Literary Fiction
Review: Snow in May by Kseniya Melnik
Kseniya Melnik grew up in Magadan, Russia but moved to Alaska at age 15. In her debut short story collection, Snow in May, she reflects on the past half-century of Russian history through the experiences of ordinary people copi...
Review: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
When Emma Donoghue published her novel Room in 2010, no one could have guessed that it would spend weeks on bestsellers lists across the world, or that it would win some of the most coveted awards for fiction writing. In March ...
Review: The Last Days of California by Mary Miller
oad trips are the perfect metaphor for life. They begin at home when you start packing a car and getting ready. Before you know it, you are out on the open road. Once the odometer punches a few miles, the scenery changes. Then,...
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
“Dear Mr. Richard Gere” is how Matthew Quick’s second novel for adults, The Good Luck of Right Now, begins. It’s not a one-time hello to the famous actor; instead, Mr. Gere gets a salutation at the start of every chapter, or le...
Review: Long Division by Kiese Laymon
Try to count the contemporary novels exploring identity. They permeate bookstores. Some accomplish the feat successfully; others don’t. One new novel that tackles (and conquers) this quintessential American literary theme is Lo...
Review: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites, was just a teenager when she traveled to Iceland as part of a Rotary Exchange program. While there, she heard the legendary tale of Agnes Magnúsdόttir, the last woman publicly executed in Ic...
Review: The Virgins by Pamela Erens
Pamela Erens was for many years an editor of Glamour magazine, and published her first novel, The Understory, in 2007. Her second novel, The Virgins, was released last August by Tin House Books (who also published Karen Shepard...
Review: Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements was one of my favorite debut novels of 2012. Taking place over just three days, it was the tale of an upper middle class family preparing for their (heavily pregnant) daughter’s wedding w...
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson
The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson is set in futuristic Brazil, in the coastal city of Palmares Três. Palmares Três is a matriarchal society, ruled by a queen and governed by a body of women known as Aunties. A new king is...
Review: The Sense of Touch by Ron Parsons
The eight contemporary stories in The Sense of Touch by Ron Parsons alternate first- and third-person perspectives, exploring the variety of the modern experience but returning to common themes of revenge, relationship failure,...
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson | Review
“I figure if the world were really right, humans would live life backward and do the first part last. They’d be all knowing in the beginning and all innocent in the end.” The First Part Last tells the story of...
Looking for Alaska by John Green | Review
“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” Looking for Alaska is John Green‘s first, and arguably greatest novel. It is the story of Miles Halter, a high school junior headed to boarding school at Cul...
On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta | Review
On the Jellicoe Road is very hard to describe. It’s a book that doesn’t make any sense…until it does. Set in rural Australia, it’s the story of one girl’s mission to unlock the secrets of her life....
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Unexpected and beautiful. Whaley weaves together the story of a missing boy, a giant woodpecker, and a missionary to craft an unforgettable tale of loss and uncertainty.
Utterly Heartless by Jan Underwood
The town of Bridges, the fictional Pacific Northwest setting of Utterly Heartless, is a bizarre place. The winter rains fall so heavily that streets become canals; entire murders of crows descend upon the town regularly; intoxi...
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