From the Timaru Rotary Booksale.

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A fascinating but very odd memoir of growing up in small-town America in the 1950s. Cathy's childhood is by no means an average one - she starts working in her father's pharmacy when she is 4, her mother refuses to cook so they eat all their meals in restaurants, and she's the only high-jumper in the state athletic competitions whose coach is a Mother Superior. She writes about all these situations, and more, in a style that is light and funny, but at the same time shows you just how painful being different can be.

My one gripe is that, because the book is divided into themed chapters rather than telling her story linearly, the story jumps back and forth through time - not in itself a problem, but she's not always clear about when things happened, so I often found myself flicking back through the pages trying to work out how events fitted together chronologically, or even just what age she was when something happened.

The ending is a bit sudden, too, but otherwise a really enjoyable book.

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I was sitting in Northlands mall today, waiting for some other bookcrossers to show up for a meetup, when a couple of women walking past commented on the huge pile of books sitting on the table. Of course, I had to use the opportunity to explain Bookcrossing, and gave them a couple of books to take away with them.

Hope you enjoy reading them!

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