This week, you have a chance to win "Townie," a new memoir by Andre Dubus III, who also wrote the much-acclaimed "House of Sand and Fog."
If you liked any of his other works, you'll be intrigued by his life story. He was the son of a writer, Andre Dubus, but his father left the family for a sedate life on a leafy Masschusetts campus. Young Andre and his three siblings grew up nearby, in a run-down mill town where street violence and bar brawls were common.
Young Andre was lost as a kid, getting into trouble wherever he found it. Tired of being picked on, he transformed himself from a weakling to a street tough who wouldn't hesitate to leap into battle. But it's a dangerous lifestyle, with long odds for a happy ending.
I just finished reading the book myself, and enjoyed young Andre's journey, as he learned to channel his energies into writing rather than fighting. It's introspective, but not overly so. And though descriptions of his youthful surroundings were drawn with plenty of poetic license, that didn't bother me. His most touching writing involved his complicated relationship with his father, who was a fleeting, but lasting, influence.
As for last week's Freebie Friday winner, congrats to Cody, who gets a copy of "33 Men," the story of the 2010 Chilean mine rescue.