In Love with Miranda July

For Mothers' Day, my husband gave me a book.

Please understand that this is the finest gift this girl can get. Oh sure, diamonds are nice and all, but give me pages and I'll be yours forever. Well, only if it's a good book, I guess.

He surprised me by looking about, finding this Web site, thinking, hey, Mj would like this, and ordering it to arrive before Moms' Day.

When I awoke that morning, he handed me Miranda July. Follow the link, damn it. I'll wait. You won't be sorry. If you don't laugh then you're DEAD.

So I spent a goodly (sorry, just spent a weekend in Williamsburg, Va.) amount of the day curled in a papasan chair devouring the book. Oh, and chocolate, because the boy bought me a Whitman's sampler. It was a DIVINE Mothers' Day.

Love the book. Love the husband. Love the kids. Sigh.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Some time ago, I wrote about The Kite Runner. It was, I said, the best book I'd read in quite awhile. What was interesting to me then, is that my husband and I had both read it, one after the other. We don't often read the same books or if we do, we don't feel the same way about them. The Kite Runner was different -- we both liked it equally well.

So when A Thousand Splendid Suns was released, my husband ordered it and began it the day it arrived. A few days later, he handed it to me to begin.

Books are very intimate objects. I do not share them lightly. For me, a book handed over to you in bed is the most appropriate exchange. Books, like gifts, should be carefully chosen; respected. When I give someone a book, it is beyond a handshake. It is significant. A gift of a book to me is one of the most cherished items I can receive.

I enjoyed Hosseini's second book -- not as much as the first -- and truly, it's one tragic event after another (I'm not spoiling anything here; most of the book takes place in Kabul). But tragedy, I appreciate, and a glimpse into another culture is not only fascinating but so important. We should learn something about the people who have lived with one war after another. It helps me appreciate the comfort I have, the security and freedom I take for granted daily.