The Liars’ Club

In November, Katie and I spent a lovely weekend in Austin and San Antonio. So I used the trip, and the month leading up to it, as an excuse to read Texasy things.

Among them, Mary Karr's The Liars' Club, a memoir of growing up in a tumultuous Texas household where family members found themselves debating which squabbles various bullet holes in kitchen walls belonged to. "Mother, isn't that where you shot at daddy?" "No, that's where I shot at Larry... Over there's where I shot at your daddy."

This exchange, which takes place on the very first page, sets us up for a wild, nearly unbelievable ride. Karr is a maddeningly brilliant wordsmith who has a wonderful sense of humor and possibly the most vivid memory of anyone alive. She's also experienced a lot of trauma (including sexual abuse), which she describes bluntly, so caveat lector.