On Reading - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The thing about an amazing book is that it creates a world in which you inhabit for the length of its pages.  People either look like you, act like you or are you.  If you aren't running around barefoot in its pages then you certainly know the person who is.

Upon reading the first two pages I knew I might have a slight anxiety about reading a book that contained little liendres (lice) of F bombs.  Yet, we as readers/writers must always remain open minded about such things.  If not, what good are we?  I also didn't want to succumb to the hype (you know us writer types).  Como quiera I dove in and I got a crash course in the history involving a Dominican Republic run by Trujillo and quickly caught on to the lingo as my grandparents use it a lot although they are not Dominican (I think).

Now I am hooked like grandma on a Sunday afternoon with alcohol in one hand and a towel in the other, yanking out liendres and popping them in between the nails of her thumbs waiting to hear the crack that reassured you that it would no longer inhabit the nests of your hair.  And although it was gross to the rest of the world, it was highly addicting.

Books like this remind me of why I write.  Thank you, Junot Díaz.