Contemporary Fiction

And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris - No one knows us quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts.- Every office is a family of sorts, and the ad agency Joshua Ferris brilliantly depicts in his debut novel is family at its strangest and best, coping with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks. Ferris tells a true and funny story about survival in life's strangest environment. (March 2008)

The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle - A breathtaking and beautiful novel set on a horse ranch in small-town Colorado. (March 2008)

Traveler by Ron McLarty - A beautifully crafted story of a man who returns to his hometown to discover the truth about his past. (March 2008)

Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood - A series of interconnected stories that trace the course of a life and also the lives intertwined with it—those of parents, of siblings, of children, of friends, of enemies, of teachers, and even of animals. (February 2008)

Surveillance by Jonathan Raban -In the not-too-distant future, national identity cards are mandatory, and America has become obsessed with intelligence-gathering. The government’s scrutiny is omnipresent, civilians freely indulge their curiosity on the Internet, journalists pursue their investigations with relentless determination, and children both snoop on their parents and manipulate new technologies. (February 2008)

Secondhand World by Katherine Min - Min poignantly captures the dilemma of second-generation Americans as they try to find a place in their universe, but she also tells of a quest for self-discovery, which is universal. (February 2008)

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult - takes on another contemporary hot-button issue in her brilliantly told new thriller, about a high school shooting. (February 2008)

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman - The story of a family so real, so tragic, so devoted, it is as if they have written their own riveting history. (February 2008)

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian - Laurel Estabrook, a young social worker living in Vermont, becomes obsessed with a box of photographs that belonged to a deceased homeless man, Bobbie Crocker. An amateur photographer herself, Laurel wonders how someone as destitute as Crocker came to possess such high-quality photos, many of them featuring famous people and, bizarrely, Laurel's childhood town. (February 2008)

The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver - American children's book illustrator Irina McGovern enjoys a secure, settled life in London with her smart, loyal, disciplined partner, Lawrence—until the night she finds herself inexplicably drawn to kissing another man, a passionate, extravagant, top-ranked snooker player. Two competing alternate futures hinge on this single kiss. (February 2008)

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood - After the sudden loss of her only child, Stella, Mary Baxter joins a knitting circle in Providence, Rhode Island, as a way to fill the empty hours and lonely days, not knowing that it will change her life. (January 2008)

The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith - Editor and contributor Smith invited 22 other authors, many of them (like her) better known for novels than short fiction, to write a story inspired by the creation of a character. (January 2008)

Mothers and Sons: Stories by Colin Toibin - (January 2008)

Paint It Black by Janet Fitch - Set in 1980s Los Angeles, Fitch's follow-up to White Oleander opens with Josie Tyrell receiving a devastating call informing her that the body of her boyfriend, Michael Faraday, has been found in a hotel room. (October 2007)

Kabbalah: A Love Story by Lawrence Kushner - (October 2007)

Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky - Dana Clarke has always longed for the stability of home and family—her own childhood was not an easy one. Now she has married a man she adores who is from a prominent New England family, and she is about to give birth to their first child. (October 2007)

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson - A brilliant new thriller from the author of 2005's breakout favorite, Case Histories, again featuring the irresistibly reluctant detective Jackson Brodie. (September 2007)

One Mississippi by Mark Childress - When his father is relocated from Indiana to Minor, Miss., in 1973, 16-year-old Daniel Musgrove finds himself a classic fish out of water. (September 2007)

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers - A 27-year-old meatpacker named Mark Schluter, is in a coma following a mysterious automobile accident. When he awakes, he does not recognize his sister. It appears that Mark is the victim of Capgras Syndrome (a real complaint), in which patients refuse to believe that those closest to them are who they claim to be. (August 2007)

The City is a Rising Tide by Rebecca Lee - Early 1990s New York and 1970s Beijing intersect in the memory of Justine, who narrates her own downward spiral into an obsessive, unrequited love. (July 2007)

Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewskia story about teenage lovers Hailey and Sam: the book is printed on two sides--one side tells the story from Hailey's point of view, flip it over and you get Sam's side. (July 2007)

History Lessons for Girls by Aurelie Sheehan - In 1975, Alison Glass, age thirteen, moves to Connecticut with her bohemian parents and her horse, Jazz. Shy, observant, and in a back brace for scoliosis, Alison finds strength in an unlikely friendship with Kate Hamilton, the charismatic but troubled daughter of an egomaniacal New Age guru and his substance-loving wife. Seeking refuge from the chaos in their lives, the girls escape into the world of their horses. Rich in humor and heartbreak. (June 2007)

The Rug Merchant by Meg Mullins - Ushman Khan, a gentle soul in the body of an Iranian exile in New York, sells exquisite hand-woven rugs to a wealthy clientele that he treats with perfect rectitude. He is lonely, and his loneliness becomes unbearable when he learns that his wife in Iran is leaving him. But when a young woman named Stella comes into his store, what ensues is a love story that is all the more moving because its protagonists understand tragedy. (June 2007)

Everything After by Sharon Pywell - Nineteen-year-old Iris Sunnaret thought her two brothers died bravely in combat during the Vietnam War. Months later, though, she hears a different account: that one brother killed the other. Determined to uncover the truth-and to keep her family from being ripped apart-Iris winds up uncovering something shocking about her siblings, her supposedly idyllic family, and herself. (May 2007)

Black Girl, White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates (May 2007)

Daniel Isn't Talking by Marti Leimbach - Melanie Marsh is an American living in London with her British husband, Stephen, and their two young children. The Marshes’ orderly home life is shattered when their son Daniel is given a devastating diagnosis.
(May 2007)

Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer - Inhabiting an island off the coast of Maine left to her by her great-uncle Arno, Hannah finds her life as a dedicated and solitary artist rudely interrupted one summer when a dog, matted with feathers and seaweed, arrives with the tide. The dog is only the first in a series of unexpected visitors. Now in the midst of a community that depends on her for support and love, Hannah faces new emotional challenges as family secrets are uncovered, each one more alarming than the next. (May 2007)

The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards - Edwards debuts with 11 stories, set all over the globe. (May 2007)

The Folded World by Amity Gaige - The story of an idealistic young social worker drawn into the lives of his mentally ill clients. National Book Foundation chose this author as one its "5 Under 35" program after her debut novel. (May 2007)