Postmodern Fiction

New 8/2009

Yellow Dog by Martin Amis
Explores the complex lives of five very different men, including Xan Meo, a one-time familial paragon who suffers a personality change following a brutal assault, and King Henry IX of England, whose life is complicated by his incapacitated wife, his Chinese mistress, and his 15-year-old daughter, the victim of a filmed "intrusion" because of her future role as Queen of England.

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
The witty story of a young Toronto woman whose apparently sane, structured, consumer-oriented world suddenly slips out of focus. As a result, Marian McAlpine finds herself unable to eat when she identifies herself with the things consumed.

Timbuktu by Paul Auster
Mr. Bones, a canine companion to homeless man named Willy G. Christmas, accompanies his dying master on trip to Baltimore in search of an ex-high school teacher.

Herzog by Saul Bellow
A suffering and persecuted intellectual, Moses E. Herzog passively accepts the disasters of his private and public affairs in an effort to survive modern civilization.

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland
Over the course of several months, two retail workers at an office supply superstore – Roger, a divorced, middle aged "aisles associate" at Staples, and his young co-worker, Bethany, an early twenty-something, former Goth – strike up a unique epistolary friendship.

Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco
A wily group of editors devises a mock formula for tapping the mystical powers of the universe, only to set off a series of mysterious disappearances.

What is the What by Dave Eggers
A biographical novel traces the story of Valentino Achak Deng, who as a boy was separated from his family when his village in southern Sudan was attacked, and became one of the estimated 17,000 "lost boys of Sudan" before relocating from a Kenyan refugee camp to Atlanta in 2001.

The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Charles Smithson, a conventional young scientist, breaks his proper Victorian engagement upon becoming involved with the devastating Sarah Woodruff, whom the townspeople have linked with scandal and forbidden pleasures.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Chronicles the adventures of Dream of The Endlass, who rules over the world of dreams

Catch 22: A Novel by Joseph Heller
Presents the contemporary classic depicting the struggles of a United States airman attempting to survive the lunacy and depravity of a World War II airbase.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
George Orr discovers that his dreams possess the remarkable ability to change the world, and when he falls into the hands of a power-mad psychiatrist, he counters by dreaming up a perfect world that can overcome his nightmares.

Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem
An anthology of short fiction journeys to colorful, frequently offbeat worlds in such tales as "The Vision," "The Spray," "Vivian Relf," and "Super Goat Man."

Beloved: A Novel by Toni Morrison
After the Civil War ends, Sethe longingly recalls the two-year-old daughter whom she killed when threatened with recapture after escaping from slavery 18 years before.

Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan
On an ill-fated art expedition, 11 Americans find themselves deep in the Burmese jungle, where they encounter a tribe awaiting a leader and the mystical book of wisdom that will protect them from the Myanmar military regime.

God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater, or, pearls before swine by Kurt Vonnegut
A lawyer schemes to gain control of a large fortune by having the present claimant declared insane.