Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight - no, I don't know why Alexandra Fuller's book has that title. However, I just finished it for my book club earlier this week.

On the cover was a review from Newsweek stating "This is not a book you read just once, but a tale of terrible beauty to get lost in over and over."

Which I have to tell you is not the way to get those of us who are squeamish to read the book. The bookseller made a similar statement when I purchased it. They are both right. This is a beautifully written, stream of consciousness book about a horrible childhood. Alexandra Fuller's parents lived in several African countries while she was growing up. Most of them inside a war zone. And, they lost three of their five children in early childhood; the parents were both alchoholic; the parents (especially the mother) were looking for a racist ideal. And, yet, this book you can't put down. The bizzare world of the author seems normal in her eyes.

It is a commentary on the fact that what we know is normal, even when it itsn't from the outside. And, warts and all, we usually love our family, and can see the irony in our childhoods. And, suprisingly enough (for the squeamish me) - she says that Africa is a part of her, and that she yearns for it when she's not there.

It is a book of terrible beauty, and I can see myself rereading it. But, don't say I didn't warn you