Chris

With evocative detail, masterful narrative technique and a lot of empathy, Sullivan's essays reveal as much about himself as they do American pop-culture. He seeks to challenge our assumptions about everything from Christian rock to Michael Jackson to eccentric naturalists, thwarting our expectations along the way. He may be the best journalist most of us have never heard of.

I never thought I'd read an interesting essay on lawns or weeds but this book proved me wrong. Pollan's experiences in the garden are humorously detailed and his curiosity leads him to asking questions most of us would never consider. If nothing else, this book will give you something to think about when you're mowing your lawn or pulling up all those weeds.

Not only is this a compelling, page-turning mystery, but it's also a thoroughly engaging, in-depth character study set in rural Mississippi. Race relations, friendships, family life, and monsters (both real and imaginary) are deftly portrayed. I'm willing to put this book in the same company as Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird." There, I said it.

Woodrell is a hillbilly Hemingway working in Faulknerland (the Ozarks). His sentences are a combination of colloquial wit and hard-lived experience, many of which you'll want to read aloud for their peculiar musical qualities. Here's a story of "white trash" nobodies struggling to make something of their destitute lives -- a tragic tale made beautiful in Woodrell's Lands.

Deep in the Ozarks, 16 year old Ree Dolly is up to her neck in trouble. Her father has jumped bail on meth-lab charges, she's caring for her two younger brothers and aging mother, and it's getting cold out... real cold. Dubbed "country noir" by fans and critics, the novel paints a bleak portrait of rural Ozark life and exposes dark secrets that have lurked amongst the families for generations.

Written by the (now forgotten) Nobel Prize winning author, this book is a powerful meditation on spirituality, possession and the nature of faith. With sparse, poetic prose, Lagerkvist creates a story so rich and philosophical that it's almost impossible to put down. I'm non-religious (agnostic) and yet this book revealed so much to me... --Chris

Whoa! Crazy, ranting, delusional woman claiming to be part of a secret organization. Thrilling to say the least. Do yourself a favor and read this. Fans of Philip K. Dick, Chuck Palahniuk, and other authors who seem a bit off until you realize they might actually be geniuses will love this book. --Chris

Eggers' newest novel, much like his first book, is a work of beauty and heartbreak. Written as a fictionalized autobiography of a Sudanese "Lost Boy," it captures the horrifying and often unbelievable journey that the children were forced to endure over the course of several decades. If you have any interest in refugees, what it is like to experience such staggering displacement, or how the human spirit holds up through complete misery and desperation, this is truly an eye-opening novel. Should be required reading for everyone.
---Chris

Never has a book been written that so effortlessly combines absurd comedy with psychologically devastating sadness. This romp of a novel has some of the most endearing characters I've ever encountered in literature, none more so than Ignatius J. Reilley, the obese, anachronistic genius/fool that lumbers around the streets of New Orleans starting revolutions as side projects when he's not lying around in his own filth at his mother's house. --Chris

Think of this novel as a Cohen Brother's film set in the backwoods of Vermont. A dialogue-driven black comedy bursting with contemporary and timeless cultural insights, and you won't be able to put it down. - Chris

Unique in both form (often extremely short - sometimes just a sentence) and content (she's a master at capturing the minutiae of relationships - often painfully so), these stories have helped change the face of the contemporary short story. Read them for their humor, their cleverness, their compassion for the little, important things in life. - Chris

How far would you go to find the best substance in the land? What sacrifices would you make? Written with the delicacy of a silk weaver, Lindgren's novel is a heartfelt meditation on memory, imagination and how each process influences the other. Ask yourself: What is memory without imagination? Not much...I highly recommend this book. --Chris

Sprawling, epic, powerful, beautiful, magic, engrossing, terrifying, heartbreaking...simply one of the most amazing literary experiences one could expect. Ambitious in scope and subject matter, this novel is truly a masterpiece. This is Bolano's attempt to leave no stone unturned in his pursuit of exposing the brutal realities of the world we inhabit. - Chris

Short novels have always captured my attention because of their ability to get right to the heart of the matter and this classic gem is no different--in fact, it's one of the most engaging and mysterious novels I have read in a long time. Set on a remote island, the main character falls in love with a woman who hardly seems aware of his existence, yet he persists in his desire to get close to her. As the plot moves along, we learn that things are not completely what they seem, which makes for a very rich and satisfying philosophical conclusion. Every single sentence in this book is essential, every single word is perfectly conceived. It's a shame that Casares is not more well known in the U.S..
---Chris

If you like your fiction like you like your whiskey, straight with no chaser, then these are stories for you. They reminded me a lot of Daniel Woodrell's rural American noir: filled with desperate characters trying to fit in, looking for trouble and violently chasing their dreams (though they often resemble nightmares).