Joe Abercrombie, Half a King

Joe Abercrombie, Half a King. The classic good younger brother story. Second son of a king inherits throne though he has training in books not war -yet he must avenge his father's death and his own betrayal. Standard but solid, clearly for production of a fantasy series.

Samantha Harvey, Dear Thief

Samantha Harvey, Dear Thief.  A long, tender, longing, letter to an old dear friend and betrayer. Another beautiful book by an author I haven't read before. Many sentences that I wanted to read out loud and remember.

Gary Shteyngart, The Russian Debutante's Handbook

Gary Shteyngart, The Russian Debutante's Handbook. I wish I had read this before Little Failure, because it seems like a sickly in-law, after. 

Lorrie Moore, Anagrams

Lorrie Moore, Anagrams. Extraordinary. Absolutely fucking comic and engrossing and worthwhile. Benna is a character with so much imagination, so much character, so much more everything - her voice is half-monologue, half dialogue, alternately and concurrently understated and hyperbolic, dryly witty and broad slapstick. Tragedy that was so funny I had trouble breathing and read bits out loud to myself to laugh again. Seriously considered starting over at the beginning when I got to the end.

Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger

Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger. Raskolnikov is successful and eminently sympathetic.