You Must Read This

June 16, 2013 The fictional tale about war correspondents will make you laugh till the person next to you on the subway thinks you have problems. It is also, according to writer Alexander Nazaryan, an all-too-real parody of the glory days of print journalism.

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June 2, 2013 Justice's poems are not interested in making us feel comfortable or special. Yet author Mary Szybist says there is something about them that she finds profoundly consoling.

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May 19, 2013 Author Ethan Rutherford started reading Daphne du Maurier's collection of stories, Don't Look Now, while it was still light out and didn't move from his chair until dark. Each one features characters who endure the strange and the extreme, and who are forever changed by the events that befall them.

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May 12, 2013 Andrzej Szczypiorski's The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman is a book set in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Author Courtney Angela Brkic says reading it helped her understand her father, whose family had lived through the second world war.

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May 5, 2013 Ahmadou Kourouma's Allah Is Not Obliged recounts the story of a child soldier in Liberia. Author A. Igoni Barrett says in this book, horror and humor become bedfellows, making for a heartbreaking yet laughter-filled read.

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April 14, 2013 Tomás Rivera's ... And the Earth Did Not Devour Him is the account of a boy bearing witness to the injustices faced by migrant workers in the mid-20th century. Author Alex Espinoza says this book showed him that storytelling doesn't have to be private, it can be revolutionary.

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April 7, 2013 Sara Suleri Goodyear's heartbreaking memoir, Meatless Days, describes growing up in post-colonial Pakistan with an elegiac immediacy. Author Rajesh Parameswaran says the book does justice to the way memory actually lives in the mind.

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March 31, 2013 In this novel about sadness and delusion, critic Harold Augenbraum says, "love ... tatters its own lovers." What's your favorite tragic novel? Tell us in the comments.

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March 17, 2013 Joy Williams' The Quick and the Dead, about three motherless girls traveling through the desert, left author Domenica Ruta with more questions than answers. Do you have a favorite book that left you confused — in a good way? Tell us in the comments.

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March 10, 2013 Derek Raymond has been called the father of British noir. But author A.L. Kennedy says He Died With His Eyes Open is a crime novel so far beyond noir that there isn't even a word for that kind of darkness. Is there a book you find deeply disturbing but still love? Tell us in the comments.

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February 11, 2013 Poet and critic Craig Morgan Teicher says The Colossus, Plath's first book of poetry (and the only one published in her lifetime), shows us glimpses of the poet she would later become. Do you have a favorite Plath poem? Tell us in the comments.

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February 10, 2013 Brian Moore's The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, a book about an alcoholic looking for love, is the novel that author Ann Leary always turns to when she's depressed. What books do you read when you're sad? Tell us in the comments.

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January 21, 2013 Marco Polo sits in the garden of Kublai Khan and weaves tales of spider cities, gold cities and dream cities. Author Eric Weiner explains why the best travel book he has ever read isn't about a real place. What's your favorite book about an imaginary journey? Tell us in the comments.

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January 20, 2013 Leonard Michaels' Sylvia, an account of a violent and tumultuous love affair, began as an autobiographical essay and then grew into a novel. Author Sarah Manguso writes that despite all of its particularities, the story could really be about anyone. What are some novels that you can relate to?

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January 6, 2013 Resurrection, Tolstory's last and perhaps least-read novel, is also his most bleak. Author George Saunders writes that it opened his eyes to the plight of the disenfranchised — in Tolstoy's Russia and the modern world. What book opened your eyes to the suffering of others? Tell us in the comments.

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January 31, 2013 Jean Merrill's classic children's book The Pushcart War explores war, peace and pushcarts on the streets of New York. Author Adam Mansbach writes that the story still resonates. Do you have a favorite children's book that deals with heavy themes? Tell us in the comments.

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December 3, 2012 Philip Roth recently announced that he had written his last novel. Author Matthew Specktor explains why Sabbath's Theater, released in 1995, is not only Roth's most disgusting novel but also his best. Do you have a favorite book that breaks all the rules? Tell us in the comments.

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November 30, 2012 Astrophysicist Adam Frank doesn't usually read self-help books, but something about Walker Percy's existential optimism in Lost In The Cosmos actually changed his outlook on life. Do you have a favorite self-help book? Tell us in the comments below.

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November 28, 2012 Ben Fountain's newest book, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, takes place over the course of a single day in the life of Spc. William Lynn. Author Jonathan Evison writes that this is a book so vivid he felt like he lived it. Have you ever read a book that felt real? Tell us in the comments.

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November 26, 2012 The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You may be more than 15,000 lines of almost entirely unpunctuated poetry, but author Steve Stern says this Southern gothic fun house is so bewitching you'll have to finish it. Do you have a favorite impossible book? Tell us in the comments.

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