Birthday Book Recs 42/50 : Who’s Irish? by Gish Jen
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Birthday Book Recs: 42/50
Who’s Irish? by Gish Jen
Let’s add a short story collection to this list, shall we?
I’ve written about Gish Jen several times (and if you are reading this on my website, I can just link here here here here so you can see)…what else is there to add about this consistently funny, consistently nuanced, and consistently observant chronicler of the ways different generations feel when that tug of “assimilation” comes calling…but also just American life in general?
Jen’s been consistently writing, publishing, and receiving positive reviews + critical acclaim for 40 years. (Her first novel, Typical American, was published in 1986.) If you fancy yourself an aficionado of American literature but haven’t read anything by Gish Jen, who has received numerous awards and accolades, then…I think you perhaps have a big blind spot in your repertoire.
I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her (although in fairness, my enjoyment of the somewhat dystopian novel The Resisters was a little more tempered), but this 1999 story collection titled Who’s Irish? might be a perfect place to start for a newbie.
{Pic below is from MetroWest Readers Fest because I’m still so delighted by that accomplishment. And yes, I’m apparently doing the sorority squat in that last pic, which I tend to do when I’m standing next to someone with a substantial height difference. Sigh, one day I’ll learn…}
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
originally published on instagram