No. 17

                   

I devoured these two books between Thursday and Sunday.

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories about people who "seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations" (from the description).  I picked it up on my friend Beth's recommendation.  In all the years we've been friends (since third grade!), she's never suggested a book I didn't like.  However, I loved this one.  The stories are poignant, but not in any formulaic way, and you won't easily forget them.  I went to the library and picked up a copy of Unaccustomed Earth to read next, and plan to read Lahiri's novel, The Namesake, as soon as it's available at the library.

I chose Sputnik Sweetheart mainly because I wanted to read 1Q84, but it was already checked out, and no other books by Haruki Murakami were available at my local branch.  This turned out to be a happy accident, because Sputnik Sweetheart was one of those books that you race through, even while it makes you pause and ponder.  However, I feel like I missed some of what was going on--not the events themselves, but their significance, as if some of the story was over my head (and, considering the references to semiotics, it probably was over my head).  Still, it's an incredible book, and I look forward to reading more of Murakami's novels in the future.

So...what have you been reading lately?