My book recommendation for the week

Since I read a lot, I'm always on the lookout for new titles to add to my pile of books to read. Because truly, it makes me very uneasy to not have several books waiting for me as I get close to finishing one. Sometimes I will hear about a book, put it on my library hold list, then promptly forget about it. It's always a fun surprise to discover what books have arrived for me. 

Such was the case with the book, The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt. No, as much as you might suspect this is yet another book related to the fiber arts, it's not. It's published by the New Directions Publishing Corporation under the Storybook ND label whose tag line is, "the pleasure of reading a great book from cover to cover in an afternoon." An afternoon might be stretching things. I read it in about an hour. Really, it's a short story in book form. 

I didn't know this when I put it on hold. It's probably a good thing, because I don't typically enjoy the short story form and would probably have passed it by. If I had I would have missed a really interesting story. The bare bones outline is that a 17 year old girl's parents disappear, at which point she discovered that they weren't her biological parents. Instead, she was an heiress and had been stolen by her supposed parents as a young child and her very large inheritance stolen. I really don't want to give anything else away. 

I highly recommend finding a copy and a free hour to read it. Then come back here and discuss it, because it is crying out for a really good book discussion. 

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