Reading Guides

• Fiction & Literature
• Non-Fiction

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Reading Guides

1. The Fortunes of Grace Hammer

   Sara Stockbridge

   "Stockbridge captures the mood of Dickensian London perfectly in this gripping debut."—BooklistMore

2. Emily's Ghost

   Denise Giardina

   “A convincing reimagining of the Brontë story, perfect for Brontë fans.”—BooklistMore

3. Perfect Life

   Jessica Shattuck

   “Jessica Shattuck’s engrossing, deceptively ambitious novel explores a wide range of subjects . . . with a shrewd and sympathetic eye.”—Tom PerrottaMore

4. All Other Nights

   Dara Horn

   “Slam-bang... superb... masterful... gripping... marvelous.”—Washington PostMore

5. Coventry

   Helen Humphreys

   “Elegant . . . illuminates the impact of war on ordinary people . . . an elegy and a celebration.”—Ann Hood, author of The Knitting CircleMore

6. Land of Marvels

   Barry Unsworth

   “There is something of E. M. Forster in Unsworth’s knowing depiction of a decaying empire.”—The New YorkerMore

7. American Salvage

   Bonnie Jo Campbell

   Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Fiction; finalist for the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction. “These short stories approach their subjects from an array of perspectives, but what they share is freshness, surprise, and a compulsion to plumb some absolute extremes of American existence.”—National Book Award citationMore

8. In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

   Daniyal Mueenuddin

   Finalist for the 2009 National Book Award in Fiction and the 2009 Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. “The rural rootedness and gentle humour of R.K. Narayan with the literary sophistication and stylishness of Jhumpa Lahiri.”—Financial TimesMore

9. A Quiet Adjustment

   Benjamin Markovits

   “A first-rate example of a literary historical novel.”—Regan Upshaw, San Francisco ChronicleMore

10. The Glass of Time

    Michael Cox

    “Entirely wonderful . . . chock-full of revenge, romance, duplicity, concealed identities and murder most frequent.”—Washington PostMore

11. Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen

    Marilyn Chin

    An uproarious debut that lays bare the complicated generational relationships of Chinese American women.More

12. Hunger

    Lan Samantha Chang

    “Spare and haunting tales that ask ordinary questions about that extraordinary emotion: love.”—Chicago TribuneMore

13. The Nightingales of Troy

    Alice Fulton

    “Outstanding....Alice Fulton reveals herself to be triumphantly at home in the short story.”—Boston Sunday GlobeMore

14. Requiem, Mass.

    John Dufresne

    “Dufresne’s incandescent novel makes it clear that just living to tell a tale can be enough.” —PeopleMore

15. The Size of the World

    Joan Silber

    “A sublime and humane jigsaw puzzle of a novel.” —Boston GlobeMore