Lesbia, one of the teachers here, is a big basketball fanatic. Today after school, she and I teamed up against six or eight kids to play a game with the one basketball hoop here in the dirt field of La Senda. I don't know who was winning when the kids left for dinner, but we had great fun. Between Lesbia's contagious (and continuous) laughter, Caleb's tall reach stealing the ball from me 75% of the time, Steven's attempts at dribbling, Jef's passing-the-ball-under-his-leg trick (quite hysterical, considering he's probably 3.5 feet tall), and Wagner's steadier shots, it was an entertaining afternoon (and a good bit of exercise for me).
Finished reading Pigs in Heaven last night. Great book! I wasn't a huge fan of the first book, Bean Trees, but maybe it's all a matter of timing in life. Pigs is about Taylor, a near thirty woman, who has adopted a Native American girl quite unintentionally--the girl's aunt gave the toddler girl to Taylor at a restaurant on the side of the road in Oklahoma. Four years later, Taylor finds herself at the mercy of a Native American lawyer and the Council who say that the girl was illegally adopted. Taylor runs from her problems, but with the help of her mom who decides to live in the Native American community to try to covertly investigate and underwstand the situation better, she eventually deals with it. Not only is it a captivating story with characters I could vividly imagine sitting at the kitchen with me, the writing is beautiful. Barbara Kingsolver is a master at description and comparisons, clearly painting pictures in my head and helping me envision the southwest--somewhere I've never been. Very enjoyable read.
Wish I could say the same for Wish You Well--not my favorite read by any means. The writing got in the way of the story. Perhaps it's that it's not the right time--maybe ten or fifteen years ago I would have enjoyed it more. I hope my next-year's sophomores are enjoying it.
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