Room

I got sidetracked from digging up my Russian authored books from the basement due to a friend's post on Facebook, and I am now currently reading (via audiobook) Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue. The uniqueness of the story and the way it is narrated has me hooked but the subject matter is tough - I'm praying for a righteous ending. As a woman and mother myself, it is truly a nightmare. In this novel, 5-year-old Jack and his "Ma," are held captive in a single room, which itself becomes a character in the story as much as Jack and Ma, along with all of its contents: bed, rug, wardrobe, spoon, etc. Jack was born in "room" and thus he knows nothing of the outside world. Ma does an amazing job creating an interesting life for Jack in room, but after he turns five, Jack begins to ask a lot of questions and Ma must slowly explain to him their situation, that the people they watch on TV are real and live outside of room, a concept that is very difficult for Jack to understand. Anyone familiar with the true story of Josef Fritzl who held his daughter, Elisabeth, captive for 24-years in the cellar of his home in Austria and fathered seven children with her, will no doubt find Room an eerie reminder of that sickening true story.

Th physical books I am reading at home these days include: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, Baby Minds: Brain-building Games Your Baby Will Love by Linda Acredolo, PhD, and The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim.  With an almost 4-year-old and 6.5 month old at home, I am all about enrichment of the mind!