Trofimuk is a talent to watch. With his first novel, he delivers a main character who washes up on a beach off the Strait of Gibraltar and is committed to a mental institution in Seville. He believes he is Christopher Columbus, and his nurse, Consuela, becomes part of his tapestry—but is it in the process of weaving or fraying? Trofimuk asks us to consider this: What, exactly, makes a person stay in character? ~ Janis

David Small, author and illustrator, truly weaves art into life with this memoir of childhood in graphic novel style. Small delves into the recesses of memory to give his readers a personal history of dumbfounding pain, emotions all a-bumble, and the resolution of a metaphorical bandage ripped off the stitches. Amazing. ~ Janis

Savage is a unique author who gives a comically archaeological view into the life, and personal decline, of writer and main character Andy/Andrew. This is a story told through four months of letters, ramblings, and pencilled notes on scraps of paper from Andy/Andrew to others who inhabit, aggravate, and enhance his life. ~ Janis

Think of Cormac McCarthy's The Road and plunk that right in the middle of the teenage market. Hunger Games delivers without a doubt: a page-turning futuristic reality show with 16-year-old Katness Everdeen as the star. Representing her district, the poorest of the twelve districts of the new nation Panem in the annual Hunger Games, Katness is pitted in brutal trials against the other contestants. The winner of the game is the last contestant alive. Collins gives on-the-edge reading for the adventurous in this slightly chilling, brilliantly plotted and paced book. ~ JANIS

In this novel, brilliant debut author Steven Hall gives his readers conceptual predators, time-space continuum intrigue and parallel dimension romance. There is no other way to say it-this blows the doors off any currently defined genre. Read it, and watch out for un-spaces-they are everywhere! ~ Janis

"...if you saw me singing as I slid over wet stones / you would know I was carrying the secret of life in my hip pocket."
From "If You Saw Me Walking" Gerald Stern is one of my three favorite poets of all time. When I finish reading one of his poems, I realize with a large exhale that I've been holding my breath. His soul must be gifted with a mystical number of eyes that fully see what every day offers and then turns it into poetry that resonates with simple yet complex beauty.

A novel that will give you an instant injection of warm and fuzzy Christmas spirit, and a sigh of gratitude for the simple joys and small gifts of peace that can still be found.

In this compelling memoir, first-time author Tammet gives us the unique opportunity to explore an extraordinary mind. He is a savant with synesthesia who was diagnosed with autism in his mid-twenties. Synesthesia is a rare condition in which a mind sees words and/or numbers as visual, emotional experience through colors and shapes. Tammet holds the world record for reciting Pi to 23,514 digits, and can learn any language within a week. Though he has an extraordinary mind, it is his spirit, resilience and determination that resonate. For example, although not able to "feel" emotions like most people, Tammet is able to compensate intellectually and is quite successful in making and keeping relationships. To read this book is to come away with a distinct admiration for its author as well as a widened sense of humanity. ~ Janis

Banville, whose The Book of Evidence was short-listed for Man Booker Prize in 1989, took the award in 2005 for this, his fourteenth novel. I found it to be lyrical, darkly disturbing and ethereal. Banville lays before his readers a world that begins and ends at the sea; a world that is bruised with abandonment, vibrating with the tenderness of firsts, stunted by loss and deflated by the inevitability of time. His deftly fleshed out characters, stemming from the melting soul of Irish Max Morden, subtly mirror the depths and surfaces of the sea. Banville masterfully unravels the mysteries and the answers that lie hidden under time. This is a book to be read, highlighter in hand. ~ Janis