Comments from the Book Discussion Group at DeSoto Library regarding our July 2010 selection:

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweetby Jamie Ford

The question was asked, “Would you recommend this book to someone else?”

This book was selected because it is the 2010 United We Read selection for the Kansas City Metro area. As often happens, what appeared at first to be a fairly simple story showed hidden depths during the discussion. The story raised penetrating questions about the nature of love, family, citizenship, and patriotism and how difficult it is to blend different cultures. The group would definitely recommend this book as a worthwhile look at the history of how the Japanese internment affected life in Seattle during World War II and how it impacted the lives of two families, one Chinese and one Japanese, during that difficult period in our country's history.