Another Great Thing About Brooklyn

Is the library. I love libraries in general but Brooklyn's is particularly fantastic. In that other borough (Manhattan) to get a just-reviewed NY Times book you need to reserve it way in advance and then probably wait at least three months. In Brooklyn? Richard Price's new novel Lush Life was reviewed on a Saturday. I reserved it on Monday and got it the following week! Amazing. Our current hood is mere blocks away from the newly renovated central library, which is like the Rolls Royce of branches.

Lush Life was a great read, too. Price really captures the gentrification/ghettoization of the LES. I like how he makes his characters so complicated in their failures. Plus, the guy is terrific with details and dialogue. I can see why David Simon loved him as a Wire writer.

Now, I'm reading yet another recently NY Times novel that I got in record time from the library. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'm still on the first story, which is about a pregnant mom who moves across the country for her husband's job. I had to put it down when the character thinks about missing the ladies from prenatal yoga and fiending for an egg and cheese from the local bodega.