The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot DiazThis is the long awaited first novel from one of the most original and memorable writers working today. Things have never been easy for Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight, lovesick Dominican ghetto nerd. From his home in New Jersey, where he lives with his old world mother and rebellious sister, Oscar dreams of becoming the Dominican J. R. R. Tolkien and, most of all, of finding love. But he may never get what he wants, thanks to the fuk the

'Frighteningly plausible science fiction

What she doesn't know about love could fill a book

an officer

It covers the tumult of the Chinese Revolution and the dramatic changes in political policies since the 1970s right up to the present day

overshadowed by the archers’ past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world

deftly straddles two worlds: she is Chinese

P – pantry

for answers to the fundamental questions of life

For however unexceptional James—an average student

he became a hedge fund partner in his 20s

Two of their grown children think he's probably guilty

He sees the infuriating human rage for order and recognises the meaninglessness of his own existence