Goal # 70 - Book # 3 - Look Me In The Eye - By John Elder Robison

My book for the month of March was called Look Me In The Eye by John Elder Robison. I was especially excited to read this book because it was a sort of autobiography of John's life with Aspergers. I have some experience with children on the Autism spectrum and I've always found Aspergers to be particularly interesting. Although Aspergers is a form of Autism, it manifests itself more in social awkwardness, rather than typical autism traits such as hand flapping, movie speak etc.

The book starts when John is just a small boy and it explains how everyone in his life just thought he was a bad kid, not paying attention. People told him he was rude and inconsiderate of others and that he would amount to nothing. In actuality, he has Aspergers, but Aspergers had not been identified as a condition until he was in his 30's and John didn't get diagnosed until he was in his 40's.

The book is written with a bit of dark humour behind it because he tells stories about things he did as a child from his perspective and he justaposes it with the way "typical" people would see the same situation, therefore, making a distinction between the two.

He delves into his family life, which was a family with tons of it's own issues. He dropped out of highschool at around 15 and through a series of events, started working for KISS designing the guitars used on tour. It turns out, John had a innate ability for all things sound and tech related. He couldn't relate to people, but when it came to these things, he was King.

Although the book was not laugh out loud funny, I did find John's writing to be quite humorous. I kept comparing the way he describes his interactions and thoughts with those of other children I know who have Aspergers. The similarities are eery.

It was a great read and also enlightening in regards to what I already know about Aspergers.

Live. Laugh. Love.

Goal #70 - Book #2 - Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire

So the book that I chose to read for February was Precious. I never saw the movie even though it's garnered lots of praise, including several Academy Awards. I just didn't think I was up for such intense subject matter.

The book deals with teen pregnancy, abuse, incest, rape...you name it, it's in there. It's a really short book, only about 180 or so pages and yet, it took me the entire month of February to read. I found the story extremely compelling and I was rooting for Precious the whole time, however I just couldn't handle the subject matter sometimes.

I frequently put down the book mid chapter, which I personally hate to do as it messes with my comprehension of the story.

Another thing I found disconcerting about the book was the way it was written. The book is written in the manner in which Precious thinks and talks so most of the book is not spelled correctly and frequently misuses grammer. It took a while to get used to, but eventually you get the hang of what Precious is saying.

It was a long month, but I finished the book with one day left to spare. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and am looking forward to seeing the movie so that I can compare the stories and the characters.

Live. Laugh. Love.