The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

You know this book will make you laugh from the first entry (not exactly a sentence): "For the desk of His Excellency Wen Jiabao; The Premier's Office; Beijing; Capital of the freedom-loving Nation of China." It comes from the India narrator, Balram, who describes his Horatio Alger-style rise from poverty to entrepreneurshiup for the edification of a Premier who needs to encourage similar rises in his own country. What's important about Belram, who often refers to the 21C as the "Age of the Yellow and Brown Men," is that you believe him. People in India and China are creating, manufacturing, using their heads to provide legitimately helpful services. Meanwhile, what's done in the US? Bankers, Wall St. manipulators (and all too often addicts), and politicians play weird little games with money, like creating derivatives, until they bring the country to its knees. Bill Gates is one of the few who stood between us and anihilation, and as the late Nien Cheng said, "He would have been Knighted in England." Here the government harrassed him for years with antitrust suits - our other big industry. But "White Tiger isn't polemic, so I shouldn't make it sound like it is. It's funny, exciting, and full of story - murder, sex, what have you. Many books are enjoyable reads, but this one truly is a MUST-read.