Your Shelf Life

Americanah

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

With depth and humor, Adichie explores the lives of two lovestruck teenagers in Nigeria, who later end up as immigrants on different continents. They reunite years later, reigniting their passion, but the hardest decisions are yet to come.

The Interestings

By Meg Wolitzer

Six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts are inseparable. But what happens to their artistic dreams as they grow into adulthood? Money, class, power, and art all play a role in how they respond to each other and to the changing environment of New York City.

The Photographs Not Taken: A Collection of Photographers’ Essays

Edited by Will Steacy

Sixty photographers tell the story of the photo that got away, in essay form. Some chose not to take the photograph for ethical or moral reasons. For others, that perfect moment right before their eyes just slipped by.

The Caretaker

By A. X. Ahmad

Ranjit Singh, a Sikh once in the Indian Army, escapes a shameful past by going to, of all places, Martha’s Vineyard! He ends up a caretaker for a senator and gets caught up in a shadowy political underworld. Soon he’s on the run again and must solve a mystery to save his family.

And the Mountains Echoed

By Khaled Hosseini

From the author of The Kite Runner, the story begins in 1950s Afghanistan but expands through generations and locales: Paris, San Francisco, and the Greek Isles. It looks at how families nurture and wound one another. A three-hanky read.