House Lessons, by Erica Bauermeister
37/60 | Started 06.06.24 • Finished 06.15.24 | 3.75 stars
Began this one after reading Kristina Tucker's favorable recommendation on her Substack. I don't have a ton to say about it - though a good read for sure.
Words are like linguistic rooms to hold meaning, and, not unlike architecture, they can shape expectations.
It's an engaging read that pulls the reader along in almost the same step-by-step process as the Port Townsend home renovation at the center. Bauermeister seamlessly weaves the narrative in with (sometimes profound) reflections on marriage, writing, family, and architecture. I enjoyed this one more than most and would recommend it.
So many of us declare that we will not become our parents. But they are the house we are born into. Their lives, their rules, their loves are the walls that surround us, make us. No matter what, we will always be renovations, never a clean slate. The trick, as with any renovation, is keeping the good bones.
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