2 summer reading suggestions

One of the joys of vacation, at least for yours truly, is the time it allows you to catch up on your leisure reading.

I have to admit I had a glut of books stacked up in the home office lately, waiting for me to get around to them.

Well, I finally finished two of 'em, one fiction and one non-fiction.

The first was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which won Junot Diaz a Pulitzer Prize for fiction last year. It is the story of a Dominican kid struggling to overcome an ancient family curse. Diaz peppers the story with amusing and edifying footnotes on Dominican history. While the book does have some dark themes, it is not one ye socks are likely to read and forget.

The second was Outliers, by pop sociologist Malcolm Gladwell, who presents some interesting theories on why certain people achieve amazing successes while others are doomed to failure. He peppers his arguments with great statistics and anecdotes that will really get you thinking. But, what I liked most about it was how Gladwell tied everything back to his own Jamaican ancestry in the last chapter.

So, if you're trying to put together your own summer reading lists in time for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, consider adding one or both of these books. You won't be disappointed!