Read Alikes: A Visit from the Goon Squad by 2011 Pulitzer for Fiction

Working side-by-side for a record label, former punk rocker Bennie Salazar and the passionate Sasha hide illicit secrets from one another while interacting with a motley assortment of equally troubled people from 1970s San Francisco to the post-war future. Literary fiction; Psychological fiction

Specimen Days by Prophetic poet Walt Whitman presides over each interlinked episode in a visionary novel set in the city of New York, featuring the same group of characters--a young boy, an older man, and a young woman Adult books for young adults; Literary fiction, Darkly humorous; Haunting; Moody, Stylistically complex

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Recounts the connected stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a nineteenth-century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to a young man who searches for meaning in a post-apocalyptic world. Experimental fiction; First person narratives, Intricately plotted, Stylistically complex

Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe by Jenny Hollowell Hoping to escape her past when she escapes her religiously conservative family and moves to Hollywood, Birdie all but despairs of an acting career nine years later and meets a naive young actor whose self-destructive impulses parallel her own. Literary fiction; Psychological fiction

The Bridegroom by Ha Jin A collection of twelve short stories captures the daily lives and experiences of Chinese women and men who struggle to deal with the influx of Western influence into a society that attempts to control their every thought and move. Chinese fiction; Chinese-American fiction; Literary fiction, Character-driven, Relaxed pace, Offbeat; Reflective, Lyrical; Spare; Stylistically complex; Witty

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby A pop music junkie ponders life, love, and hangs out with the two offbeat clerks who work at his semi-failing record store. Humorous stories; Musical fiction Character-driven, Funny; Upbeat, Candid; Dialect-rich; Witty

Tinkers by Paul Harding As an old man lies dying, time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. Literary fiction; Psychological fiction, Character-driven, Haunting; Reflective, Descriptive; Lyrical; Stylistically complex

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell In 1799, Nagasaki Harbor, Jacob de Zoet, meets Orito Aibagawa, the disfigured daughter of a samurai doctor and a midwife. The borders between propriety, profit, and pleasure blur until Jacob finds his vision clouded, the consequences of which will extend beyond Jacob's worst imaginings. Historical fiction; Literary fiction, Intricately plotted, Richly-detailed; Stylistically complex