The Tortilla Curtain
 

The Tortilla Curtain

by T.C. Boyle

While leading their lives in their gated hilltop community in Los Angeles, Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher accidently meet Mexican illegal aliens Ca+a7ndido and Ame+a7rica Rinco+a7n, and their encounter brings them together in a relationship of error and misunderstanding. Reprint. (read review)

Top tags: fictioncontemporary fictioncaliforniamexicoimmigrants (all tags)

Overview: Groups

Pacific Northwest 97 books / 51 members / 42 posts This group is for those who enjoy books about history, culture, nature, recreation and travel in the incomparable Pacific Northwest!
Brilliant Babes (And Dudes) Who Read Selectively 641 books / 166 members / 7796 posts So, what makes you a selective reader? If you like Dan Brown, Danielle Steele, Nicholas Sparks, or similar works, you MAY not be into this club. We are a group of intelligent persons who love both thought-provoking literature and quality brain candy. Actually, I mainly started it for myself and my friends, but anybody can apply if you think you're down with the Brilliant Babes--just send someone a note explaining why YOU think you are a brilliant babe (or dude) who reads selectively. This is a super-casual group. Anybody can suggest a book to read, anybody can add books to the reading list. We welcome any and all intelligent book discussion (not to mention whining about books we hated or gushing about books we loved). And don't worry if you have a really embarrassing book on your shelves...we all have skeletons in the closet.

To ask for an invite please DO NOT use the admin message box, leave a note on the profile pages of either rob or Suze...we will get back to you as soon as we can...thanks for your patience...and if you insist on asking for an invite via the group admin message box you will be ignored...so don't. Also, please remember that, although we TRY to get to everyone's requests in a timely manner, we do have other responsibilities that sometimes delay us from looking at your shelves. Your patience will be rewarded

A note about being snobs: As hard as it is to believe, with all of the nice people here on Shelfari, we get an e-mail once every week or two saying that we are snobs. That really just depends on your definition of a snob. Yes, this is a private group. Yes, we jokingly call ourselves brilliant. Yes, we have rather defined reading tastes that cut out a lot of mass-market fiction. Does that truly make us snobs? We hand-picked many members of our initial group around what we like to read or think we'd like to read. I don't think this makes us so much snobs as "people who want to discuss the kind of stuff that they like to read and don't care to discuss stuff that they don't like to read." (shrugs) We're pretty accepting. So, before sending us mean e-mails, see above for the joining process. And just remember: If you don't make it in, you probably haven't read the same books that we've all read and we'd have nothing to talk about!

A special note from the admin: We want everyone to have a great time here. All we expect is that everyone plays nice! Good-humored sarcasm is in; putting down or harassing our members is not, and we won't hesitate to remove a repeat offender from the group.

Note on the threads: please feel free to go back and resurrect any of the earlier threads that you find interesting...

Our One and Only Love List...

Love in the Time of Cholera...Gabriel Garcia Marquez (J.M.)
Pride and Prejudice...Jane Austen (littlemom)
Jane Eyre...Charlotte Bronte (AthenasDaughter)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...Betty Smith (Dana)
A Room With a View...E.M. Forster (Kiki)
To Kill a Mockingbird...Harper Lee (unfinished woman)
The Virgin Suicides,,,Jeffrey Eugenides (ballroom pink)
Dragonfly in Amber...Diana Gabaldon (Aimeesue)
Watership Down...Richard Adams (rob)
Persuasion...Jane Austen (AvidReader)
The Once and Future King...T.H.White (Alicia)
The Sound and the Fury...William Faulkner (katie)
Gone with the Wind...Margaret Mitchell (dickensfan)
The Forsythe Saga...John Galsworthy (cubachick)
Catcher in the Rye...J.D. Salinger (gbett)
Fall On Your Knees...Ann Marie MacDonald (HemingwayHeroine)
Return of the Native...Thomas Hardy (Aaro)
Fight Club...Chuck Palahniuk (Tania B.)
The Great Indian Novel...Shashi Tharoor (ophelia)

Reading The Three Musketeers: The Serial Schedule

Part/Chapters/Start Date/Discussion Date
one/author's preface, 1, 2, 3, 4/17th May/25th
two/5, 6, 7, 8/26th/1st June
three/9, 10, 11, 12/2nd/8th
four/13, 14, 15, 16/9th/15th
five/17, 18, 19, 20/16th/22nd
six/21, 22, 23, 24/23rd/29th
seven/25, 26, 27, 28/30th/6th July
eight/29, 30, 31, 32/7th/13th
nine/33, 34, 35, 36/14th/20th
ten/37, 38, 39, 40/21st/27th
eleven/41, 42, 42, 44/28th/3rd August
twelve/45, 46, 47, 48/4th/10th
thirteen/49, 50, 51, 52, 53/11th/17th
fourteen/54, 55, 56, 57, 58/18th/24th
fifteen/59, 60, 61, 62, 63/25th/31st
sixteen/64, 65, 66, 67, epilogue/1st September/7th

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Sisterhood 15 books / 2 members / 181 posts A private group of quiet intellectuals.
New York State of Mind 169 books / 73 members / 135 posts A group for books set in New York (city or state), written by New Yorkers, or books that capture the essence of this geographic and cultural area. Fiction, Non-fiction or short stories. The possibilities are endless...
Diversity Works 507 books / 775 members / 7770 posts "Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."

~ Martin Luther King Jr



Diversity Works is a where we acknowledge our differences, celebrate our commonalities, and make an honest effort to navigate between the two. We hope the setting here feels safe enough for you to examine, consider, and challenge ideas and thoughts expressed here. It's not about being right, but being heard.

Tell us what you think.

California State of Mind 22 books / 5 members / 3 posts Often times when American Literature is discussed it begins with the likes of all those funny looking bearded folks from the East Coast. This group is not about that! This group is about discussing California's own born-and-bred (and maybe adopted) authors. There is a rich tradition of literature in the Golden State, so let's start reading it...
Scottsdale Book Club 76 books / 17 members / 0 posts Scottsdale Book Club Meetup Group. Weekly casual book group with electic, mostly fction book selections.
Cleveland Park Library Book Club 52 books / 3 members / 1 posts Our groups meets the second Tuesday of every month at the Cleveland Park Library in Washington, DC. We read all kinds of books.
HCBC 31 books / 11 members / 0 posts
Priest Lake Book Club 22 books / 4 members / 1 posts The once yearly book club of the fabulous summer women of Priest Lake, ID!
LWTC Bookclub and Chowder Society 53 books / 6 members / 3 posts The LWTC Bookclub started in 1998 for staff at the College. This can be an online place to meet despite our busy schedules and to keep in touch with former employees. We try out different genres whenever possible
Los Angeles area reading group - Ladies Only 10 books / 12 members / 23 posts Current Book:
Naked by David Sedaris, approx 291 pages, meet week of Feb 17th

Following Books:
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson, approx 224 pages, meet week of Mar 23rd
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, approx 311 pages, meet week of April 27th
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, approx 315 pages, meet week of May 25th
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, approx 347 pages, meet week of June 22nd
The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle, approx 355 pages, meet week of July 20th
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, approx 368 pages, meet week of Aug 24th
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, approx 536 pages, meet week of Sept 21st
Money: A memoir by Liz Perle, approx 260 pages, meet week of Oct 19th
What the Hoo Hoo Sisters Want to Read Next 35 books / 6 members / 0 posts The Hoo Hoo Sisterhood Sub-Club: Books listed here are only our "wish list" of books we'd like to read but haven't decided on yet. Everyone is allowed to add to the wish list and add comments!!!!
Tuesday Night Book Club 33 books / 7 members / 4 posts
Madly off in all Directions 52 books / 2 members / 1569 posts After jumping from one Profile to another, losing the thread of the yarns being spun, I thought we should have a group. Just a small one. I'll feed, it and walk it, and everything. And make you both Administrators, as soon as I figure out how to do that!
This group is for conversations about books, authors, knitting, ideas, jokes (especially those that Victoria D. is forever apologizing about), the vicarious lives of Laura the aviatrix, Michael the knitter, and Victoria the Chess master. Feel free to invite compatible people. And Dogs.
Better than Starbucks… if you like good coffee, great books, sharp wit, and people who read 683 books / 1021 members / 10569 posts Better than Starbucks… if you like good coffee, great books, sharp wit, and people who read Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Marquez, Morrison, Joyce, Faulkner, Cather, Kingsolver and a few hundred other really delicious writers, not to impress strangers, but because they love a good read, then please join us. We are not a private group, but the administrators will not resist the urge to delete boring and stupid comments. By the same token, personal attacks on young, slow or otherwise disadvantaged players will not be tolerated. Generally, be nice to other members, but spare not public figures, pop lit superstars, big box stores, politicians and religious leaders. Focus more energy on what is good and even what is great, but feel free to throw a stone when the occasion calls for it. Welcome!
Book Cannibals of Kerrville 27 books / 10 members / 13 posts group of women reading in Kerrville Texas
creat difference 1 books / 1 members / 0 posts i want to discuss varius problems and knowlege of polity and history of all our world. so welcome to my group for creat a new difference
A Novel Idea 9 books / 1 members / 0 posts
Book Club 101 37 books / 1 members / 5 posts
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