 | Winner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather by Jincy Willett
Buy new: $11.20 / Used from: $0.37 If you like Christopher Moore but think he's a little tired, you'll love this fabulous novel about twins and pretension of all kinds.
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 | Seduction of Water (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Carol Goodman
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $0.01 I really liked Goodman's first novel, The Lake of Dead Languages, but I LOVED her second novel. Check out Amazon's really accurate review.
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 | The Dogs of Babel: A Novel by Carolyn Parkhurst
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $0.01 Thought-provoking novel about happiness and depression. Loved it.
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 | The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Buy new: $11.20 / Used from: $1.87 Who doesn't love this book? I read a review copy of it ages before it was published, so I got to turn on so many people to this fantastic novel. I consider that a literary coup.
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 | Primitive People: A Novel by Francine Prose
Buy new: $11.05 / Used from: $0.01 This fast, funny, smart read was really eye-opening. Loved the ending.
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 | Mister Posterior and the Genius Child by Emily Jenkins
Buy used from: $0.01 Not only is the narrator fresh and fun and fiesty and honest and original, but the author has some interesting ideas about sexuality in the minds of children. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
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 | Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $0.01 After finally reading this memoir, I understand why so many people loved it. Achingly painful, McCourt's life is fascinating, and he writes about it with precision and finesse.
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 | The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
Buy new: $9.00 / Used from: $3.94 I really liked this book and would definately recommend it to others, but I'm getting tired of interesting life stories told by mediocre writers. More good stories and good writing, please!
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 | Light on Snow by Anita Shreve
Buy used from: $0.49 I generally like everything Anita Shreve writes, especially this book, told through the eyes of a young girl living alone with her father.
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 | Fortune's Rocks : A Novel by Anita Shreve
Buy used from: $2.63 Because I kept seeing huges stacks of this book on remainder tables everywhere, I didn't read it for a long time. My loss! A fabulous historical novel. STRONGLY recommended.
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 | Sea Glass: A Novel by Anita Shreve
Buy used from: $1.90 I don't know that this novel has really broad appeal, but it picks up a generation after Fortune's Rocks leaves off, and I loved it for that fact alone. Great story, interesting social history.
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 | Midnight Champagne: A Novel: A Novel by A. Manette Ansay
Buy new: $11.05 / Used from: $0.01 A. Manette Ansay's previous novel, Vinegar Hill, was painful and outstanding. This book was just the latter, thank goodness! Would make a fantastic book group book, especially for "lazy" readers.
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 | Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs by Caroline Knapp
Buy new: $10.88 / Used from: $0.01 A wonderfully written book about dogs and people. I wish I'd read it when I was single and dogless, and I wish the author hadn't died so young.
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 | The Undiscovered Country by Samantha Gillison
Buy used from: $0.51 I think this excellent book was overlooked by people who flocked to The Poisonwood Bible. However The Undiscovered Country is a very different book, even though it's set in "misisonary" country.
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 | One True Thing: Love What You Have by Anna Quindlen
Buy used from: $0.01 The first book I read by Quindlan, it affected me so strongly that I've now read everything she's written. A must-read for anyone who has lost someone to cancer or ... any daughter who's had a mother.
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 | Two Girls Fat and Thin by Mary Gaitskill
Buy new: $10.40 / Used from: $0.25 Mary Gaitskill's writing is sharp and painful and so insightful that it's truly scary. I think this is her best book.
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 | A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That: A Novel by Lisa Glatt
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $0.87 This novel told in short stories is poignant and memorable. I especially loved the changing points of view, which few writers are good at doing well.
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 | Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Buy used from: $3.91 A lovely, deceptively simple book about lovely, deceptively simple people, Plainsong is the first in a series that should be read in its entirety.
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 | Under the Skin: A Novel by Michel Faber
Buy new: $11.20 / Used from: $0.37 Chilling, grotesque and wonderful, but not for the queasy or easily disturbed.
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 | The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $3.74 Another book that everyone loves, this book defined a huge period of my life. Outstanding read.
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 | A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
Buy used from: $2.50 How refreshing to read a memoir of a normal, happy childhood, written by a talented author!
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 | The Giant's House: A Romance by Elizabeth McCracken
Buy used from: $0.01 Having loved a few extremely tall men, this book is extra-special for me. Quirky and very, very sweet.
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 | Geek Love: A Novel by Katherine Dunn
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $4.19 Disgusting, horrifying and truly disturbing, this is one of the best books I've ever read. A wonderful examination of "normal."
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 | CRUDDY: An Illustrated Novel by Lynda Barry
Buy new: $10.20 / Used from: $1.70 Dark, twisted, horrific and utterly spot-on with respect to the teenaged mind, this book haunted me for weeks after I finished it. Gruesome. Fantastic.
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 | Sight Hound: A Novel by Pam Houston
Buy new: $11.16 / Used from: $0.01 I love everything Pam Houston has written, especially this novel/memoir about letting go of a loved one who happened to have four legs.
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