Book reviews & excerpts from exceptional books set mainly in the present day (2000-current).

Contemporary

Recommended books found: 1,826

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The Night Guest

by Hildur Knútsdóttir

Hardcover: Sep 2024 | Paperback: Dec 2025

Critics' Consensus:

Hildur Knútsdóttir's The Night Guest is an eerie and ensnaring story set in contemporary Reykjavík that's sure to keep you awake at night.

Saints of the Household

by Ari Tison

Hardcover: Mar 2023 | Paperback: Nov 2025

Critics' Consensus:

Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town - beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer - that will take your breath away.

My Good Bright Wolf

A Memoir

by Sarah Moss

Hardcover: Oct 2024 | Paperback: Oct 2025

Critics' Consensus:

An unflinching memoir about childhood, food, books, and our ability to see, become, and protect ourselves.

The Book of George

A Novel

by Kate Greathead

Hardcover: Oct 2024 | Paperback: Oct 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From the author of the critically acclaimed Laura & Emma comes a The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. for our times: Kate Greathead's razor-sharp but big-hearted excavation of millennial masculinity, The Book of George.

Under This Red Rock

by Mindy McGinnis

Hardcover: Mar 2024 | Paperback: Oct 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From award-winning author Mindy McGinnis comes a mesmerizing YA psychological mystery following a teen girl who is grappling with the death of her brother as she starts a new job in the caverns of Ohio—only to become the number one suspect in ...

Blood Test

A Comedy

by Charles Baxter

Hardcover: Oct 2024 | Paperback: Oct 2025

Critics' Consensus:

From the winner of the PEN/Malamud Award and "one of our most gifted writers" (Chicago Tribune) comes a comic novel about a divorced Midwestern dad who takes a cutting-edge medical test and learns that he has a predisposition to murder.

The Sequel

The Book Series #2

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Hardcover: Oct 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

After the "insanely readable" (Stephen King) and "perfectly told" (Malcolm Gladwell) New York Times bestseller The Plot comes Jean Hanff Korelitz's equally captivating new novel: The Sequel.

Playground

A Novel

by Richard Powers

Hardcover: Sep 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

A magisterial new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory and Bewilderment.

Intermezzo

A Novel

by Sally Rooney

Hardcover: Sep 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

An exquisitely moving story about grief, love, and family―but especially love―from the global phenomenon Sally Rooney.

Soldiers and Kings

Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

by Jason De León

Hardcover: Mar 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

An intense, intimate and first-of-its-kind look at the world of human smuggling in Latin America, by a MacArthur "genius" grant winner and anthropologist with unprecedented access

Yr Dead

by Sam Sax

Hardcover: Aug 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone Ezra's ever loved, every place they've felt queer and at home, or queer and out of place, reveals itself in ...

Small Rain

A Novel

by Garth Greenwell

Hardcover: Sep 2024 | Paperback: Sep 2025

Critics' Consensus:

A medical crisis brings one man close to death―and to love, art, and beauty―in a profound and luminous novel by award-winning author Garth Greenwell.

The reviewer of each book decides which categories it belongs in - but we're only human, mistakes happen. If you see a book that you think is in the wrong place, tell us!

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