Chad Harbach’s debut novel The Art of Fielding, takes the great American pastime of baseball as its back drop and sets against it a wonderful array of characters. Through a variety of challenges, whether it be late blooming love, past mistakes or overcoming the barrier of damaged self-confidence, a series of friendships develop and evolve. Situated within the literary laden atmosphere of Westish College, a delightfully rendered character in itself that evokes a charmingly nostalgic tone, The Art of Fielding is both heart-warming and optimistic. And don’t be put off by the baseball element; Harbach’s skilful prose makes a sport I knew nothing about completely engaging.
A joy to read.

- William 

There but for the is a sharp and playfully crafted exploration of connection, communication, time and humanity. 
Using the catalyst of a dinner party, whereby our ‘absent’ protagonist locks himself in the spare room of an upper middle-class household; Smith constructs, in four chapters and through four voices, an outline of this recondite character, while simultaneously exploring the characters that provide those voices, in conjunction with a tender, occasionally satirical, commentary on modern life. 
Using deft wordplay and a sly wit Smith creates a joyfully compelling, at times challenging, but ultimately rewarding read.

- William

Jennifer Egan's fifth novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, is a brilliantly constructed and masterfully written series of intersecting short stories, populated with characters that are both tenuously and obviously linked. Traversing time and location, Egan's writing flows easily with a marked personality reflective of each character as we are taken through moments of profound intimacy and insight into the lives of friends, family and lovers.
Complex but never complicated, heartbreaking, darkly funny and optimistic, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a meditation on the ebb and flow of lives connecting with other lives and the joy and damage that results. A truly wonderful book!
- William

The outstanding debut novel from Téa Obreht is a true delight. Set in the post war Balkan territories and recounting stories of her grandfather, our protagonist Natalia guides us through a cascade of characters and memories that weave a fabric of modern mythology. It is these characters and in particular the exposure of their histories that truly elevate the emotional connection one has to the telling of the various tales and to the characters themselves. Brutality is foreshadowed by sensitivity, cruelty by tenderness. Poignant and melancholic The Tiger's Wife is a beautifully crafted fable told with warmth and imbued with a very distinctive spirit. Highly recommended!
- William

Charles Burns' follow up to his Harvey Award winning collection Black Hole, X'ed Out, is a hallucinatory dreamscape punctuated by flashbacks and medication. This first of three colour volumes centers on a seemingly traumatised protagonist, slipping in and out of consciousness. Memories are interwoven with passage through a surreal metropolis and waking lull. Placed in the late 70's Bay area punk scene, X'ed out is a mix of Tin Tin like adventurism, latent teen angst and medicated displacement; combined with Burns' meticulous art and crafted storytelling makes X'ed out a compelling and intriguing read.

The ongoing search for the ever suffering Manhog's humanity/divinity is continued in Jim Woodring's Weathercraft. How does this half man-half hog get himself into these situations? Well there is only Whim and the unpredictable nature of the Unifactor to blame! A journey of self discovery and enlightenment with just a dash of Sisyphus like tragedy - this pictorial escapade, with the familiar cast of Frank comics, is a testament to both Woodring's psychedelic vision and fable/folkloric tale telling.

Skippy Dies, Paul Murray's second novel, is the tragicomic tale of Daniel 'Skippy' Juster whose fourteen years of life come to an end during a doughnut eating competition within the opening pages. Set in a Dublin boarding school, the story traces the events and relationships leading up to and following Skippy's death. The strength of this novel comes in Murray's ability to evoke the compounding affects of joy and humour (of the laugh out loud variety) with heartbreak and despair, and engage such familiarity with both the main as well as periphery characters that one becomes entirely immersed in the emotional state of the story. A fantastic read that traverses from hilarity to tragedy and, ultimately, hope.