http://dir.salon.com/topics/must_read/?source=rss&aim=must_read en-us Copyright 2007 Salon.com. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST New fiction we love. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/22/tinsel/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/22/tinsel/index.html?source=rss "Tinsel" investigates the allure -- and demented poignancy -- of America's holiday obsession By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/15/memoir/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/15/memoir/index.html?source=rss A new book says: Fiction is dead, long live the age of autobiography By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/10/19/elizabeth_taylor/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/10/19/elizabeth_taylor/index.html?source=rss A new biography of the most beautiful woman in the world says her greatest talent lay in being famous By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/10/05/blame/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/10/05/blame/index.html?source=rss A reformed alcoholic learns she's innocent of the crime that changed her life in "Blame" By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/07/23/nick_laird/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/07/23/nick_laird/index.html?source=rss A lovelorn schoolteacher uses the Internet to exact his romantic revenge in Nick Laird's chilling tale By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/08/evening_s_empire/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/08/evening_s_empire/index.html?source=rss A memoirist searches for the truth about a fatal shooting in 1960s Phoenix By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/01/the_hidden/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/11/01/the_hidden/index.html?source=rss Mystery and conspiracy plague a dig at the site of ancient Sparta in "The Hidden" By Allen Barra Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/06/04/aleksandar_hemon/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/06/04/aleksandar_hemon/index.html?source=rss Aleksandar Hemon's fictional alter ego drinks and writes his way through exile in these superb coming-of-age tales. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/26/clancy_martin/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/26/clancy_martin/index.html?source=rss Diamonds are a boy's best friend in this crackling novel of scams, sex and druggy escapades in the jewel trade. By Andrew O'Hehir Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/11/colson_whitehead/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/11/colson_whitehead/index.html?source=rss Colson Whitehead's autobiographical summer-nostalgia novel mixes nerdy teen boys and barbecues gone awry in this affectionate portrait of an African-American seasonal community. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/05/Sarah_waters/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/05/05/Sarah_waters/index.html?source=rss This astonishing novel by the author of "Tipping the Velvet" gives the traditional ghost story a creepy twist -- and a dose of class resentment. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/04/14/arthur_phillips/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/04/14/arthur_phillips/index.html?source=rss Love among the iPods: A divorced TV director is content to be left alone with his old songs -- until he meets a new singer. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/16/harwood/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/16/harwood/index.html?source=rss The cursed and the dead haunt this elegantly gothic tale, tracing the line between the scientific and the paranormal. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/12/zoe_heller/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/12/zoe_heller/index.html?source=rss The members of a radical leftist family lose their patriarch and are forced to cope with disillusionment and secrets in Zoe Heller's sharply etched new novel. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/06/rendell/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/03/06/rendell/index.html?source=rss This dark literary thriller -- written under Ruth Rendell's pen name -- masterfully folds adultery, kidnapping and lies into a tale of psychological suspense. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/01/28/jayne_anne_phillips/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2009/01/28/jayne_anne_phillips/index.html?source=rss War, suicide and quasi-incestuous desire swirl through "Lark and Termite," Jayne Anne Phillips' evocative novel of Southern revelations. By Andrew O'Hehir Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/12/17/duncan/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/12/17/duncan/index.html?source=rss A '60s activist-turned-vigilante is tortured by a handsome interrogator in Glen Duncan's gripping new novel. So which one is the villain? By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/12/16/rash/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/12/16/rash/index.html?source=rss A lumber baron, a ruthless sexpot and a one-handed henchman star in this wildly entertaining tale of passion, murder and deforestation set in Depression-era North Carolina. By James Hannaham Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/11/25/an_wilson/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/11/25/an_wilson/index.html?source=rss What if Hitler had a love child? A.N. Wilson's "Winnie and Wolf" is a chilling fictional tale of a clandestine affair. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/30/saramago/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/30/saramago/index.html?source=rss When the grim reaper takes time off, morticians reel and chaos ensues in Jose Saramago's funny, ravishing "Death With Interruptions." By James Hannaham Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/21/huston/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/21/huston/index.html?source=rss The masterful and ambitious "Fault Lines" reveals how history gets erased and reinvented, and hints at how it might repeat itself. By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/14/ghosh/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/14/ghosh/index.html?source=rss "Sea of Poppies," set in Calcutta, is a swashbuckling saga full of sadists, weaklings and tyrants -- and, thankfully, there are two more volumes to come. By Louis Bayard Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/08/bondurant/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/10/08/bondurant/index.html?source=rss Bootlegging brothers, get-rich-quick schemes and a sensational murder trial make "The Wettest County in the World" a riveting read. By James Hannaham Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/09/30/kring/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/09/30/kring/index.html?source=rss A messed-up Midwestern family grapples with buried secrets in Sandra's Kring's gripping saga "Thank You for All Things." By Laura Miller Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:00 PST http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/09/23/atkinson/index.html?source=rss http://www.salon.com/books/must_read/2008/09/23/atkinson/index.html?source=rss Kidnapping, romance, comedy -- Kate Atkinson's delightfully inventive "When Will There Be Good News?" is much more than just another crime novel.