Bookworm

Blogpetitive, I know.

I read One Mississippi this week. I had Mom bring it down a few weeks ago because the next book in my pile was a bit depressing and I remembered Mom laughing her head off when she read this one. Well, I laughed too for about the first 1/4 of the book and then it takes a bit of a tragic twist. Daniel moves from Indiana to Mississippi in the early 1970's (the soundtrack to this book would be great). His observations on his family and fitting into the Deep South were witty and hilarious. And Daniel and his best friend taking the Frillinger twins (dogs, man!) to the prom to score sympathy votes from out-of-their-league girls along with the account rest of their Prom night was priceless. However, Prom Night is about their last carefree time together.

The racial issues were the most interesting. Nothing was (sorry) black or white in how the groups managed to be at school together in the early years of integration. No neat and clean Remember the Titans resolutions here. Childress (the author) turns things upside down. A tangent theme and the rest of the book revolves around another minority trying to make it out of Mississippi alive--homosexuals.

A good read overall and one I would recommend.

Next up--I'm halfway through Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking. And the kids and I went to the library yesterday while the house was being fumigated for fleas (in a house with no pets, I don't get this!). Can you believe that was the first time R's been to the library? They're going to revoke my English teacher card. She was nuts the whole time but managed to bring home a few books. I picked out No Roses for Harry (a follow up to Harry the Dirty Dog, one of my favorites) as well as The Book Thief and Black Swann Green. I'll let you know...