What I'm reading right now is Gary Shteyngart's Absurdistan. I'm also reading Reed Darmon's Made in Japan and David Horace Harwell's Walker Percy Remembered: A Portrait in the Words of Those Who Knew Him.

Found was a treat. As was Ernesto Lechner's Rock en Espanol: The Latin Alternative Rock Explosion, though the latter takes on a weird melancholic tone, what with all these fiercely inventive bands having a brief moment of recognition in the late nineties/early oughts, and then having that moment pass. So that Cafe Tacvba, for example, is now clearly foundering. And the people doing really wonderful, weird stuff (electronica and tango, or electronica and cumbia) are doing it to an audience that should be way bigger. The book does great journalism. Great profiles. Worth reading, particularly because this genre has been pumping out some of the most interesting music of the past decade.