FICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2010
"Sure to please Auster fans and likely to attract new readers as well."
With a plot that encompasses war in the Middle East, economic recession and the perils of the publishing industry, a contemporary vitality distinguishes the latest from the veteran author.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 12, 2010
"Deeply rooted in the African-American experience, yet filled with insights that resonate for anyone seeking to make a better life without disowning the past. Straight writes about the thorny subject of race with sensitivity and nuance."
From National Book Award finalist Straight (
Highwire Moon, 2001, etc.), a searing, ultimately redemptive novel about America's legacy of racial violence and a woman's struggle to forge her own identity.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 5, 2010
"A seriously playful novel about the interweave of literature and life."
Another literary high-wire performance by a novelist who is establishing himself as a unique voice in contemporary fiction.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 5, 2010
"Franck's impressionistic style and empathy encourage fresh responses to familiar subject matter--fine, disturbing, memorable work."
Darkness engulfs a family and a nation, in a psychologically acute addition to the literature of Germany's downfall; the book was an international bestseller and won the German Book Prize.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2010
"A small gem--more understated than Nelson's recent stories, but equally sharp and deeply moving."
From novelist and short-story writer Nelson (
Nothing Right, 2009, etc.), a brief, sorrowfully comic novel about family dysfunction that considers everyone's contribution--parents, children, spouses, even pets.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 23, 2010
"A welcome new talent--with a funny and dark take on being black in America."
Young, intelligent African-Americans become vehicles for their own undoing in this collection of eight stories.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 16, 2010
"Class, not cure, is Nunez's preoccupation, and she handles it with fine-tuned irony and no small measure of profundity."
An adolescent orphan finds a home with an evangelical Christian community after his parents perish in an influenza pandemic, in the latest from Nunez (The Last of Her Kind, 2005, etc.).
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 14, 2010
"A brazen take on the modern yearning for recognition. Kehlmann is a writer worth reading."
From German author Kehlmann (
Me and Kaminski, 2008, etc.), nine interconnected stories that cleverly explore the seductive nature of fame--and fiction's role in creating it.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 7, 2010
"Alternate universes, too."
If Harry Potter lived in an alternate Ireland, had no real magical powers but talked a good game, and fell all over himself every time he saw a girl, he might well belong in this splendid, sardonic magnum opus.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 2010
"Three reasons to love Hellenga: He's a fine storyteller; he gives us new eyes; he restores our sense of wonder. Attention must be paid."
He's an anthology professor. She's a snake-handling ex-con. What they share, in this gloriously quirky sixth novel from Hellenga (
The Italian Lover, 2007, etc.), is a hunger for knowledge.
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FICTION
Released: Aug. 1, 2010
" When Lenny realizes "I can't connect in any meaningful way to anyone," he's writing about not merely a technological breakdown but the human condition, where the line distinguishing comedy from tragedy dissolves. "
This cyber-apocalyptic vision of an American future seems eerily like the present, in a bleak comedy that is even more frightening than funny.
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FICTION
Released: July 28, 2010
"A smart, fun satire--Jonathan Swift in space, with twists befitting Vincent Price."
A rollicking romp through deep space and Arizona alike, improbable and thoroughly entertaining, courtesy of master storyteller Moody (
Right Livelihoods, 2007, etc.).
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FICTION
Released: July 6, 2010
"It is extraordinary that a story which carries such a weight of sorrow is never depressing, but Norman the master craftsman pulls it off. "
Norman (best known for
The Bird Artist, 1994) scores again with this gripping account of a family ripped apart by obsession and murder.
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FICTION
Released: July 6, 2010
"If laughter actually is the best medicine, fortunate readers of this wonderful novel will surely enjoy perfect health for the rest of their days."
A planned political assassination is the central subject of this delightful 1997 novel, the third to reach English translation from its award-winning, highly popular Polish author (
The Mighty Angel, 2009, etc.).
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FICTION
Released: June 29, 2010
"It's as difficult to put this novel down as it is to overestimate Mitchell's virtually unparalleled mastery of dramatic construction, illuminating characterizations and insight into historical conflict and change. Comparisons to Tolstoy are inevitable, and right on the money. "
Another Booker Prize nomination is likely to greet this ambitious and fascinating fifth novel--a full-dress historical, and then some--from the prodigally gifted British author (
Black Swan Green, 2006, etc.).
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FICTION
Released: June 8, 2010
"Another ambitious change of pace from talented and visionary Egan, who reinvents the novel for the 21st century while affirming its historic values."
"Time's a goon," as the action moves from the late 1970s to the early 2020s while the characters wonder what happened to their youthful selves and ideals.
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FICTION
Released: June 1, 2010
"More than worth the wait."
A sequel to
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) that sings with the sweet sensuality of its predecessor.
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FICTION
Released: May 27, 2010
"Patented Larsson, meaning fast-paced enough to make those Jason Bourne films seem like Regency dramas."
FICTION
Released: May 3, 2010
"Fans of the HBO series Big Love will be pleased to see an alternate take on the multi-household problem, and lovers of good writing will find this a pleasure, period."
Unhappy families are different, quoth Leo Tolstoy--even when they're headed by the same patriarch, the situation from which Udall's (
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, 2001, etc.) latest unfolds.
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FICTION
Released: March 12, 2010
"It's hard to resist using the word "symphonic" to describe this exquisitely composed, piercingly moving story. De Moor continues to scale increasingly impressive heights."
This fifth translated novel from the Dutch classical singer-turned-novelist (
The Kreutzer Sonata, 2005, etc.) offers a moving dramatization of a historical catastrophe which bears disturbing resemblances to recent global occurrences.
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