Novels Now

One More Year: Stories
By Sana Krasikov
Completed April 17, 2009
One More Year was a collection of short stories by new writer, Sana Krasikov. In this book, Krasikov introduced us to memorable characters through eight stories – each focused on Russians and their experiences in America and their homeland.
Each short story dropped the reader in the middle [...]

The Blue Notebook
By James A. Levine
Completed April 11, 2009
The Blue Notebook was one of the most eloquent but haunting books I have read in a long time. It’s the story of Batuk, a 15-year-old prostitute, whose father sold her into sexual slavery when she was nine. Living in a brothel in India, Batuk took up [...]

American Rust
By Philipp Meyer
Completed March 9, 2009
For some reason, the debut novel by Philipp Meyer, American Rust, did not resonate with me. It took me two weeks to complete, which is unusual for my reading pace, and I wanted to abandon it at many times. I stuck with it, but in the end, I wish [...]

Etta
By Gerald Kolpan
Completed December 28, 2008
Etta is the debut novel by journalist Gerald Kolpan. Inspired by a documentary about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Kolpan became interested in the mysterious Etta Place – Sundance Kid’s lover. Kolpan researched Etta, turned up very little, and decided to write a fictional account about this elusive [...]

This One Is Mine
By Maria Semple
Completed December 3, 2008
This One Is Mine is the debut novel by former TV screenwriter, Maria Semple. It’s a chick lit book, full of humor, man troubles, fashion woes and self-exploration. More intriguing for me was the satirical look at the Beverly Hills life of the two main characters.
Violet Parry [...]

I think there’s an old saying that you should never have to bury your child. Outliving my kids ranks number one in things “I don’t want to happen,” but sadly, there are parents who face this reality every day.

While some parents lose children days, months or years after their births, some parents lose their child before the baby is born, experiencing a stillborn birth. This happened to popular novelist Elizabeth McCracken and was the subject of her memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.

The Believers by Zoe Heller is the story of the Litvinoff family – led by Joel, a political activist and lawyer whose sudden collapse from a stroke put his family into chaos – compounded when a secret was revealed that rocked the family’s already fragile structure. Joel and his wife Audrey did not believe in raising a child-centric family. They were active in the worker’s movement in New York, and Joel was known for representing radical defendants. Audrey was “unmotherly” toward her two daughters, Karla and Rosa, but had a more tender side for her down-and-out adopted son, Lenny [...]

The Road Home
By Rose Tremain
Completed September 27, 2008
The Road Home was the Orange Prize winning novel by Rose Tremain – a story of Lev, a Russian immigrant living in London. Lev immigrated to Britain after the mill in his village closed, leaving him without a means to support his mother and daughter. The decision to [...]

So Long At The Fair
By Christina Schwartz
Completed September 9, 2008
Christina Schwartz’s latest book, So Long At The Fair, was a story about adultery and distrust in relationships. At the center, it’s the story of Jon and Ginny, high school sweethearts who have been married for many years, and Jon’s affair with his co-worker, Freddi. But [...]

Olive Kitteridge
By Elizabeth Strout
Completed August 13, 2008
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout was a novel comprised of thirteen short stories about people living in rural Maine. Several of the stories were based on the title character, but many of the stories only showed us a glimpse of Olive. From any perspective, Strout provided her readers with [...]

Resistance
By Owen Sheers
Completed June 27, 2008

I think poets make great novelists. Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, even Shel Silverstein all embrace a stunningly descriptive way of writing that makes their stories and characters just flow through your mind. Like his poetic counterparts, Owen Sheers used this lyrical style in his debut novel Resistance.
Resistance is an [...]

Janeology
By Karen Harrington
Completed June 15, 2008
Nature versus nurture – it’s an old question and still a widely debatable one. Do genes rule our own impulses? Does one’s environment shape who we become?
It’s this theme that formed Karen Harrington’s debut novel, Janeology. In this book, Jane Nelson decided that she was “done being a mother” and [...]

America America
By Ethan Canin
Completed June 8, 2008
Corey Sifter was an average boy, living with his working-class parents in New York, when the wealthy, well-connected Metarey family employed him to work on their estate. Liam Metarey, the family’s patriarch, took a shining to Corey and gave him important jobs at the mansion as well as paid [...]

Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher
By Lenore Hart
Completed May 29, 2008
I must admit that I am a sucker for a good companion novel. Last year, I read Finn by Jon Clinch, which was a story about Huck Finn’s infamous father. My latest read was the feminine side of this group of friends – [...]

Songs for the Missing
By Stewart O’Nan
Completed May 25, 2008

I cannot imagine one of my sons disappearing into thin air. The panic, the fear, the anger, the questions – it would be all too much to bear. In Songs for the Missing, Stewart O’Nan tackled this topic head on, and after finishing this page-turner (I finished [...]

Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen
By Susan Gregg Gilmore
Completed May 24, 2008

Looking for a light but entertaining poolside read this summer? If so, then I would recommend Susan Gregg Gilmore’s debut novel, Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen.
It’s the story of Catherine Grace Cline, the preacher’s daughter, of Ringgold, Ga. Catherine Grace had [...]

Skeletons at the Feast
By Chris Bohjalian
Completed May 12, 2008
Many books have explored the exodus of Europeans and Jews who fled the approaching German army during World War II. In Skeletons at the Feast, Chris Bohjalian examined another type of evacuation – this time of a Prussian family trying to stay steps ahead of the vengeful [...]

The Story of Forgetting
By Stefan Merrill Block
Completed April 20, 2008
Stefan Merrill Block made a strong debut with The Story of Forgetting– a tale of families, memories and how secrets can destroy relationships. Indeed, The Story of Forgetting is really a story of remembering – your family, your memories, your way of life. Central to this [...]

For 22 days in 1992 during the siege of Sarajevo, local cellist Vedran Smailovic played in the spot where a mortar killed 22 people who were standing in line for bread. At any time while he played, he could have been shot by a sniper, but he survived each day, committing a small but significant [...]

A priest, an atheist lawyer and a convicted killer walked into a bar…
Okay, not really, but they did take center stage in Jodi Picoult’s latest book, Change of Heart.
In this book, Picoult chose two hot-button issues, religious beliefs and capital punishment, to explore the following scenario: a man on death row wanted to donate his [...]