It took me forever to finish this book.  I actually read two other book while this was still 'in progress'.  I wanted to put just not read it so many times - put it down, donate it to the library- but something kept bringing me back to the stories inside.  Instead of being focused on one main plot line, this book is more a collection of short stories used as a way to gain insight into the main character.  My problem with it is, while on their own, these stories are interesting but don't provide enough depth or insight into the characters involved or in the main character we follow through the whole book.  I kept wanted to feel attached to the characters and kept wanting to care about them and maybe that's what drew me back - the want to care more and hoping that in some way this book would come through.  For me it didn't.  I am not sure why - maybe it was a cultural thing as the book is about an Arab American family.  I knew this going in but was hoping this would provide some sort of insight.... I did not, however, come away empty handed.  In the end, what I took from this book is a reminder that at times in our lives, we can become so focused on one thing that we miss so many others - it's important to keep an eye on the big picture along the way.

From the cover:  "After eighty-five long years, Fatimah Abdullah is dying, and she knows when her time will come.  In fact, it should come jst nine days from tonight, the 992nd nightly visit of Scheherazade, the beautiful and immortal storyteller from the epic "The Arabian NIghts."

Just as Scheherazade spun magical stories for 1,001 nights to save her own life, Fatima has spent each night telling Scheherazade her life stories, all the wihle knowing that on the 1,001st night, her storytelling will end forever.  But between tonight nad night 1,001, Fatima has na few loose ends to tie up.  She must find a wife fore her openly gay grandson, teach Arabic (and birth control) to her wayward seventeen-year-old great-granddaugher,  make amends with her estraged husband, and decide which of her troublesome children should inherit her family's home in Lebanon - a house she herself has not seen in nearly seventy years.  All this while under the surveillance of two bumbling FBI agents eager to uncover Al Qaeda in Los Angeles.

But Fatima's children are wrapped up in their own chaotic lives and disinterested in their mother or their inheritances.  As Fatima weaves the stories of her husband, children, and grandchildren, we meet a visionless psychic, a conflicted U.S. soldier, a gynecologist who has a daughter with a love of shoplifting and a tendency to get unexpectedly pregnant,  a Harvard-educated alcoholic cab driver edging toward his fifth marriage, a lovelorn mathcmaker and a Texas homecoming queen.  Taken in parts, Fatima's relations are  capricious and steadfast, affectionate and smothering, conneced yet terribly alone.  Taken all together, they present a striking and surprising tapester of modern Arab American life.

Shifting between the United States and Lebanon over the last hundred years, Alia Yunis crafts a bewitching novel imbued with great humanity,  imagination, and a touch of magical realism.  Be prepared to be utterly charmed

This is another book I my youngest son and I read together.  I loved this book and so did he.  And, of course, I loved spending the time we spent together reading chapters out loud to each other.

Book Description (from Vorman's Bookstore): "Hermux Tantamoq is an average mouse who works his watch shop by day and spends his evenings at home with Terfle, his pet lady bug  But all that changes when Linka Perflinger, a daredevil aviatrix, steps into his shop, drops off her watch for repair, and walks out with Hermux's heart.  Whe a a shady-looking rat tries to claim Linka's watch, Hermux knows that something must be terribly wrong, and embarks on a dramatic quest to find her..."

This book is set in a world in which all of the inhabitants are animals - rodents to be exact.  Mice, squirrels, moles, gophers all living together in a world like ours but there is never mention of humans.  It's a great bed time book because the chapters are short 2-3 pages each allowing for stopping points and reading 'just one more?' doesnt' mean more than 5 more minutes.  My son is ten and in the 5th grade. This book was a good fit for him.  It has new and challenging vocabulary but not too much of it that he got frustrated.  The story left of guessing what was going to happen next and many times compelled us to keep reading so we could try to solve the mystery.  It is a fun story.  We loved it so much we bought the 3 other Hermux Tantamoq Adventure books.  I highly recommend this book