Tonight at the downtown public library Dinaw Mengestu is going to be giving a talk and I am looking forward to it. I haven't read his newest book <i>All Our Names </i>yet, but I am looking forward to it. Dinaw Mengestu writes such lively prose so I am excited to hear him speak. I hope that he is as engaging in person as he is on the page.

I've found myself devouring books on the immigrant experience recently. I think in large part it has to do with my interest in issues related to living in a foreign space where one is an outsider because she doesn't speak the language flunetly, isn't familiar with the history or politics and doesn't have a shared culture or sense of humor.

I've returned home after five years abroad and now my reading list is full of books about life in America. I steal many of my suggestions from Petya Grady who is blogging at <a title="The Migrant Book Club" href="http://www.themigrantbookclub.com/" target="_blank">The Migrant Book Club</a> but I've been building my own list browsing at bookstores and reading widely print and new media book reviews.

What's on my list?