Dear Great Book Guru,  Last weekend, I was at a Father’s Day /Bloomsday celebration at Sea Cliff Beach with the Stroppels, the Abbenda-Hughes, and the DiPietros, when the conversation turned to books and parenting. Someone mentioned having read an horrific account of really bad parenting that was on the best sellers list for years. No one could remember the title but I would love to read it.  Any thoughts?                        Book Enthusiast

Dear Enthusiast, My book group just read THE GLASS CASTLE  by Jeanette Wallis and I am sure it is  the book your friends were trying to remember.  On the  New York Times Best Sellers list for five years, THE GLASS CASTLE tells the story of the Wallis family from the perspective of the middle daughter Jeanette who is now a  renowned journalist and novelist.  Her parents were eccentric to put it mildly- deeply disturbed would be a more accurate description.  Charismatic, handsome, flawed, the couple led a nomadic life- 27 homes in five years until finally settling in a small town in West Virginia where their family of six lived in a three room house with no electricity or indoor plumbing. The deprivations the children endured- little food, tattered, unwashed clothing, the barest of supervision- were interspersed with occasional moments of tremendous love, affection, and approval. The question which goes unanswered is how could the children survive and, in some cases prosper with such bizarre, erratic parenting.   A thought-provoking read!