bookshelves

For Christmas, I obviously get a lot of books. Here's what I've gotten/read so far:

--Ann Tyler, Digging to America (from Mel): the title is a take off on the idea of kids "digging to China." One of the little girls in the book asks her grandfather is kids in China "dig to America."
The story follows two couples, Bitsy and Brad Donaldson and Sami and Ramia (I think that's her name, anyway), who have each adopted a little girl from Korea. Sami and Ramia are Iranian immigrants (Sami was born in America, while his wife immigrated in high school), while the Donaldsons are born and bred Baltimore residents. The novel chronicles the families' interconnections, their very different child rearing approaches, and how they interact as couples and with their families.
Tyler does an excellent job demonstrating the family dynamics and presents many varied, rich characters for our dissection. The author of Back When We Were Grown-ups and The Accidental Tourist does another great job here.

--Charles J. Shields, Mockingbird: (bought at the Book Loft): A biography (published last year) about the life of reclusive writer Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird and friend of Truman Capote (who did a great deal of unacknowledged work on his most famous work, In Cold Blood). The biography is richly detailed, especially considering that Lee wasn't interviewd for it, and covers her live in Monroeville, her family background, her time at college, her work on In Cold Blood, time in New York City, the writing of Mockingbird and the film adaptation, and her life after the novel. A good read, with a few pictures, and paints a very nice picture of the witty, solitary Lee.

--The Daring Book for Girls(Bubby got me this): This is awesome! You MUST buy this book if you are a girl, have girls, know girls...whatever! It covers basic things like how to change a tire and first aid, as well as basic sports rules (basketball, etc.), history (a list of female queens/PMs, etc.), royalty, and other great things. It is simply awesome!