My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff, 2014

My Salinger Year captures the feeling of having just graduated from college, still innocent about the world, believing that you are a grown-up when you are just starting to become an adult.

Rakoff's memoir begins with her half-haphazardly finding a job and being fortunate enough to work for a storied New York City literary agency. 

She is swept up in a new world that is her job, and struggles to live a life independent of her parents or ex-boyfriend from college.

The charm of the story includes her position as the assistant to the literary agent who represented J.D. Salinger, or Jerry, where she had the opportunities to talk with and even meet the famous recluse.

Part of Rakoff's responsibilities included reading the piles of passionate and touching honest fan letters to Salinger.  The agency, or Rakoff, was tasked with responding to the letters with generic form letters stating that it would not be able to forward the letter onto Salinger since Salinger did not wish to receive them.

Filled with anachronistic quirks such as using a typewriter when offices just started to convert to computers, My Salinger Year describes a New York City literary and publishing world that thrived before the internet, Kindles and e-books revolutionized and overturned the industry.

The story reminds me of my early jobs out of college.  And they were just jobs, not quite a career yet.  I was fortunate to work for Discovery Communications during the hay day of media when ad revenue streamed in, and then at The Washington Post when newspapers were still what everyone woke up to, especially on a Sunday morning.

After reading Rakoff's memoir, I think about how I should write about my years at The Post. 

The admiration when I told people that I worked for The Post, the record breaking advertising revenue years that I was a part of as a Marketing Manager, the Secret Service in the building lobby because the President or a visiting head of state was being interviewed in The Post's uber-executive conference room that had its own kitchen and serving maid.

How Warren Buffet held the door for me while he was at the building attending The Washington Post Company's Board of Directors meeting, how Denzel Washington's brother David worked in accounting and I was able to sit in during an Editorial meeting chaired by Len Downie.

There were so many amazing things that I did at The Washington Post, and I often forget how fortunate I was to be a part of such an institution.

1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC   20071

perfect timing by Jill Mansell, 2009

Jill Mansell books are always good reads. They're perfect for the beach or when I'm feeling particularly stressed and need an escape.

Witty and fast-paced, the books are filled with unique and clever characters. Despite predictable endings, there are many mini-twists along the way so the story never gets too tiresome.

Another reason I enjoy her books is because they are filled with English-isms - not just vernacular, but also pop culture references.

Since my fiance is English, it's fun to share the references with him.  For example: "Claudia slid out of the car and crept, Milk Tray-style, across the road."

I'm familiar with the reference because my fiance's mom had bought me a Cadbury Milk Tray for Christmas one year and the chocolates blew my mind.

My fiance then told me about the Milk Tray commercials, or adverts, that have been running for years where spies covertly and dramatically deliver Milk Tray.

perfect timing's cast of characters include Poppy Dunbar from Bristol, who moves to London and becomes flatmates with the artist Caspar French and socialite Claudia Slade-Welch.  Characters include the colorful jazz musician Alex and his wife Rita, her almost sister-in-law Dina McBride, and co-worker Jake, who Poppy gets to make over.

The story is fun, touching and a good place to spend a few days.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2013

One of The New York Time's top books of 2013, Americanah by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is observant, witty and provides a fresh voice not well represented in literature.

Americanah centers around Ifemelu, a girl who grows up in Nigeria and emigrates to the United States to study due to the continuous strikes at her local university in Nsukka.

Upon arriving in the United States, she struggles to find her footing, especially as she realizes that she has now become black, a concept that did not exist in Nigeria.

Ifemelu decides to start a blog where she captures her experiences and observations as an outsider, being a NAB (Non American Black), who is then thrust into the inside when she arrives in the States where she is grouped with ABs (American Blacks).

Obinze, Ifemula's first love, ends up emigrating to London where he starts over as Vincent Obi, a GB citizen willing to sell his National Insurance number so that Obinze can work.  Not only does Obinze become Vincent so that he can work and open a bank account, but also pays 35% of his salary from cleaning toilets and delivering furniture to Vincent as a fee.

One of the observations by Adichie is that Americans are often friendly to immigrants, but will make no effort to learn how to pronounce a foreign name.  Brits are surly and curt, but will make sure to pronounce a foreign name correctly.  I've experienced this many times, especially as I have worked with off-shore software development teams based in India.

By weaving the stories of two childhood love's emigration and eventual return to Nigeria, Americanah looks at race in America and illegals in the UK while providing a glimpse of Nigerians who are proud of their country (even if it may corrupt and full of 419 Nigerian Prince internet scams) and still struggling to come out of the shadows of the western world.