Before War Dances, I had only read Sherman Alexie’s novels. So I am used to the feeling of having his stories and characters unleash their quiet powers until I am willingly held hostage, both begging for the release to have time to reflect, yet longing to have the experience keep going, as I don’t want to finish his tale and say goodbye to newly made friends. Therefore, I was hesitant to read Alexie’s short stories only because I wasn’t sure if, in shorter form, Alexie could give me the gift of the journey I was used to taking with him. But I was wrong. These stories are a hurricane of strength. Each one makes you pull back in awe, take spacious breaths when the chance is there, but lifts you to spin, whirl, and ache at the connection that is so finely wrought between the characters and the story he creates again and again. Do not miss out on this incredible read. —S.M.C.

John Irving has confirmed himself as a storyteller of the highest order with his new novel, Last Night in Twisted River. Starting with the absurd—a woman mistaken for a bear—and followed by a set of
catalytic events, Irving crafts a story that is
beautifully told and solely original. Spanning 50 years, and centering mostly on a relationship between a father and son, Irving documents both their changing
relationship and the backdrop of the American poor from the 1950s to the present. With vivid imagery and startling and moving language, Irving creates a reality, slightly askew; and once again establishes himself as a heavyweight champ of emotional understanding. Fans won’t be
disappointed. —S.M.C.

The author of High Fidelity and About a Boy returns with his fifth novel, the story of an embittered British
housewife and her unlikely friendship with a reclusive American rock star. Tucker Crowe, a Leonard Cohen type, had but one famous album before abandoning music to pursue a series of failed marriages. Together Annie and Tucker seek the simplest of human desires: purpose. Crowe is one of Hornby’s best characters yet, balancing apathy with an underlying whimsy. Hornby’s knack for finding the humor in life’s
absurdities carries the poignant plot along. Juliet, Naked is a stellar work from one of fiction’s funniest authors. —Z.G.R.

This novel is at once everything and nothing of what you would expect from Kingsolver. It doesn’t feel quite like her other books, but it is equally brilliant. The Lacuna is a portrait of a man searching for his place in the world and it is rich with history, populated by
recognizable figures. In turn emotionally evocative and highly dramatic. —Nici Smith

Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) is back with a bang. In Chronic City, Chase Insteadman is a fixture in Manhattan’s social scene, living off residuals earned as a child star on a sitcom. He is known now because of a tragedy covered in the tabloids: his fiancé and teenage sweetheart, Janice, is trapped by a layer of low-orbit mines on the international space station. A frantic and desperate look at what is real and what is just glimmer and shine, Chronic City paints a
tragic and glorious picture of New York City and the culture that made it. —R.M.