Reading suggestions

I'm currently volunteering as an english teacher in Narikudi, Tamil Nadu. While I'm here I have some reading challenges, I'm currently reading Murakami's Blind Willow Weeping Woman, which is a collection of short stories... I find it difficult to read these consequetively, so I read one and put the book up for a while. One the book on the bookshelf in the volunteers room is the Good Earth by Pearl S Buck. It looks interesting, but wondered if anyone had any thoughts about it. Will it be easy enough to read while Im dealing with a lot of other stuff around me???? I'd appreciate your comments.