Vaclav & Lena

Haley Tanner

This book is gorgeous and funny and heartbreaking. I'd get amnesia just to be able to read it again for the first time. (Okay, I don't really want amnesia. Instead I'll simply re-read Vaclav & Lena until I have it memorized.)

The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog

John R. Erickson

If you haven't read the exploits of Texas' most famous—and most self-promoting—Head of Ranch Security, you are sorely missing out. I'd rather have Hank the Cowdog at my back than a dozen armed ninja. Sure, the ninja are more competent, but Hank is much funnier. (But don't tell Hank that. He takes himself very seriously.)

Bridge of Birds: A Novel of Ancient China That Never Was

Barry Hughart

Bridge of Birds is wonderful—the most underrated genre novel of the past thirty years. The exploits of Master Li and Number Ten Ox are thrilling, hilarious, and wryly human. This book will break your heart AND deliver a gloriously happy finale.

Phantom

Susan Kay

Back in print after ten years, Phantom is one of my favorite modern Gothic novels. Susan Kay fleshes out the characters of The Phantom of the Opera, familiar from the Broadway musical and Gaston Leroux's original novel. The result is a lush, romantic, and haunting masterpiece of historical fiction.

The Baum Plan for Financial Independence: And Other Stories

John Kessel

One story in this collection is a darkly humorous sequel to Flannery O’Connor’s legendary “A Good Man Is Hard to Find;” in another, the Bennet sisters from Pride and Prejudice meet the infamous Dr. Frankenstein. I’d love this collection for its sheer chutzpah even were it not brilliantly written (and very, very funny).

This Is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America's Best Women Writers

edited by Elizabeth Merrick

This book is great fun to read in public, cover prominently displayed. And the writing is fantastic, too!

Embassytown

China Miéville

China Miéville is a master at weaving intelligent and fluid stories, using deranged combinations of disparate subjects, that work against all expectations or logic. There's no more brilliant an example than Embassytown, which begins with human colonists on a distant planet living in uneasy peace with the resident alien natives. Embassytown uses this familiar scifi structure as the framework to explore a tense and original story of neurolinguistics, alien culture clash, and the limits of human identity. This book shouldn't be half as compelling as it undeniably is.

Karma and Other Stories

Rishi Reddi

Reddi's characters are hilarious and heartbreaking as they weather culture clashes, family struggles, and injured birds. Try the story "Justice Shiva Ram Murthy" for the incomparable voice of a cranky retired Indian judge adjusting to life in America. Fans of Jhumpa Lahiri will love this book!

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