Originally published in 1958, The Dud Avocado is as fresh, sexy, and modern as today's best chick-lit. Imagine Holly Golightly just out of college, dropped off in Paris' bohemian Left Bank in the late 1950's, shaped by chatty, sparkly, bubbling prose, and you've got Sally Jay Gorce, Elaine Dundy's irresistible, semi-autobiographical heroine. Witty, loveable, and sexy in a safety-pinned, broken-pearls, never-wearing-the-right-dress kind of way, Sally Jay sleeps with all the wrong men, a couple of the right ones, and manages misadventure after misadventure in a series of deliciously debaucherous months among artists, writers, and affected intellectuals. Not your typical American-in-Paris story, The Dud Avocado is a delightful romp through another side of the city in a rare era with an utterly endearing and most unexpected tour guide.
: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

At Large and At Small
by Anne Fadiman

At Large and At Small marks a return to the lost art of the "familiar essay", one that mixes the intellectual with the personal, and a passion for the minutiae with a curiosity about the bigger picture. Delightfully tangential, Anne Fadiman begins one essay with an adoring portrait of her father's obsession with the daily mail, and digresses seamlessly into a history of the modern postal system, the origins of the postage stamp, and the current state of our electronic correspondence. Whether writing about ice cream, butterfly collecting, Charles Lamb, artic exploration, or coffee, Fadiman is utterly delightful, witty, and curious, and she's such a stellar writer, if she wrote about pencil shavings you'd read it aloud to all your friends. Fun enough for the beach, sweet enough for bedtime reading, and intellectually stimulating enough for serious readers.
: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

The Children’s Hospital
by Chris Adrian

Imagine Grey's Anatomy, set in a children's hospital floating upon seven miles of post-apocalyptic floodwaters, and penned by a writer of staggering talent and sensibility. I know, it sounded weird to me too. But when I finally cracked the cover of The Children's Hospital, I knew from the first 30 pages that I was holding a giant miracle of a book. The next 600 pages flew by in a majestic whirl of a story, indelible characters, and writing that makes you want to kiss the writer who brought it to the page. Part hospital-drama, part divine exploration, The Children's Hospital has one foot in this world and one in another, as its stunning cast of characters attempt to remake the world. Chris Adrian's writing is simultaneously irreverent and deeply tender, startlingly brilliant and beautiful, moved by a mix of all things good in the world, and a sense for what is behind our darkest evils. A novel of creation and destruction, The Children's Hospital is giant and epic in scope, but assembled from most intimate graces and notions, making it one of the most remarkable novels of recent years.
: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
by Barbara Kingsolver

Beloved writer Barbara Kingsolver and her family decide to pack it up, move to their farm in Southern Appalachia, and for an entire year eat only food grown in their garden, or on local farms by people they know. But instead of a sweet, idyllic farming journal, this is a powerful treatise on the impact of agribusiness and our global food trade on the environment and our families, and an impassioned argument for a eating locally. And because it's Barbara Kingsolver writing, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is also beautifully written, hilarious, and moving. She reveals the treasures she finds in eating seasonally, cooking with her family, and farming, while simultaneously providing a thoroughly researched investigation into current food production practices. And while the picture of the facts she paints is grim, Kingsolver also offers a gorgeous, living portrait of possibility and change. She makes it clear that you don't have to be a farmer or make your own cheese to effect change in your life and in the world. Not in a very long time has a book so radically and permanently altered my way of thinking and affected the choices I make every day, and also been such a joy to read.
: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

If you write fiction, or if you consider yourself a serious reader of modern fiction, Anagrams is a must-read. In this darkly funny and achingly wistful novel, Moore creates an anagram of a life, rearranging the elements to reveal a portrait of a woman that's more real than the mutable facts of her life. What could easily be a dense experiment with form is instead a seamless, deeply revealing and heartbreaking portrait of a woman, and a riff on the power of the imagination, how the secret stories we tell ourselves reveal more than our actual lives, and the ways in which our own stories save us from ourselves and the world. It's rare to move a reader to laughter and heartbreak in just a few lines, but Lorrie Moore does it over and over again with a jaw-dropping mastery of the craft — a craft that she manages to redefine in under 250 pages. Anagrams is so readable, so masterful, that it's difficult not to read it over again the second you've reached the last page. Originally published 20 years ago, it's just been reprinted in a new paperback edition from Vintage.
: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name
by Vendela Vida

As Clarissa travels through Lapland, piecing together a suddenly uncertain past, her story becomes as much a dream as it is a mystery. The cold and darkness of the Arctic Circle are menacing and enchanting, leading her alternately to warm fires or palaces made of ice. A novel filled with searching and finding that I didn't want to put down.
: : recommended by LAURA : :

Willful Creatures
by Aimee Bender

These stories are quirky and weird, but wonderfully honest. They range from being as realistic as two teenagers in a mall to as fantastic as a family full of pumpkinheads. Well-written and denser than you might expect, this collection boasts sharp and original characters. My favorites are "Fruit and Words," "Jinx," and "Ironhead."
: : recommended by LAURA : :

Hemingway and Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers
by Mark Bailey & Edward Hemingway

Some years ago I went to the Bel Air Hotel for lunch and had just been seated when in walked Truman Capote and a friend. They sat in the booth next to me. I discreetly instructed the waiter to bring me the exact same lunch that Truman was having. It turned out to be a screwdriver, scrambled eggs and corned beef hash. After I finished eating I felt... different. Talented. Inspired. I believe in gourmet osmosis and continue to crave meals that great Artists have consumed. This is why I highly recommend Hemingway and Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers. Who knows? After you've had a few Bukowski Boilermakers (or Fitzgerald Gin Rickeys, Faulkner Mint Juleps, Capote Screwdrivers, or Hemingway Mojitos), you may be inspired to sit down and unleash the Great American Writer in you!
: : recommended by LILLY : :

Neck Deep
by Ander Monson

Warning: Monson's writing may inspire jumping up and down, bursts of laughter, reading aloud, sweet sighs, and flailing of arms. Whether writing about snow, teeth, car washes, or Mrs. Miller, Monson is both startlingly smart and heartbreakingly tender. You'll be smarter, and happier, for having read these.

: : recommended by LUCÍA : :

Self-Help
by Lorrie Moore

Back in print in a new Vintage edition, Moore's stories read like a How-To manual for life--clever and sparkling with Moore's wit and candor. This collection marked the beginning of Moore's career, comprised mainly of works from her graduate thesis. If you haven't read any of her works, this one is a great place to start.

: : recommended by LAURA : :

Don’t Get Too Comfortable and Fraud
by David Rakoff

If you like David Sedaris, I think you'll find Rakoff a great read. He's more sophisticated but equally funny, and whether he's writing about buying his hiking gear for his first mountain climb, or standing in line to become a citizen he manages to make you laugh out loud one minute and gasp at his razor sharp insights the next.  I can't wait for his next book.

: : recommended by DONNA : :

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak

I meant to read a chapter or two and go to sleep. Instead, I realized that it was 2:30 am and I was sobbing and laughing and finishing a book I couldn't put down. A phenomenal story of a German girl during World War II, and of the redemptive power of kindness, love, and books. This book is written in an innovative style and an enthralling voice, and I almost wish I hadn't read it, just so I could have the joy of reading it for the first time all over again.
: : recommended by DANA : :