Two Stupendous Reads

Without any trouble at all, I have managed to rip through two incredible books this week.  I couldn't put either one of them down -- they both had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, and I highly recommend both.

Jeanine Cummins' novel American Dirt puts the plight of the undocumented immigrant into the harsh glare of the spotlight.  It reminded me very much of Steinbeck's magnum opus The Grapes of Wrath.  Apparently there is some controversy over this book, but I am of the opinion that it is a story that needed to be told, and I don't really have a problem with the fact that the author is not of Latin American extraction.

William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace is beautifully written -- a bildungsroman cum murder mystery that had me completely absorbed from the very first page.  It reminded me of another great novel -- Delia Owens' Where The Crawdads Sing.  Many thanks to Paula (Subjunctive) for sending me this terrific read!