Tortilla Curtain – T.C. Boyle.  A writer, on his way home near Los Angeles, accidentally hits a man who happens to be an illegal alien. The incident brings the two men and their families together.  A novel about values, illegal immigration, xenophobia, poverty, and environmental destruction that will be made into a movie starring Kevin Costner in 2010.

The Red Heart – James Alexander Thom.  A Pennsylvania Quaker family suffers the loss of daughter Frances when she is kidnapped during the Revolutionary War by a native American tribe.  Frances, raised as “Little Bear”, is the object of a sixty-year search.  Based on a true story.

Netherland – Joseph O’Neill.  A powerful and intelligent novel that centers on the fortunes and misfortunes of a family when the tragedy of September 11 strikes close to home.  It offers an outsider’s view of New York, bursting with wisdom and authenticity, with a jarring jolt of realism.

The Yacoubian Building – Alaa Al Aswany.   Set in downtown Cairo at the time of the 1990 Gulf War, it reveals modern Egyptian life through the eyes of a diverse range of characters an aristocratic playboy, a gay newspaper editor, a religious zealot, and childhood sweethearts, all of whom live in the same apartment building.  Captivating, controversial, hilarious and sensual.

Namesake – Jhumpa Lahiri - A novel by a Pulitzer Prize Winning author about a transplanted Bengali family and the difficulties of fitting in.  A quietly dazzling novel, this is an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a vast social vision.  The themes of exile and identity are woven together to create a masterful work and a novel that is both assured and eloquent.
 
Mill Town – P.D. LaFleur.  Apsley is a factory town transforming from its frayed blue-collar past into middle class suburbia.  Gnawing at the edges of the community's consciousness is the unsolved murder of a young woman twenty-nine years ago.  As the narrative unfolds, the novel tugs at the strands that weave a town together and is as much a collective character study as it is a mystery story.

The Plot Against America – Philip Roth.  The imagined thesis is: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940.  A tour de force by one of America’s greatest living authors, this is a credible, fully-realized picture of what could happen anywhere, at any time, if the right people and circumstances come together.

Tortilla Curtain – T.C. Boyle.  A writer, on his way home near Los Angeles, accidentally hits a man who happens to be an illegal alien. The incident brings the two men and their families together.  A novel about values , illegal immigration , xenophobia , poverty , and environmental destruction that will be made into a movie starring Kevin Costner in 2010.

The Red Heart – James Alexander Thom.  A Pennsylvania Quaker family suffers the loss of daughter Frances when she is kidnapped during the Revolutionary War by a native American tribe.  Frances, raised as “Little Bear”, is the object of a sixty-year search.  Based on a true story.

Netherland – Joseph O’Neill.  A powerful and intelligent novel that centers on the fortunes and misfortunes of a family when the tragedy of September 11 strikes close to home.  It offers an outsider’s view of New York, bursting with wisdom and authenticity, with a jarring jolt of realism.

The Yacoubian Building – Alaa Al Aswany.   Set in downtown Cairo at the time of the 1990 Gulf War, it reveals modern Egyptian life through the eyes of a diverse range of characters an aristocratic playboy, a gay newspaper editor, a religious zealot, and childhood sweethearts, all of whom live in the same apartment building.  Captivating, controversial, hilarious and sensual.

Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri.  A novel by a Pulitzer Prize Winning author about a transplanted Bengali family and the difficulties of fitting in.  A quietly dazzling novel, this is an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a vast social vision.  The themes of exile and identity are woven together to create a masterful work and a novel that is both assured and eloquent.
 
Mill Town – P.D. LaFleur.  Apsley is a factory town transforming from its frayed blue-collar past into middle class suburbia.  Gnawing at the edges of the community's consciousness is the unsolved murder of a young woman twenty-nine years ago.  As the narrative unfolds, the novel tugs at the strands that weave a town together and is as much a collective character study as it is a mystery story.
 
The Plot Against America– Philip Roth.  The imagined thesis is: Charles A. Lindbergh defeats FDR for the Presidency in 1940.  A tour de force by one of America’s greatest living authors, this is a credible, fully-realized picture of what could happen anywhere, at any time, if the right people and circumstances come together.