The city of Chicago just announced their latest pick for the 'One Book One Chicago' (OBOC) program, and it's a doozy; it's the short-story collection Interpreter of Maladies by Pulitzer winner Jhumpa Lahiri. An Indian-American who hopped between Boston and Calcutta during her childhood, Lahiri's book is full of ambiguous, intriguing stories about the immigrant experience, both from the perspective of America and other countries; I've already read several of these stories in the past, and am looking forward to sitting down and reading the whole book.
For those who don't know, by the way, the OBOC series is a pretty cool thing, and something that's been perpetually popular here since introduced. The brainchild of the Chicago library system and our mayor, Richard Daley, about four times a year the city picks what it thinks is an intriguing piece of literature, then throws massive government resources into convincing the entire city to read the book at the same time. The series started off with a bang several years ago, with the selection of To Kill a Mockingbird, and has continued to be popular since; it's not unusual at all, for example, to ride a random el here and see five to ten people all reading the current OBOC selection at the same time.
By the way -- why yes, CCLaP would love to host a discussion club or other event concerning this book! If you're interested in hosting or organizing such an event yourself, with the center picking up the publicity costs and even helping you find a venue, by all means let us know. We're also very intersted in posting reviews of this book here at the website; those of you who are interested should feel free to contact us as well.