New Fiction eBooks

My first thought upon finishing Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk was, "Wow! I love this book, but how am I going to sell it in San Francisco?" And unless you are able to step outside of your comfort-zone as a reader, I may not be very successful, which is a crying shame. This book has an energy that I rarely encounter, a voice that sparkles and pops, a plot that is Hollywood worthy, and it just may be the truest portrait of an American War Hero amidst the whirlwind of praise accompanying his "victory tour" home from a battle that only some feel we need to be fighting. It is also set in Texas, at a Dallas Cowboys football game, but please don't let that dissuade you either. Ben Fountain has talent in spades, and his blend of humor and pathos is a joy to behold. With Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk he has given us a novel that is so true it can only be called fiction, and a book that is so enjoyable that upon completion, you will find yourself in my unenviable position: trying to get everyone else to read this wonderful tale. --KH

When the family alligator wrestling business starts to go under due to a lack of tourism to your haunted swamp island, and your sister keeps running off to have torrid love affairs with dead men, and your mom won't respond on the Ouija board and a mysterious man appears to collect for his unsolicited services as a buzzard exterminator, sometimes you've got to take the rudder and venture to the bottom of things, so to speak. And, if this sweet grimy world you're navigating is the creation of Karen Russell, you know you're in for an other/under-worldly experience that is at once fantastic and heart-breakingly real. Swamplandia! is everything its premise promises and more.

A sweeping, richly compassionate novel about marriage, ambition, and the reclaiming of love-by the bestselling novelist and co-founder of Narrative magazine. Many love stories end in marriage; rare is the love story that begins with one-already promised, already worn. Set in San Francisco during the first year of Obama's presidency, Three Stages of Amazement deftly charts the struggles and triumphs of Lena Rusch and her husband Charlie Pepper, still believe they can have it all--sex, love, marriage, children, career, brilliance. But life delivers surprises and tests--a stillborn child, an economic crash, a ruthless business rival and the attentions of an old lover. Touched by tragedy and by ordinary hopes unmet, Lena and Charlie must face, for the first time in their lives, real limitation.

Cole's debut, which has already earned the author comparisons to W.G. Sebald and Albert Camus, is a welcome addition to the genre of the walker's novel. In it, the narrator, a Nigerian immigrant doing his residency in Manhattan, ruminates on history (both personal and political), geography (as his walks radiate outward from Morningside Heights, all of the city is laid out to him), and his own psychology. Open City wanders at its own pace and proves itself to be that rare, unexpected marvel: a great American novel.

After I read Winter's Bone, I decided I had to read everything by Daniel Woodrell. Unfortunately, I discovered that pretty much all of his books were out of print. The Bayou Trilogy brings back into print three of his best. The writing is incredible, and these titles are absolutely drenched in southern gothic noir. This is one of my favorite books of the year. (Martin)