The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
I picked up Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader on a whim once, mostly because I am fascinated by other people's reading habits. She turned out to be an engaging, charming writer, and someone I definitely identified with. (The chapter on her family's propensity for correcting other people's grammatical mistakes made me laugh, blush with recognition of incredibly arrogant things I have done in that regard, and laugh some more.) So when Nick Hornby extolled the virtues of this book in Polysyllabic Spree (which book has been directing my reading choices ever since I read it a month ago), I immediately ordered it from Powells. (Except here's the problem - I just went back to the Hornby and nowhere in that book is it mentioned. Nor is it mentioned in the other book that recently provided me with a reading list as long as my arm, So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading. OK, so where and how did I happen to order it?)
At any rate, I am heartily glad I did, as it's a wonderful book. It details the story of a Hmong girl with epilepsy, and the cultural clashes between her parents and her doctors. I can't even begin to describe it more than that - it's a compelling read, try it out. It is also the exact nonfiction I needed to cleanse my brain re: the Neutrogena shampoo idea of my previous post.
posted by BabelBabe @ 9:27 AM
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