Salon.com Recommended Fiction - Part 4
Explore Salon.com's top fiction picks in Part 4 of their recommended reading list. Discover must-read novels and hidden gems curated by literary experts to elevate your bookshelf.
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Sarah Canary
by Karen Joy Fowler
When an enigmatic woman cloaked in black wanders into a Chinese labor camp in the Pacific Northwest of 1873, one man is chosen to lead …
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The French Lieutenant's Woman
by John Fowles
The scene is the village of Lyme Regis on Dorset's Lyme Bay ... "the largest bite from the underside of England's out-stretched southwestern leg." The …
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J R
by William Gaddis
At the center of this hugely comic tale of "free enterprise" America stands JR--an eleven-year-old capitalist, eagerly following the example of the grasping world around …
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The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
by Ernest J. Gaines
“Grand, robust, a rich and big novel.”—Alice Walker, The New York Times Book Review “In [Jane Pittman], Ernest Gaines has created a legendary figure. . …
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Two Girls, Fat and Thin
by Mary Gaitskill
Justine, a beautiful, lonely, sexually addicted young woman, meets Dorothy, fat, maladjusted, and unhappy since childhood. They are superficially a study in contrasts yet share …
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The Sunlight Dialogues
by John Gardner
A stolid, law-and-order policeman in western N.Y. state encounters a mad "hippie" who paints the word LOVE on the street, escapes from jail, helps another …
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Omensetter's Luck
by William H. Gass
"The most important work of fiction by an American in this literary generation." -The New Republic Now celebrating the 50th anniversary of its publication, Omensetter's …
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Preston Falls
by David Gates
"Beautifully written.... Gates [has a] pitch-perfect ear for contemporary speech...and...[a] keen, journalistic eye."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times In this comic, fiercely compassionate novel, David …
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Neuromancer
by William Gibson
Case, a nerve-damaged data thief, is recruited by a new employer for a last-chance run against a powerful artificial intelligence.
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The Family Markowitz
by Allegra Goodman
Told through weddings, deaths, holiday dinners, and dreams, the story of three generations of the Markowitzes is revealed.
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Burger's Daughter
by Nadine Gordimer
"A riveting history of South Africa and a penetrating portrait of a courageous woman." -- The New Yorker A must read fiction of South Africa …
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The Company of Women
by Mary Gordon
"A superb, stunningly written novel." The Philadelphia Inquirer Raised by five intensely religious women and a charismatic, controversial priest, sheltered from the secular world, Felicitas …
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Mister Sandman
by Barbara Gowdy
One of the most audacious and talked-about novels of the season, "Mister Sandman" is set in Toronto in the mid-1950s and concerns the Canary family: …
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The Street Lawyer
by John Grisham
After a violent encounter with a homeless man, talented corporate lawyer Michael finds himself out in the streets, lucky to be alive, and holding a …
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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
by Allan Gurganus
Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and readers alike fell in love with the voice …
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Airships
by Barry Hannah
Now considered a contemporary classic, Airships was honored by Esquire magazine with the Arnold Gingrich Short Fiction Award. The twenty stories in this collection are …
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Legends of the Fall
by Jim Harrison
Three novellas explore the theme of revenge and the actions to which people resort when they feel threatened
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The Lime Twig
by John Hawkes
But it would be unfair to the reader to reveal what happens when a gang of professional crooks gets wind of the scheme and moves …
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Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written, a keystone work in American literature, and even added a …
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Memoir from Antproof Cas
by Mark Helprin
From Mark Helprin, acclaimed author of A Soldier of the Great War and A Winter's Tale, comes a miraculous song of the twentieth century. In …
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Strip Tease
by Carl Hiaasen
A single mom turned stripper finds herself locking horns with a high-powered Congressman when a bachelor party gets out of hand in this inventive tale …
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The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
by Oscar Hijuelos
It's 1949. It's the era of the mambo, and two young Cuban musicians make their way up from Havana to the grand stage of New …
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Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition
by Russell Hoban
This acclaimed story is set in an England that has suffered a nuclear holocaust. Society has regressed to an Iron Age, semi-literate state represented by …
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The Swimming-Pool Library
by Alan Hollinghurst
The dazzling first novel from the best-selling, Booker Prize-Winning author of The Line of Beauty and The Sparsholt Affair. An enthralling, darkly erotic novel of …