Half-Broke Horses

Last night we met to discuss Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, and it triggered many stories about our grandmothers.  This easy read is like Little House on the Prairie for grownups.  Walls calls it a true life novel because it is the fictionalized story of her grandmother Lily.  Born in 1901 on a ranch in Texas, the adjective "hardscrabble" pops to mind to describe Lily's life.  For example, at 15, she rides her horse Patches alone 500 miles north to teach in a one room school house.  Lively antiquated words fill Lily's monologue, like when she calls her first husband a "crumb bumb."  She dispenses a lot of no nonsense philosophy such as the "most important thing in life is learning to fall."  This is a lively read about an interesting character.  Half-Broke Horses is a kind of prequel to the bestseller Glass Castle, which tells the story of Jeannette's own difficult childhood with Lily's daughter, who was her mother.