Kathy's Picks

A Fine Balance by Rohan Mistry. This is my favorite book. It's like a great Dickens novel but in a completely Indian setting. Often heartbreaking, but hopeful too.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz -- The best book I read in the last year! The story, about a nerdy kid from the Dominican Republic and his family and their history, is a compelling enough reason to read it. But the writing is absolutely dazzling.

The Mysterious Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell -- This haunting story about family secrets really pulls the reader in. And we can't stop talking about the ending...

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett -- What a page turner! This sweeping tale, set in medieval England and centered around the building of a mighty Gothic cathedral, has it all -- war, love, ambition, faith, jealousy, greed, sex, death and politics. I found myself racing through its 900-plus pages. I can't wait to tackle the new sequel, World Without End

Asha's Picks

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan -- This honest, gentle and poignant novel is a small gem. Set among the working class, a world not often portrayed in contemporary fiction, it focuses on the last day of business for a Red Lobster restaurant that's being shut down because it didn't make its numbers. O'Nan's empathetic portrait of the manager, Manny, is quietly powerful. This book is slight, you could easily read it in an afternoon, but it touched me in a big way.

The Lemur by Benjamin Black -- Another terrific dark and brooding Irish book from John Banville (Booker prize winner for The Sea) writing under his pen name. Dark and dangerous family secrets, and, of course, murder. Also check out Christine Falls and the Silver Swan, both gorgeous, moody noir crime novels by this author.

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon -- Who can write better than this? Sitka, Alaska is the Holy Land (Israel didn't work out); the cast of characters could not be more colorful (our hero has "the memory of a convict, the balls of a fireman, and the eyesight of a housebreaker"); and oh, yes, there's a classic detective story in there somewhere. Everything Chabon writes is very good; this book is amazing.

Vicky's Picks

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
One of my favorite books...Cornelia has given up on love when Martin Grace walks into her cafe and sweeps her off her feet. She then learns that Martin has a daughter, Clare, and he has no relationship with her. Evertyhing about her relationship with Martin changes--everything.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A book you won't forget...extraordinarily well written engrossing story of an evangelical Baptist pastor who moves his wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They think they are offering salvation to the natives but one wonders who is saving whom?

Capote by Gerald Clarke
I love true stories that read like fiction. Capote couldn't write a better story than his own meteoric rise to fame in his early twenties, hobnobbing with Hollywood stars, his descent into a life of alcohol and drugs, to the writing of In Cold Blood, the true crime story made so famous.