2018 One Book/One Glendale

Author T.C. Boyle's thoughts about the The Tortilla Curtain, the 2018 One Book/One Glendale title:

'The Tortilla Curtain, published in 1995 by Viking, was at the time my most controversial novel. Because it dealt with a hot-button socio-political issue many of the reviewers came into the book with strong prejudices. I took a good deal of abuse, including (my favorite instance) being called "human garbage" on a call-in radio show in San Francisco. As people have had a chance to think about the book more deeply over the course of the past few years, the furor has died down and The Tortilla Curtain has become a modern classic, by far my most popular title, widely read in high schools and universities around the country.'

The book consciously evokes the Steinbeck of The Grapes of Wrath, and opens with an epigraph from that novel:

"They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable." Sponsored by the Friends of the Glendale Public Library. The lecture is part of "(in)visible: Negotiating the US-Mexico Border" @ ReflectSpace, an exhibition that explores physical, emotional and socioeconomic narratives across the US-Mexico border.  <Read More>

Copies of the Tortilla Curtain will be on sale (cash, check, credit). Please use Eventbrite.com to RSVP for  the event and help the Friends of the Library determine the number of books to bring for sales and autographs. Search Boyle Tortilla Curtain Friends of the Library.

Visitors to the Downtown Central Library receive 3 hours FREE parking across Harvard Street at the Marketplace parking structure with validation at the service desk. Handicapped parking is available on the east side of the building. Short term parking spaces are available on the east and south sides of the building. Metered parking is available on Harvard Street and on the west side of the building in Lot #10.