Island Home

Book 28 of 2016 is Island Home by Tim Winton.

This book made me cry. This book made me homesick. This book made me proud.

Those are not things that I often feel and certainly not from a book. Maybe I read too much fiction or a kind of book that is abstract to me. Island Home was not abstract to me in any way. It was quite the opposite.

The way Winton describes Australia is so vivid that I found myself imagining the Northern Territory were I grew up, even while he was describing Western Australia.

Every part of this book broke me down and built me up simultaneously. I'm not even exactly sure why. It could be the visual he projects or the honesty with which he loves and sometimes doesn't love my home country.

This book confirms for me that we must travel far from home and see other places in order to truly appreciate the beauty of our own place. And for a nomad like me, it is hard to accept that I am so connected to a piece of land that it makes up most of who I am no matter how I sometimes fight it.

A book for all expatriates, even if Australia isn't your piece of dirt.

Five wide open spaces out of five.

Should I read this? If you aren't living where you grew up then yes.
What did I learn? I can fight it some days but Australia will always be my home.

Dear Mr. You

Book 66 of 2015 is Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker.

This is an original and well-written autobiography from an actor I have enjoyed and respected since watching Fried Green Tomatoes. Weeds is still one of my favourite TV shows of all time and she my favourite suburban sociopath.

She writes this as a series of letters to the people who were important in changing her life. Sometimes it is overly wordy and feels like she is trying too hard to write a good book and then she writes a chapter that leaves you crying and telling those around you that you are ok and not to worry.

Even if you don't know Mary-Louise Parker, you should read this. This is my second favourite memoir of 2015 after Not My Father's Son.

4 letters to my dearest loved ones out of 5.

Should I read this? Totally. Absolutely. Yeah, like now.
What did I learn? I need to rewrite my whole book.