The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham

Set in England and Hong Kong in the 1920s, The Painted Veil is the story of the beautiful but love-starved Kitty Fane. When her husband discovers her adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic. Stripped of the British society of her youth and the small but effective society she fought so hard to attain in Hong Kong, she is compelled by her awakening conscience to reassess her life and learn how to love.The Painted Veil is a beautifully written affirmation of the human capacity to grow, to change, and to forgive.

Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes

A kind of detective story, relating a cranky amateur scholar's search for the truth about Gustave Flaubert, and the obsession of this detective whose life seems to oddly mirror those of Flaubert's characters.

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

Set in Paris in 1937, The Invisible Bridge unfolds the story of three Jewish brothers and the turns their lives make in the face of love, art, and history as Europe hurdles towards World War II. One brother, an architecture student, arrives in Paris to deliver a letter and consequently enters a love affairwith the letter's recipient. Another brother, the eldest, travels to Modena to study medicine, and the youngest brother tries his hand at acting.

American Taliban by Pearl Abraham

John's world is wide open to new ideas, philosophies, and religions. Through online chat rooms he meets a young woman who spurs his interest in Islam and Arab literature, and embraces the experience heart, body and soul-- with unforeseen consequences.

The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalie Yang

In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family's story after her grandmother's death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang's tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together.

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks

This is a novel that illuminates the shadowed edges of contemporary American culture with startling and unforgettable results. Suspended in a strangely modern day version of limbo, the young man at the center of this morally complex new novel must create a life for himself in the wake of incarceration.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Tony Webster has always made the very reasonable assumption that he could trust his memories, but when he's forced to revisit his past, everything he believes about himself and his life is challenged. The fact is that Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, never gave much thought to his past at all until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance -- one of them from the grave and another maddeningly present.

Dreaming in French by Megan McAndrew

A compelling and poignant coming-of-age story about a sharply observant American girl's young adulthood in Paris and New York set against the backdrop of Europe's most turbulent decade--for readers of Curtis Sittenfeld, Diane Johnson, and Lorrie Moore.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

In this groundbreaking historical novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America’s greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Mamah's profound influence on Wright.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

A major new talent tackles the complicated terrain of sisters, the power of books, and the places we decide to call home. There is no problem that a library card can't solve. The Andreas family is one of readers. Their father, a renowned Shakespeare professor who speaks almost entirely in verse, has named his three daughters after famous Shakespearean women. When the sisters return to their childhood home, ostensibly to care for their ailing mother, but really to lick their wounds and bury their secrets, they are horrified to find the others there. But the sisters soon discover that everything they've been running from-one another, their small hometown, and themselves-might offer more than they ever expected.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Those who carry the truth sometimes bear a terrible burden... Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, The Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.

The Swerve or How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt (2011);

In the winter of 1417, an unemployed papal scribe discovers a copy of a 1st century manuscript by the Roman poet Lucretius and its content strikes a chord at the very beginning of the Renaissance age.  In fact the author argues its message is so powerful it causes the course of the Western history to "swerve" or veer off in a new direction.  This is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Founding Gardeners by Andrea Wulf (2011);

Plantsmen, farmers, and revolutionaries like Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison share a passion for the garden as well as faith in the fledgling nation.

American Nations, of the 11 Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard (2011);

How the early settlers established certain distinct geographical and cultural identities that the author terms Yankeedom, New France, First Nation, Tidewater, New Netherlands, Deep South, Midlands, Appalachia, Far West, Left Coast and El Norte.

The Summer of 1787 by David O. Stewart (2007);

An engaging, blow-by-blow account of the four sweltering hot Philadelphia months during which 55 constitutional delegates deliberated, argued, fought and finally compromised in forging the flawed but enduring document upon which our democracy is founded.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick (2009);

An American journalist recounts the stories of six North Korean refugees who defected and then were willing to tell what "everyday life" was like under this most totalitarian regime.

The Adventures of English, Biography of a Language by Melvyn Bragg (2003);

From regional dialect to worldwide use, English is now spoken by more than 2 billion people.  So how did this happen and what's next? This book is based on an award-winning British television series.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (2005);

Explores the political genius of Abraham Lincoln as he manages the conflicting personalities that make up his wartime cabinet.

Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz (2009);

What dogs, see, smell and know - the world from a dog's point of view written by a scientist and dog-lover.

TBA

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne (2010);

The rise and fall of the Comanche Indians, warlike nomads of the Great Plains, and their enigmatic chief, Quanah Parker.