Short reads have been requested for the next book, so here goes. Tell me what you think. -------------------------------------------------- Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan - 272 pgs The tale of a real-life immigrants' enclave in early 20th-century California. In the mining town of Locke outside Sacramento, Richard Fong's Lucky Fortune casino and Poppy See's brothel provide the only entertainment for Chinese workers sending their wages back to the families they can't bring into the country. For Chloe, a white prostitute who is Richard's favorite, it's also a place to hide from her family just a few towns over. Mired in the past, the town's residents are jolted into the present when three strange Chinese women, including Richard's long-lost wife, arrive during the Dragon Boat Festival looking for their husbands. ---------------------------------------------------------- Everything Happens Today by Jesse Browner - 224 pgs. Everything Happens Today tells the story of one critical day in the life of Wes, a brainy, deep-feeling student at Dalton, in New York. The book has already has drawn comparisons to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man... ---------------------------------------------------- This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman - 256 pgs When fifteen-year-old Jake Bergamot receives—and then forwards to a friend—a sexually explicit video that an eighth-grade admirer sent to him, the video goes viral within hours. The scandal that ensues threatens to shatter his family’s sense of security and identity—and, ultimately, their happiness.