Picked up for 25p at Trimley School Boot Sale

Couldn't really get into this, I'm not as keen on Anne Tyler as I used to be.
Putting into catrionamoore's Never Judge A Bookbox

Caught out of the bookbox 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' TBR and passed on.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending on to Plum-Crazy with a ringed book. I was guilty of Wish-list surfing m'Lud! 2nd Class with another 11th February 2008

What a lovely surprise......a book from my wishlist has snuck it's way in with a ring....Thanks so much Sterile...you're going on my "Wall of Fame"!

Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport—the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam’s fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an “arrival party,” an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined.

Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife’s death, suddenly all the values she cherishes—her traditions, her privacy, her otherness—are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded.


A lovely and amusing look at adoption....not only the story of Jin-ho & Susan's adoption but Maryam's adoption of a new country as her own as well.

The two families become steadily closer as the children grow - although competition becomes rife between the two new mothers as they each try to out-do each other at the annual "arrival party"!

All the characters are well written & really come to life but my favourite character has to be little Xiu-Mei...the chapter on the "Pacifier Party" couldn't have had a better ending - I loved it (see page 249 & I'll say no-more...I don't want to spoil it for future readers!)

Thanks for sharing this Sterile, it's been a pleasure to read.

Read as part of the 2009 REDUCE MOUNT TBR CHALLENGE (#17)
& the 2009 ULTIMATE CHALLENGE (Garden themed read for March - well, you dig in your garden :o))

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to wibba

2009 RABCK RELEASE CHALLENGE (#16)
2009 KEEP THEM MOVING CHALLENGE (#8)

This is not a book I would normally buy but it looked entriguing and I have enjoyed reading it. Thats the beauty of bookcrossing I guess. Will check wishlist or RABCK it.

This book arrived after ONE YEAR in the post! It seems the British Royal Mail are still catching up on their mail backlog a year ago! Thank you very much wibba for sending me this book as a sweepstake prize which we thought had got lost! Thanks also for the pretty postcard you enclosed with roses on it.

A great read. I decided I will let this book go travelling.

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