read this book

this book?  it’s a good one.

i first read Ann Patchett when we lived in the jungle.  Bel Canto was so popular…there was no way i could be interested in it 😉  but then i lived in the middle of the rainforest without electricity or tv or a wireless connection.  there was only one other English speaker in our village.  and we talked alot.  but i also read many books.  big books–Moby Dick, War and Peace.  important books–Small Is Beautiful.  but so many books i never would have chosen had i a library card in hand.  Cold Mountain, Snow Falling on Cedars, Bel Canto–there’s a reason they were popular.  good, good stories, lush descriptions, lovely language that gave breath to the characters.  as much as i liked Patchett’s most decorated book, her Patron Saint of Liars is still my favorite.  a Catholic home for young mothers?  it’s not surprising that i was drawn to it.

(this is Ann in the snow that’s almost a character in its own right.)  Run is populated with Catholics as well.  and there are a few descriptions of the religious life that rival Mark Saltzman’s Lying Awake. descriptions that make me swoon.  descriptions that make me want to be a nun.

so go check this one out.  it’s a good day spent in its pages.