Mark Haddon's The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is fabulous--don't be put off by the fact
that it can be bought at Costco! It's a well-written, fast read...but I don't want
to say anything else because to say more would be to ruin it!
Survey says: 
Dreaming in
Cuban by Cristina Garcia will always be one of my favorite books in general,
but her latest, Monkey Hunting
tells a story of a group of immigrants not often seen in modern fiction:
Chinese immigrants to Cuba. It's a slow, gracefully told tale. It's also a fast
read, but when you're in grad school and struggling to read something other than
academic articles, quick reads are all you've got time for!
eryka.com thinks this gets a 
Continuing with the immigrant experience thing (eryka.com seems to read things on a
thematic basis), eryka.com recently read The Interpreter
. Initially difficult to get into (which this reader ultimately decided was an
effective plot device), the book ably illustrates the confusion many immigrants
face as they struggle to figure out how to live life in a new place.
In the end, eryka.com rated this
Other books and authors to consider are Chang-Rae Lee's A Gesture
Life and Native
Speaker; Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Sister of My
Heart and
Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of
Maladies. These should be good to start with!
eryka.com orientation 101:
Where would eryka.com be without the scale?
All of the book reviews have the following scale:
So good you just can't
stand it.
Almost that good.
Sort of good.
Generally a waste of time.
Destined for the recycler.
The most complete section thus far -- and by far -- is the fiction section.
If you'd like to review a book, by
all means click here
eryka.com orientation 202
Associateships:
The founder and runner of eryka.com (Eryka) is a temp, and has no money. So
eryka.com has associated itself with both amazon.com and Powell's books. The
indie bookseller supporter in me would like everyone to support Powells, but
she will take whatever you give.
and to reiterate?
If you aren't a woman in your twenties or thirties, you are most welcome to
look -- but you can't touch.
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rights reserved.
