andrea levy's small island
winner of the whitbread and orange awards this past year, this book is about two jamaican immigrants to england just after wwII and their british landlady. great look at the immigrant experience, war, racism, love, sex, etc. very moving and highly recommended.
rachel cusk's saving agnes
also a whitbread winner but from several years ago. depressive, restless girl in england with wacky roommates and stuff. not bad but i'd recommend cusk's later novels instead.
umberto eco's the mysterious flame of queen loana
man, whoever designed this book should win a big major award b/c it's stunningly beautiful. it does drag in spots--it's about a guy who loses his emotive memory after a stroke and tried to remember his life by reading his old books and comics and things, and so there are a lot of a passages where he's just reading and stuff, whihc isn't necessarily a riveting thing to read about. still, pretty awesome, and you can't go wrong when there are pictures!
nick hornby's a long way down
a pretty stupid premise, a not-terrible execution.
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