dead Fred" and the self-proclaimed Poet Laureate of Tarawa (a British drunkard who's never written a poem in his life).


If you've ever though of moving to a tropical island or you've just had any really, really bad vacations...you might enjoy reading this book. 


(I read this in Jan 2007 and did not note whether it includes any gratuitous sex or language.)


Troost's follow-up project is "Getting Stoned with Savages" in which he chronicles his time on Vanuatu and then Fiji. 

What genres do you read?

I think most people find they prefer certain reading genres.


Mine have changed over time. When I first began to read for pleasure (high school, but few books) I preferred fiction. As an adult, once I really began to read more, I found I enjoyed mostly non fiction selections. Many of those books were related to my Christianity or marriage/family. Now that I read even more, I have found that I enjoy both fiction and non fiction.


These days I can really appreciate the creativity required to produce a riveting and well written fictional story. I think that preference has been influenced by my homeschooling our kids. Together we have truly enjoyed some wonderful books! My avoidance of books as a pre-adolescent means I have a lot of uncovered ground in juvenile fiction!


In regard to fiction I've branched into some areas I previously hadn't ventured. Around the time we moved to England I found Jasper Fforde's books and really fell for them; they are so smart but very funny.


I enjoy biographies, often those written about film or tv stars of the 1940s-1960s.


I really like to read memoirs. A true story is sometimes the best!


I occasionally like a mystery.


I enjoy well written juvenile fiction.




I am learning that I have a real affinity for classic British literature too!