Digging to America - Anne Tyler

One of my favourite authors, and this book is one of my favourites of hers. The other favourite is Amateur Marriage. Digging to America is especially poignant, with many deftly written scenes - subtle nuances, unspoken hurts, human foibles. It's about the relationship between an American family and an Iranian American family, each of whom adopted a Korean child, and the different ways they bring the children up. Maryam, the mother of the man on the Yazdan (Iranian) side, is an interesting study. I could really relate to her reservations about her suitor, whom she described as taking up too much space - bringing electronic clutter, sound, too much talk, to her space. All the characters are sensitively portrayed, and one can't help but feel empathy for all of them. Acutely observed were the ways the Iranian Americans enjoy swapping anecdotes & marvelling about how "Americans" behave. Sounds like what some of us do here, swapping anecdotes about "Australian" behaviour. We are all more alike than we are different.

Ripe for the Picking - Annie Hawes

Loved the first one - Extra Virgin - so much that I bought the sequel. It's like revisiting old friends, the same idiosyncratic characters are back, and more tales of gorgeous food, yummy olive oil and home made wine and various mishaps and adventures. Plus a first date involving slapping cow dung onto an outdoor pizza oven. I enjoyed her meeting the 2 truant Maremma sheepdogs, just like our own Leo & Wilson.