Shayne's Domain:

I have two great new book recommendations:

This is the very cool, inspiring, sort-of biography of American Greg Mortenson, who has devoted his life to building schools in the remote mountains of Pakistan.

From Publishers Weekly:
"Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts." (Mar.)
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a mercy by Toni Morrison

The latest book from one of my all-time favorite authors; a short, lyrical, but beautifully intense story.

From The Miami Herald:
“A grand tragedy writ in miniature . . . Women, men, Africans, Native Americans, whites, masters, slaves–all are cast into the hard world that is the New World in Toni Morrison’s lustrous new novel. In the same way, the Nobel Prize winner casts us into her hypnotic, many-voiced narrative set in the 17th century in a nation yet unformed. . . . We’re beguiled from the opening sentence: ‘Don’t be afraid.’ The speaker is Florens, black, barely out of childhood, a slave but literate, whose eager-to-please ways and lyrical language endear her to us and to the Virginia household of Jacob Vaark. . . . The subject of [A Mercy] is slavery, and [Morrison] brings to it, along with some of her most haunting language, elements of history and mythos. . . . A Mercy is kindled by characters who are complex and vulnerable, full of what she describes in Beloved as ‘awful human power.’ . . . This novel’s release coincides with the presidential election of Barack Obama, a shining moment in our country’s history of which Morrison’s characters can barely dream.”
–Ellen Kanner, The Miami Herald

Enjoy! And thanks for sending all your book recommendations. Keep 'em coming!

My super-cool stepmom, Lequice, retired this year, and for HER retirement she took all of US on a cruise! (I told you she was super-cool!). So Lequice, Papa-san, Paige, Britt, John (Lequice's son), Stephanie (John's wife), Melissa (Lequice's daughter), Ben (Melissa's wife), Kylie (Ben & Melissa's 2 1/2 yr old) and Jillian (Ben & Melissa's 7 mo old) ALL piled aboard a Carnival FunShip and set sail. Thanks to you ALL for such an amazing trip! I have the coolest family in the world!! (and this doesn't even include the other half of my coolest family in the world!) Lucky, lucky girl...Click here to see the fun! (oh, and for some reason, I can't get the photos to appear in the right order, but you still get the idea...)

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