The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir! When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. He promised his daughter that they would build a glass castle in the desert.  Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family or holding a job.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity.