If You Like Elizabeth Berg...

updated 4/09

The Zygote Chronicles by Suzanne Finnamore
The Zygote Chronicles is a riotous and poignant novel in journal form that spans the nine-month roller-coaster ride of pregnancy. Through the voice of a whip-smart, sass-talking everywoman whose sense of humor is as wicked as her cravings for meat, Zygote reveals the unsettling and uproarious truth about pregnancy and the prospect of motherhood.

Local Girls by Alice Hoffman
Hoffman is at her haunting, thought-provoking best with these interconnected stories about a Long Island family, the Samuelsons, and the lessons in survival and transformation that life brings to every family. "Moving and deadpan funny. . . . Epiphanies about passion, pain and resiliency induce smiles and shivers in equal measure." [Excerpt from review by Entertainment Weekly]

Even Now by Susan S. Kelly
A move to Asheville reintroduces Hannah Marsh to Daintry O'Conner, her best friend from childhood, her nemesis as an adult. Seeing her ex-friend opens old wounds, forcing Hannah to revisit the past and try to make sense of what went wrong.

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift: A Novel by Elinor Lipman
Poor Alice Thrift is book-smart but people-hopeless. When Ray Russo, social-climbing purveyor of carnival fudge, decides to pursue her romantically, Alice reluctantly follows. The Pursuit of Alice Thrift brings the socially tone-deaf Alice out from under the burden of her clueless and beautiful mind.

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult
Attorney Nina Frost prosecutes child molesters – and she's seen all too many of them walk free. Nina's husband Caleb glories in the stonemason skills that allow him to construct barriers to keep out the unwanted. But even the strongest walls cannot guard Nina and Caleb from the shattering discovery that their own son has been sexually abused.

A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen
In this unusual and beautiful book, Quindlen reflects on what it takes to "get a life" – to live deeply and uniquely rather than to merely get through our days. Beautifully designed with evocative photos, the handbook offers guidance on how to live with awareness. [Includes 25 photos.]

Step-Ball-Change: A Novel by Jeanne Ray
Caroline has it all: a successful dance studio in Raleigh, a long-term marriage, and four adult children, all of whom are lawyers. Caroline is looking forward to waltzing gracefully into retirement. All it takes, though, are two back-to-back phone calls to change everything.

Dream Country by Luanne Rice
Years ago, Daisy Tucker traveled to Wyoming's Wind River Mountains to find inspiration for her art. Instead she found rancher James Tucker. Their life together was paradise until their three-year-old son, Jake, vanished. Heartbroken, Daisy left with Jake's twin sister, Sage. Now, 13 years later, Sage runs away, and Daisy turns to James to mend her family – and her heart.

Fortune's Rocks: A Novel by Anita Shreve
From the bestselling author of the acclaimed "The Pilot's Wife" and "Sea Glass" comes this magnificent turn-of-the-century novel of illicit passion and its cataclysmic results. When precocious, high-spirited Olympia Biddeford has a passionate affair with John Haskell, a friend of her father's 30 years her senior, both their lives are soon torn apart.

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
In perhaps her most mainstream, accessible novel so far, Tyler spins a tale of marriage and middle-class lives, in an age when social standards and life expectations have gone askew. Taking place on one summer day, when Maggie and Ira drive from Baltimore to Pennsylvania to a funeral, with an accidental detour involving an old black man they pass on the road and a side trip to see their former daughter-in-law and their seven-year-old grandchild, the novel reveals the basic incompatibility of their 28-year marriage and the love that binds them together nonetheless. With irresistibly funny passages you want to read out loud and poignant insights that illuminate the serious business of sharing lives in an unsettling world, this is Tyler's best novel yet. [Excerpt from review by Publisher's Weekly]