December 12th: A Good Book

What did you do to celebrate the momentous 12-12-12?  

I am normally all for auspicious dates but totally forgot until five minutes before when Ben called to remind us.  Had I realized what day it was earlier we would have done something spectacular!

Reading a good book, by the light of the Christmas tree, with Christmas music playing quietly in the background, is one of my very most favorite things to do.

I finished Inside Out & Back Again tonight-- a most delightful and touching book.  The book reads very quickly--a few hours at most.  The story is based on the author's life experiences of having to leave Saigon during the Vietnam War and move to Alabama as a refugee.  She sums up the book with "No one would believe me but at times I would chose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama."  The book is a series of journal entries and is charming.  I fell in love with Vietnam during our visit there and am amazed by Vietnamese people and their strength and resilience.  We bought our mini-van from a Vietnamese gentleman who emigrated here during the war and then eventually sponsored his whole family so they could come emigrate as well.  I immediately knew when we called about the van that he was from SE Asia and really enjoyed learning more about him on our test drives.

I've read several books set in this time period and I think enjoyed this one the most.  This book gives you a great idea and perspective of life there during the war and the refugees' struggles emigrating but it wasn't too depressing or dark.  I delighted in her descriptions of life both there and here.  It's so easy for us to think everywhere else is SO foreign and odd.  But what a strange and somewhat annoying place the states would be to someone coming from there.  Her descriptions of learning English, their "cowboy" sponsor, and the way we process chicken (KFC) were particularly funny.

I highly recommend the book if you are looking for something to read.