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Book reviews & excerpts from exceptional books set mainly in the present day (2000-current).

Contemporary

Recommended books found: 1,920

Room on the Sea

Three Novellas

by Andre Aciman

Hardcover: Apr 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Three hypnotic novellas about obsessional love, missed connections, and enduring regret by the bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name.

The House on Buzzards Bay

A Novel

by Dwyer Murphy

Hardcover: Jun 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

When a group of old college friends reunites for a summer vacation at a beach house in coastal Massachusetts, a sudden disappearance and the arrival of a seductive stranger threaten to unearth the darkest secrets of their relationships.

The Slip

A Novel

by Lucas Schaefer

Hardcover: Jun 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

For readers of Jonathan Franzen and Nathan Hill comes a haymaker of an American novel about a missing teenage boy, cases of fluid and mistaken identity, and the transformative power of boxing.

Baby in a Box

Stories

by Sarah Braunstein

Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Prescient and idiosyncratic stories about the cost and joys of caretaking from a "sharp-witted, ravishing" (New York Times) writer.

So Far Gone

A Novel

by Jess Walter

Hardcover: Jun 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins—and in the propulsive spirit of Charles Portis' True Grit—comes a hilarious, empathetic, and brilliantly provocative adventure through life in modern America, about a ...

Whistler

A Novel

by Ann Patchett

Hardcover: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

The acclaimed, prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling writer returns with a moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time.

The Dry Season

A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex

by Melissa Febos

Hardcover: Jun 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

From the national bestselling author of Girlhood, an examination of the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes Melissa Febos discovered during a year of celibacy. A wise and transformative look at relationships and self-knowledge.

The Afterlife of Malcolm X

An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America

by Mark Whitaker

Hardcover: May 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Published to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of his birth, the first major study of Malcolm X's influence in the sixty years since his assassination, exploring his enduring impact on culture, politics, and civil rights.

Universality

A Novel

by Natasha Brown

Hardcover: Mar 2025 | Paperback: Jun 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Remember—words are your weapons, they're your tools, your currency: a twisty, slippery descent into the rhetoric of truth and power from a "powerful new voice in British Literature" (The Sunday Times).

Seduction Theory

A Novel

by Emily Adrian

Hardcover: Aug 2025 | Paperback: May 2026

Critics' Consensus:

For fans of Conversations with Friends and Vladimir comes a magnetic, fresh take on marriage and loyalty: when two married professors tiptoe toward infidelity, their transgressions are brought to light in a graduate student's ...

Endling

A Novel

by Maria Reva

Hardcover: Jun 2025 | Paperback: May 2026

Critics' Consensus:

Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-...

Woodworking

by Emily St. James

Hardcover: Mar 2025 | Paperback: May 2026

Critics' Consensus:

An unforgettable and heartwarming book-club debut following a trans high school teacher from a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.

The reviewer of each book decides which categories it belongs in - but we're only human, mistakes happen. If you see a book that you think is in the wrong place, tell us!

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