i am reading..

i can't say this about too many authors but i have long appreciated anne tyler's work and have read every single one of her seventeen novels. i started off with the accidental tourist which, was an accidental find, i picked it up at st pancras station, london as we were off to amsterdam via nottingham and i had nothing to read on the train. i'm not the sort of person who can travel without reading materials. what i remember of the book are the characters, tyler creates believable people which, for me, is key to a good read.

i had no idea what this book was about when i chose it, i picked it up purely based on my enjoyment of her previous work. it' relates story of two very different families who forge a friendship based on one common thread; their adoption of a korean baby. it's a modern novel which relates how cultures mesh and collide, and the sub plot of life after 9/11 and how it has affected some people more in less overt ways.

cultural adjustment is a topic close to my own heart, seeing as i have lived in 4 different countries. another book i read recently revealed that immigrants usually love their adopted country with a passion and it is their children who yearn to discover more about their parents' roots. this is obviously relevent to me and my family, my husband and i are both from different countries and our son was born in a third. perhaps in some way this contributes to my feelings of unsettlement. i can only guess at where he will chose to live his life.

a little r and r

this is where we spent the labor day weekend, i guess this was our summer holiday. in case you didn't immediately recognise it, it is waterton park in southern alberta, a few more miles south and we could have driven into the u.s.a. but we didn't. we did have a few relaxing days though.