July Book Club Selection: Girlchild

I know, I know. I'm about 10 days late with this post, and admittedly I'm already about half way through this book (it's great, by the way), but I thought I'd share with you the book that I've selected for the book club this month anyways, and maybe you can read along with me for the rest of the month.

This month, I've picked Girlchild, a novel that's been sitting on my iBooks app on my phone since the beginning of the year (you know, an emergency book if I'm ever bored out in the world somewhere) and had yet to be read. The book description is as follows...

"Rory Hendrix, the least likely of Girl Scouts, hasn’t got a troop or a badge to call her own. But she still borrows the Handbook from the elementary school library to pore over its advice, looking for tips to get off the Calle—the Reno trailer park where she lives with her mother, Jo, the sweet-faced, hard-luck bartender at the Truck Stop.

Rory’s been told she is one of the “third-generation bastards surely on the road to whoredom,” and she’s determined to break the cycle. As Rory struggles with her mother’s habit of trusting the wrong men, and the mixed blessing of being too smart for her own good, she finds refuge in books and language. From diary entries, social workers' reports, story problems, arrest records, family lore, and her grandmother’s letters, Tupelo Hassman's Girlchild crafts a devastating collage that shows us Rory's world while she searches for the way out of it."


Like I said, I'm already well into this book and I'm really enjoying it. It's incredibly sad, but it's one of those stories that's so tragic that you've just got to keep reading. I'll save the rest for my review, but so far, it's a book that I'd highly recommend you read! This is definitely a good month to join the book club!

Click "read more" for my review of last month's book, A Dog's Purpose!

First of all, let me say that I love dogs. Every time I pass one on the street or see one from a distance, I have to immediately stop everything I'm doing and point it out to whoever I'm with and stare at it longingly, wishing I could pet it. It's pretty bad. For that reason, I knew going into it that I would love this book. A novel told from a dog's perspective? Where do I sign up.

I was not disappointed at all. It was so hilarious figuring out what was going on in the story the way a dog would attempt to figure out what goes on in our human lives. I found myself almost relating to this dog narrator as he was telling his story, and even learning from him/her (yes, the narrator DOES have two sexes throughout this story, haha) to be more sympathetic and sensitive to how others are feeling around me and to learn how to love unconditionally.

You know from the description that the narrator dies multiple times during this book, and is reincarnated into another dog after each death. Even so, I was in tears after each dog passed away. I still became so attached to each dog and the characters around them, and when the humans had to say goodbye to each dog, I felt myself getting choked up. I found myself rooting for Toby/Bailey/Ellie/Buddy in every adventure they go on, and found myself getting angry at the characters that tried to hurt them. I almost never get emotional over a book, but that's how I know a book is good - when it can make me react so strongly to the plot.

Even if you don't like dogs, I highly suggest you pick this book up and start reading. It may give you a change of heart!

(I also found out that there's a SEQUEL to this book. I'm beyond excited to get my hands on it!)