Sense of place

4.5 stars

After her mother's suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she's never met, determined to find her mother--who she believes turned into a bird.

4.8 stars

"Aleksandar and Isobel are siblings and former classical music prodigies, once destined for greatness. As the only Eastern European family growing up on their block on the far southside of Chicago, the pair were inseparable until each was forced to confront the absurdity of tragedy at an early age and abandon their musical ambitions. Now in their twenties, they find themselves encountering ridiculous jobs, unfulfilling romantic relationships, and...

"On the cusp of becoming teenagers, Ralph, his sister Shelley, and their friend William, befriend Danielle, an odd girl in their school. She draws an extraordinary horse in a competition created by Ralph's mother. It's the kind of drawing no child -- or adult, for that matter -- should be able to draw. It will haunt Ralph into adulthood, because it represents everything wrong in Danielle's life and everything she wished her life could be. As teenagers...

3.7 stars

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech...

4 stars

"Gracie Mueller is a proud mother of two and devoted wife, living with her husband Randy in upstate New York. Her life is complicated by the usual tedium and stressors--young children, marriage, money--and she's settled down comfortably enough. But when Randy's failing career as a real estate agent makes finances tight, their home goes into foreclosure, and Gracie feels she has no choice but to return to the creatively illegal and high-stakes lifestyle...

3.4 stars

"From the bestselling author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down comes a highly anticipated new novel. Set in 1960's London, Funny Girl is a lively account of the adventures of the intrepid young Sophie Straw as she navigates her transformation from provincial ingenue to television starlet amid a constellation of delightful characters. Insightful and humorous, Nick Hornby's latest does what he does best: endears us to a cast of characters...

"When Rósa begins to hear strange noises from upstairs in her new husband's home, she turns to the local woman in an attempt to find solace. But the villager's words are even more troubling--confirming many of the rumors about Jón's first wife, Anna, including that he buried her body alone in the middle of the night. Rósa's isolation begins to play tricks on her mind: What--or who--is in the attic?"--

3.5 stars

"A luminous meditation on sons and fathers, ghosts of war, and living history that moves between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora. In playing "Metal Gear Solid V," a young man's video game experience turns into a surreal exploration on his own father's memories of war and occupation. A college student in "Hungry Ricky Daddy" starves himself in protest of Israeli violence against Palestine. Set in Kabul, "Return to Sender" follows a doctor...

Meet Ramesh Kumar, "examinations consultat," who makes a lucrative living taking tests for the sons of India's elite. He is just a cog in the wheel that keeps the middle classes thriving, until he takes India's national university entrance exam for a lackluster student and inadvertently comes in first. Ramesh sees an opportunity--perhaps even an obligation--to cash in on the newfound celebrity of his client Rudi, who's soon juggling stardom and his...