january: 1 & 2

uh, yep.  i'm just now posting this.  sorry, friends!  in january i read two books:

these is my words, by nancy e. turner (my aunt monica recommended this to becky, who bought it for mom last year, and i borrowed it this fall…it's a fictional diary of a woman on the arizona frontier in the 1800s.  some of it seemed just TOO convenient - you know how some fictional stories manage to have characters that experience EVERYTHING a person at the time could possibly experience?  this is sort of one of those stories.  but it was a real page turner and i very much enjoyed it and kept going to bed early so i could read many pages before i fell asleep at night.  you know i love historical fiction.  i recommend this book!)

the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian, by sherman alexie (my school is doing a young adult book club for teachers this year, and this was our january read.  it's a semi-autobiographical story of a spokane indian teenager who decides to go to the mostly-white high school near the reservation instead of the reservation school.  because it's a young adult book it's a very quick read, and there are little cartoon-y illustrations throughout that are supposed to be done by the main character.  it's sad and uplifting and funny and quirky and irreverent at times and a look into a totally different culture.  i'm so glad the librarian chose it for us to read!)