Book #1 Post #1

 What Book and Why

The first book I chose to read is Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, by Brian Cox. I selected this book for a couple of reasons, but the most basic of these being that I recognized Brian Cox from HBO’s series Succession. Although I have not watched the entire season, I have watched several episodes here and there with my family and thoroughly enjoyed it. The second reason I chose this book is because I like reading about people who become successful after surviving a tough childhood. I find books like this enticing because you get to see what people experienced throughout their childhood, how they overcame hardships, and who they end up becoming. My final reason for choosing this biography is because of the brutally honest and gossipy remarks that are scattered throughout this book. Books like this always make reading much less boring and much more exciting.

What I’ve Learned and My Impressions So Far

After reading several chapters, I have learned a lot about Brian’s childhood and the difficulties he encountered. Growing up in Dundee, Scotland as the youngest of five children, was anything but easy for Cox. To say he had a rather grim upbringing seems to be an understatement. At the age of just eight years old, Brian’s entire life was falling apart. Not only did Cox have to cope with the recent loss of his father – who succumbed to pancreatic cancer, but also had to deal with his deranged mother’s mental health struggles. His mother, scarred by five births and five devastating miscarriages, would frequently vanish for weeks on end, leaving Brian in his older sister’s care. However, while attempting to escape his reality, Cox discovered a new place of refuge, a place where he felt the most like himself– the theater. Even though the book has been quite a sad story thus far, his humorous stories make it all worth it.