The Mystery Guest: An Account
by Gregoire Bouillier
Farrar, Straus and Giroux

$18.00
20% off: $14.40

This memoir might seem short, but don’t let the size fool you. The author receives a phone call one day in 1990 from the woman who had left him two years previous. She’s not calling to discuss what happened or apologize, no, she’s calling to invite him to a party for a woman he’s never met. In each of the four parts—phone call, preparation, the party, the aftermath—Bouillier uses a combination of earnestness and hyperbolic prose to examine each moment. Witty and absurd, I savored each page of this book.—Megan S.

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories
by Karen Russell
Alfred A. Knopf

$22.00
20% off: $17.60

I don't usually read short story collections, because I like the more ‘in depth’ relationship with characters and plotline that I get from a novel. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. Karen Russell's short story collection is good enough to not only transcend this rule, but it makes me question why I came up with it anyway. Her stories are masterfully written. She creates her own mythology, steeped in tragedy, hilarity, and an edge of Southern gothic. I could compare her to other writers of the same ilk, but I really think it would distract from the genius of her stunning debut. I look forward to whatever she will give us next.—Churchill P.

The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
Ballantine Books

$14.95
20% off: $11.96

One of the best reasons to read this book is because then you can have a conversation akin to the following: “Hey, what are you reading now?” “I’m reading a book about JESUITS! IN! SPACE!” Because that’s not the sort of exchange that occurs all that often, you should take the opportunity when it presents itself. Other, equally valid, reasons to read the book include the well-crafted prose, the touching character development, the lack of words like ‘welkin,’ and the intelligent scientific logic at work through the entire book. You know, once you make the Jesuits in space leap. Also worthy of a read is the sequel, Children of God (but whatever you do, don’t read the sequel first). -- Cat B.

The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq
by Christian Parenti
New Press

$14.95
20% off: $11.96

I am only just beginning to get my head around the Iraq situation circa the U.S. ‘victory’ back in the day. This is well-done war reporting. Surprisingly, the often strident Parenti largely eschews his sensationalism and knee-jerk leftist proselytizing in favor of a kind of taste for absurdity and irony. Witness the book's title: The Freedom. But this is one of those rare and lovely instances where absurdity and irony do not detract from humanity in the least.—Ann M.

Hamlet in Purgatory
by Stephen Greenblatt
Princeton University Press

$21.95
20% off: $17.56

I first read a portion of this book for a class on the origins of tragedy in theatre. Greenblatt’s discussion of the Catholic and Protestant allusions in Shakespeare’s work is so engaging, it led me to write my senior thesis on a related topic. Written in an England that endorsed Protestantism as the state religion (under the rule of Elizabeth I), the bard’s work still evokes Catholic ideas and images. Greenblatt identifies these allusions and discusses the possible whys and wherefores behind them, including the implications about the bard’s own religious beliefs. A must read for all Shakespeare lovers and British history enthusiasts.—Liz G.