 | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon
Buy new: $18.45 / Used from: $3.40 Superheroes, Magic, Comics, the 30s, the World's Fair, the Golem, New York, and repressed same-sex attraction all rolled into one Amazing Adventure.
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 | Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan
Buy new: $19.80 / Used from: $0.01 Beautifully descriptive, with a twist ending that really made me think about the human desire to confess.
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 | Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Buy new: $16.50 / Used from: $0.01 Such an original story, with some very creative subplots and even philsophical ruminations.
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 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling
Buy new: $19.79 / Used from: $0.17 Each Harry Potter book becomes increasingly complex, mature, and gripping. I loved the political angles this book took, as well as the discoveries about Harry's family.
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 | Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Buy new: $19.77 / Used from: $0.76 Like the Corrections, this book delves into the psyche of family dysfunction, but unlike that other novel, I found a lot of sympathy for these well-written characters.
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 | Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides
Buy new: $17.82 / Used from: $0.01 Deftly spans three generations and multiple settings, including a war-torn Greece, a race-torn Detroit, and San Francisco.
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 | Samaritan by Richard Price
Buy used from: $0.01 The characters were very well written, especially the female policy officer.
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 | At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
Buy used from: $0.15 This beautiful story made me really want to know more about Ireland and its rich history, and the love story between Jim and Doyler reminded me about how teenage love feels.
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 | Shipping News: A Novel (Scribner Classics) by Annie Proulx
Buy new: $16.50 / Used from: $8.28 A great story about finding your past while finding the courage to reshape your future.
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 | Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan
Buy new: $10.04 / Used from: $0.01 Ian McEwan is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Very different from Atonement, Amsterdam moves very quickly and becomes quite sinister in its conclusion.
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 | Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.01 Thin book, but dense with layers. Deals with midlife crisis, sexuality, race, and gender issues.
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 | Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Buy used from: $0.01 This novel builds an amazing new world within a house, a world that we are powerfully reminded cannot exist by the novel's end.
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 | The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Buy used from: $0.01 Although I found the characters completely unlikable, this book has a lot going for it and is very clever.
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 | Cold Mountain: A Novel by Charles Frazier
Buy used from: $0.01 This is both a moving love story and a reminder about the cruelty of the Civil War.
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 | The Dive From Clausen's Pier: A Novel by Ann Packer
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $0.01 I felt the author did a tremendous job of creating an intimate link with the main character. This book is thoughtful and poignant.
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 | Three Junes by Julia Glass
Buy new: $18.25 / Used from: $0.01 I had the pleasure of meeting the author recently, who inspired me by revealing how she "collects" elements of life to be shared later through writing. I was so shocked to learn she's not a Brit!
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 | The Hours: A Novel by Michael Cunningham
Buy used from: $0.01 A quick read, but a moving study of the manifestations of depression, as well as the changing social position of women
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 | You Are Not a Stranger Here (Today Show Book Club #2) by Adam Haslett
Buy used from: $0.01 I didn't like all of the short stories here, but the ones I did like were quite provocative.
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