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Kent Haruf’s book Plainsong is true to its namesake, a “simple and unadorned melody or air” that is tender in its portrayal of three families in Holt, Colo.

Rebecca Well’s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood follows Vivi, Necie, Teensy, and Caro, who, despite being 60 years old, are still causing trouble in Pecan Grove, Louisiana.

When you're planning a trip, choosing a guidebook is like choosing a travel companion. With spring break close enough to taste and summer within sight, travelers seeking an experience beyond the resort bubble will want to start reading up on their chosen destinations.

Barbara Kingsolver, of The Poisonwood Bible fame, wrote The Bean Trees about finding salvation in an ostensibly barren situation—appropriately, this low-key debut novel is set in Arizona.

Few contemporary novels better capture the beauty and cruelty of the North Dakota Badlands than Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River.

Michigan: The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides — Eugenides’ debut novel captures in one masterful stroke both the comfort and suffocation of the 1970’s northern suburbia.

The title of the anthology My Mistress’ Sparrow is Dead may be mystifying, but author Jeffrey Eugenides, in his introduction, reminds us that the most famous dead sparrow in literature belonged to Clodia—a.k.a Lesbia—the lover of Catullus.