@julia1 @internrachel Oh hey, nonfiction. I remember you. It took me like three weeks to get through “Broke, U.S.A” by Gary Rivlin (358 pages) but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t really good. It does mean, however, that stories about payday lending and subprime mortgages are not prime reading material for a morning commute that takes place pre-caffeine intake. But the point is that this is a fascinating book about the industries, payday lending among them, that have sprung up in the last 20 years around the U.S. and largely target low-income communities. Even though a lot of the financial mumbo-jumbo in this book isn’t my cup of tea, it’s explained in clear terms and with lots of anecdotal support that’s interesting to read. I found this particularly fascinating because I used to work as a case manager with low-income families in Chicago and the “Poverty, Inc.” businesses Rivlin describes are the kinds of places my clients frequented and were familiar with. My white middle-class ass was blissfully unaware.