Run by Ann Patchett

I love love loved this book. Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors, so when it came up on the library's hold queue, I was very excited - "like your birthday or something," said Jo. I didn't even realize until I brought it home that it was set in Boston, a block from my house.

The story is about an affluent white family who adopts two black boys. The main story takes place within two or three days surrounding a car accident, but Patchett spans several decades of the story by taking us back into the history of the adoptive family and of the boys' mother. She experiments with ideas around family, success, and identity, all with a cast of characters that I couldn't help but root for. The writing, too, was superb.

I tried to explain the entire plot to Webster on a walk to brunch the other day. In doing so, I realized how complex the story was, and how much I liked that about the book, although I didn't notice that while I was reading it. I did get a kick out of reading a well-researched story set in my own neighborhood.