var customerList = ( from e in XDocument.Load("customers.xml"). Root.Elements("customer") select new Customer { CustomerID = (string)e.Element("id"), CompanyName = (string)e.Element("name"), Address = (string)e.Element("address"), City = (string)e.Element("city"), Region = (string)e.Element("region"), PostalCode = (string)e.Element("postalcode"), Country = (string)e.Element("country"), Phone = (string)e.Element("phone"), Fax = (string)e.Element("fax"), Orders = ( from o in e.Elements("orders").Elements("order") select new Order { OrderID = (int)o.Element("id"), OrderDate = (DateTime)o.Element("orderdate"), Total = (decimal)o.Element("total") }) .ToArray() } ).ToList();