1) State of Wonder
Ann Patchett
“[A] superbly rendered novel[.][…]Patchett’s portrayal is as wonderful as it is frightening and foreign. Patchett exhibits an extraordinary ability to bring the horrors and the wonders of the Amazon jungle to life, and her singular characters are wonderfully drawn. [P]owerful and captivating.”
-Library Journal (starred review)
2) Down from Cascom Mountain
Ann Joslin Williams
“There seems to be no element of these people and this landscape to which Williams is a stranger. She sees straight to the heart of her characters, and it is a pleasure to witness them yearning and grieving and loving their way through these pages, one living human presence after another, the mountain and the forest rising up around them in all their mystery and specificity.”—Kevin Brockmeier
3) The Hair of Harold Roux
Thomas Williams; Andre Dubus III
Did you know that two writers won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1975? Robert Stone’s Dog Soldiers was one; The Hair of Harold Roux was the other, all but forgotten. I wonder what modern award winners will stand strong 30 years from now.
4) The Upright Piano Player
David Abbott
“[A]n elegant debut filled with anguish and yearning … Abbott takes these broken relationships and slowly works over their frayed ends with a delicate touch, sometimes mending them and other times hitting exposed nerves … It’s a very careful novel in its structure and revelations, but Abbott impresses most in his easy balance of the disparate plot elements … and overarching themes of reconnection and regret.” –Publishers Weekly
5) The Borrower
Rebecca Makkai
“Makkai takes several risks in her sharp, often witty text, replete with echoes of children’s classics fromGoodnight Moon to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as well as more ominous references to Lolita . . . the moving final chapters affirm the power of books to change people’s lives even as they acknowledge the unbreakable bonds of home and family. Smart, literate and refreshingly unsentimental.” –Kirkus Reviews
6) Field Work in Ukrainian Sex
Oksana Zabuzhko
Called the most influential Ukrainian book for the 15 years of independence, Field Work in Ukrainian Sex by Oksana Zabuzhko is the tale of one woman’s personal revolt provoked by a top literary scandal of the decade.