2005 books 103 and 104

ellen gilchrist's the anna papers
man, i hate when the description on the back of a book is totally inaccurate. luckily this book was better than its description: it's not about a woman's self-discovery after her sister's death, it's about that sister and her love for her family and various men and her attempts to unify one of her brothers and the daughter they never knew he had. i mean, the other sister does have some self-discovery or whatever, but it's only in the last 50 pages. who writes those things??

shan sa's the girl who played go
this was recommended to me as a sad read, but it was really so much more than that (and no worries, i didn't cry at the beach or anything). it's about a young chinese girl in the 1930s in the midst of all that political upheaval, and the japanese officer she encounters while playing go. both characters are vividly drawn and their struggles with the situations in which they are trapped are just heartbreaking.

today we dealt with another jellyfish attack--my sister's friend got it bad across the leg. yikes! i am definitely avoiding the ocean for the next few days!