A Thousand and One Nights

Elle.com described this debut novel as "an alternately hilarious and poignant look at the unsettled state of one woman trying to make it outside the socially sanctioned college-office-marriage trajectory." Karla, 22, is thrilled to be hired as an entertainer on the Sound of Music cruise ship-where the rum punch is 80 percent Kool-Aid, the ice sculptures are plastic, and her "fake it till you make it" M.O. seems adventuresome. Karla is less thrilled when new beau Jack suggests they form a si...