Jhumpa Lahiri

The next title on my "to-read" list is Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book, The Lowland, because she never fails to disappoint -- I honestly believe that if she wrote a technical manual on lawnmowers it would still be poetic.  I first read her debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies when I was in college, and it's a book that's stuck with me over the years.  Her description and use of language draws the reader in, and it's impossible not to become fascinated with and even care deeply for the characters she introduces you to.  Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000, and consists of nine short stories exploring issues of identity, love, and humanity -- all the good stuff.  Also be sure to check out her other titles, The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth.  HM

buzzzz for Little Bee...

recommended read and a starred review by Booklist---Little Bee, smart and stoic, knows two people in England, Andrew and Sarah, journalists she chanced upon on a Nigerian beach after fleeing a massacre in her village, one grisly outbreak in an off-the-radar oil war. After sneaking into England and escaping a rural “immigration removal” center, she arrives at Andrew and Sarah’s London suburb home only to find that the violence that haunts her has also poisoned them. In an unnerving blend of dread, wit, and beauty, Cleave slowly and arrestingly excavates the full extent of the horror that binds Little Bee and Sarah together. A columnist for the Guardian, Cleave earned fame and notoriety when his first book, Incendiary, a tale about a terrorist attack on London, was published on the very day London was bombed in July 2005. His second ensnaring, eviscerating novel charms the reader with ravishing descriptions, sly humor, and the poignant improvisations of Sarah’s Batman-costumed young son, then launches devastating attacks in the form of Little Bee’s elegantly phrased insights into the massive failure of compassion in the world of refugees. Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself.---Seaman, Donna Copyright 2008 BooklistDistributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc. CKW