I am probably the last adult in the U.S. to have read ANGELA'S ASHES. I only finished it Thursday. Wow. I had known I would need the sequel, 'TIS, instantly, so I bought it on Tuesday. My sister gave AA to me. Then the Bee had 'TIS as its book club book last month, but I wanted to read AA first, and had misplaced it. I finally found it last week. (There are LOT of books in this house!)

ANGELA'S ASHES is still #42 on Amazon.com's list. ('TIS is #12.) They are both memoirs: AA till McCourt was 19 and went to the U.S. and 'TIS from then for the next 30 years. Necessarily, the second book isn't as detailed as the first. There are times in the second I agree with his girlfriend, that he'd stop whining. I didn't like the second book as well as I had the first, but I didn't expect to (I always like the "child" part of stories better, such as Jane Eyre, and Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, etc.) I liked it well enough to recommend it, for sure.

The title of the first book is explained in the last chapter of the second one. I knew his mother, who was trying to keep the family alive despite Dad drinking the dole money, was the main character, but the "ashes" part? Dad, ah Dad. I met people like this while working with the homeless. He drank it all, they put it all in their noses or veins, but there's nothing left for the people who depend on them, no matter what their original good intentions. Ireland in the 30s and 40s had fewer resources to help the poor than we have here. I've sat in Welfare offices and it was pretty awful, but not as bad as the Dispensary with the old men making snide comments about "these people." When McCourt's Dad died, he had "a formal feeling." Still, you could tell he always loved the old man and wanted him to be a better father. He wanted him to himself. He was willing (from the age of 3 or so) to "die for Ireland" since that's what his father expected of him.

AA is a very sad book. 'TIS should be more cheerful, but occasionally I wanted to shake some sense into the author. He finally landed on his feet, almost despite himself. He discovered he could use Saturday morning cartoons and personal memoirs to reach the teenagers he taught, and one of his students suggested he write a book. I'm very glad he did.

I was two pounds down from last week, which leaves 10 pounds to lose in the next 7 weeks. I walked maybe 8 miles, and did not much else.