The Summer of Naked Swim Parties
by Jessica Anya Blau | 
Towelhead
by Alicia Erian | 
Joy School
by Elizabeth Berg | 
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley
by Hannah Tinti | 
Run River
by Joan Didion | 
Bilgewater
by Jane Gardam | 
Durable Goods
by Elizabeth Berg | 
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green
by Joshua Braff | 
Object Lessons
by Anna Quindlen | 
The Saskiad
by Brian Hall | 
Sag Harbor
by Colson Whitehead | 
The Center of Everything
by Laura Moriarty | 
American Boy
by Larry Watson | 
Undressing the Moon
by T. Greenwood | 
Dora
by Lidia Yuknavitch | 
Take Me With You
by Catherine Ryan Hyde | 
Empire Falls
by Richard Russo | 
Anne of Windy Poplars
by Lucy Maud Montgomery | 
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes | 
Out Stealing Horses
by Per Petterson |
The halcyon days of Los Angeles in the '50s are the seductive setting for this mesmerizing novel, chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the Best Books of the year. After her mother's death, young Jorie grows up with her two older brothers and a mostly absent physician-father. While her brothers become increasingly wild, Jorie becomes the central force holding the family together. And as they discover more of their father's entangled secret life, Jorie embarks on her own relationships that threaten their strange-but-stable world.