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Here are 15 books that caught my interest lately.

Fresh, off-beat, quirky or curious titles that might deserve more attention:

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01: TOM BISSELL, „Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation“, 301 pages, 2012. [Nonfiction / Creative Writing]

02: JOHN GARDNER, „Nickel Mountain“, 312 pages, 1963.

03: PADGET POWELL, „Edisto“, 192 pages, 1984.

04: MICHEL BUTOR, „Mobile“, 319 pages, 1959. [Journalism / Collage / Nouveau Roman]

05: ROBERT BOSWELL, „Crooked Hearts“, 352 pages, 1967.

06: MOIRA CRONE, „The Not Yet“, 272 pages, 2012. [Dystopia / Science Fiction]

07: ROBERT COOVER, „The Public Burning“, 544 pages, 1977.

08: RICHARD E. KIM, „The Martyred“, 240 pages, 1964. [Korean]

09: WILLIAM SAROYAN, „The Human Comedy“, 256 pages, 1943.

10: LARRY WOIWODE, „Beyond the Bedroom Wall“, 625 pages, 1975.

11: JONATHAN RABAN, „Bad Land: An American Romance“, 384 pages, 1985. [History / Nonfiction]

12: TIM THARP, „Falling Dark“, 256 pages, 1999.

13: ELIZABETH TALLENT, „Museum Pieces“, 233 pages, 1985.

14: DONALD ANTRIM, „Elect Mr. Robinson for a better World“, 192 pages, 1993.

15: LEWIS NORDAN, „Wolf Whistle“, 290 pages, 2003.

16: DOROTHY ALLISON, „Two or three Things I know for sure“, 112 pages, 1995. [Memoir]

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Here are five books that made me curious enough to buy them:

01: JENNY LAWSON, „Let’s pretend this never happened“, 318 pages, 2012. [Memoir / Comedy]

02: HERMAN KOCH, „The Dinner“, 300 pages, 2008. [Netherlands; German title: „Angerichtet“]

03: KLAUS MANN, „Der Wendepunkt. Lebensbericht“, 737 pages, 1942. [Memoir]

04: MAGDA SZABO, „Door“, 272 pages, 1987. [Hungarian]

05: MILENA MICHIKO FLASAR, „Ich nannte ihn Krawatte“,  [Austrian; Rezensionsexemplar, danke an Verlag Klaus Wagenbach!]

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…and finally, here are three books that I read – and that were really good:

4 of 5 stars: KRISTEN D. RANDLE, „The only Alien on the Planet“, 228 pages, 1995. [Young Adult; recommended if you liked „To Kill a Mockingbird“]

4 of 5 stars: DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, „This is Water“, 64 pages, 2005. [Nonfiction / short, likeable commencement speech]

4 of 5 stars: ARNO GEIGER, „Der alte König in seinem Exil“, 192 pages, 2011. [Nonfiction / Memoir, Austrian]

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This month, to find new titles, I went through several lists of personal recommendations from my favorite living author, Stewart O’Nan (Link).

The 15 books that I picked weren’t, for the most part, HIS recommendations. But all the authors make appearances on THESE (O’Nan-curated) lists:

• Some recommended Novels, 2008
• Recommended Newer Works, 2008
• Recommended Works, 2007

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related Posts:

• Summer Reading – 60 books for the next couple of months! (Link)
• Still unread: books I plan to read (pretty soon?) (Link)
• 40 disappointing Literary Classics (Link)

and:

• Underdog Literature: August 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: July 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: June 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: May 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: April 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: March 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: February 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: January 2012 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: December 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: November 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: October 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: September 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: August 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: July 2011 (Link)
• Underdog Literature: June 2011 (Link)