Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary

An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations…. It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it’s the axis around which this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel spins, in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art…

Starring Sissy Hanshaw-flawlessly beautiful, almost. A small-town girl with big-time dreams and a quirk to match-hitchhiking her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bags… Featuring Bonanza Jellybean and the smooth-riding cowgirls of Rubber Rose Ranch. Chink; a lascivious guru of yams and yang. Julian; a Mohawk by birth;…

Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes….

Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight [Paris time]….

An exploration of the booming casino industry in the 1990s, as narrated by an obsessed, young poker professional called Mickey.