I also picked up three new books at the Saint Mark’s Bookshop this afternoon. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy, and Atonement by Ian McEwan. All three fulfill my summer quest to read books that are not written by or about white female twentysomethings living in urban areas, slowly coming to terms with who they are after years of heartbreak and sudden artistic discovery. As for Atonement, I think it’s the first book I’ve picked up in a long time that’s even written by a male. I’ve also been eyeing Z.Z. Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere since I started reading it in Barnes and Noble one afternoon while waiting for a friend to use the bathroom (yes, I go to B&N to use the bathroom and read the books without buying them), but right now it’s only in hardcover, and I’m a paperback kind of girl — out of necessity, mostly. I know I will plow through these three in the next few days. What else should be on the list?