A Couple Great Reads

I read a couple of great books recently that are worth recommending.

Book #1: The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This book is really popular so I'm not going to bother really introducing it.  Just wanted to add my 2 cents that it's totally worth reading.  Heart-warming, an extremely interesting piece of our history, a kind tribute, hopeful, and page-turning.  If you haven't joined this reading bandwagon, you should.


Book #2: Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love by Myron Uhlber
This one you've likely never heard of.  My mother-in-law recommended it to me, and I'm so glad!  If you've ever been interested in the deaf community, you'll like this book.  If you enjoy observing how other people parent, you'll like this book.  If you find turn-of-the-century-immigrants-living-the-American-dream inspiring, you'll like this book.  I highly recommend it!  Here's a little snippet that I love:

"From the time I was a small child, I was struck by how often my father would hold me, for no reason that I could ever understand.  On my block, this was quite noticeable, even to a young kid like me.  In that time, men had the socially accepted role of 'breadwinner.'  They were not the nurturers of our young lives.  That role was reserved for our mothers... But this was not the case with my father.  At the end of his workday, he would drop to his kness when he saw me, and hold me closely, as if I had been lost, and then found.

After that first embrace he would hold me at arm's length, looking me over long and deeply.  On his face I would detect a look of mild surprise, a look I could never decipher.  No signs were exchanged between us.  All that I needed to understand how much my father loved me was the feel of his arms around me.  He spoke, and the language I heard was the language of his touch."