Mary Karr's Lit

Outside of teaching five sections of senior and AP English, I love of course to read for pleasure. It seems that summer is ideal, but because of my amazing book club of brilliant women, I picked up Mary Karr's latest memoir, Lit. I read Liar's Club years ago and most of her second work, Cherry. So when Lit was selected, I thought I knew enough about the author to see this third installation as one more part of her sequence to self discovery. I, however, must admit that this book of all three has such powerful images of pain and recovery that as a reader I saw almost too much -- her evaporating marriage, her wheezing toddler, her bouts with depression and the ever-present alcohol. Karr is a fine writer with a love of language that supercedes all. She chronicles relationships with such crisp prose that I left the book feeling I had grown up next door to these memories. And that is the magic of the written word.