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What is so funny about academia? Who knows! But so many great novelists have written hilarious novels that take place on a college campus, the academic satire has become its own genre. Richard Russo, Francine Prose, David Lodge, James Hynes... so many good ones! But the greatest of them all remains Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. If you haven't read it, get started. About as good a time as you can have with your nose in a

Whether you're a liberal or a conservative, every side needs a champion who can translate complicated ideas into simple language. But the left enjoys more than an extremely capable communicator. Elizabeth Warren's passion is infectious, her determination inspiring, and her integrity above reproach. And with her new memoir, a rallying-cry-for-the-middle-class, she'll only continue to stir things

One of the greatest novels published in the '60s, it's a shame this gritty, heartbreaking story about a teenaged orphan set loose on the streets of Portland is so little known. Time does have a way of sorting the wheat from the chaff, though. Here's betting Mr. Carpenter's masterpiece will outlast the vast majority of its more popular

Matterhorn is not only the best novel yet written about the Vietnam War, it's one of the best written by any American in recent memory. Engrossing, compelling, and absolutely devastating. No wonder it took 30 years to

In The Free, the shattered dreams of a suicidal vet, a family man without a family, and a helper unable to help collide, and what is left is... hope, humanity, and a whole lot of heart! Vlautin's latest is soulful, uplifting, and, in the end, beautiful.

Jeff Bridges and American Zen master Bernie Glassman get together to shoot the breeze about Buddhism, bowling, acting, and, last but not least, that great American bodhisattva, The Dude. As charming as it is enlightening, this book

Pynchon is the king of the paranoid school of American fiction. He's also really good at puns. Which explains why this Silicon Valley meets Upper West Side romp through the early years of the Internet Age can be both terrifying and so damned

Readers of her first four books already know Diana Abu-Jaber is a delightful, engaging storyteller. But with her new novel about a teenage runaway and the family she leaves behind, Abu-Jaber has truly come into her own. It's not a criticism to say that Birds of Paradise has more depth than her earlier work. Her characters are no more realized, the language no more lyrical, but the complexity of the emotional maze through which she sets her dogged cast of misfits and the subtlety of insight with which she illuminates their stories are truly

If just hearing the phrase "lyrical coming-of-age novel" makes your shoulders sag and your attention lag, hold that thought. Justin Torres has breathed fresh life into a tired form. We the Animals is a deranged rollercoaster careening through the lives of Torres's passionately dysfunctional family, who love one another to pieces ? literally. Fun, moving, and, yes,