How German Is It? by Walter Abish.

The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley.
RC 15855.
When history professor John Washington is summoned home by his father's friend Jack, who is dying, he must come to terms with his origins. From Jack, Washington learns about the financial and spiritual legacy his father left him, which is related to the mysterious Chaneysville events of the nineteenth century. Some strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex.

Seaview by Toby Olson.

Sent for You Yesterday by John Edgar Wideman.
RC 35708.
Set in a ghetto called Homewood, the story travels back and forth from 1934 to 1970. The main narrator provides a frame for the reminiscences of his Uncle Carl, Carl's friend Tate, and Carl's mistress Lucy Tate. At the center of all their stories is the tragedy of Albert Wilkes, a gifted piano player shot by the police as he sat at the Tates' piano. Homewood Trilogy, Book 2. Series Code HOT. Strong language.

The Barracks Thief by Tobias Wolff.

The Old Forest and Other Stories by Peter Hillsman Taylor.
RC 22930.
A collection of fourteen short stories about the wealthy in the cities of the South between the two World Wars. Taylor explores everyday domestic life and the world of manners, gossip, and unspoken understandings.

Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley.

World's End by T. Coraghessan Boyle.
RC 27116.
Set in the Hudson Valley country, the story links the Van Brunt and Van Wart families, beginning in modern times and weaving in an earlier period. The central character is Walter Van Brunt, a dreamer addled by drink and dope, who loses a foot after he crashes into a historical marker on his motorcycle. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex.

Dusk by James Salter.

Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow.
RC 29022.
Young Billy Bathgate, a fatherless teenager from the East Bronx, witnesses brutal gang violence in his climb to the top of the mob scene. His activities take him through the heart of the city and into the rural underworld of the Depression with Dutch Schultz, a beer baron. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex.

Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman.
RC 36381.
Cudjoe is a reclusive writer living in seclusion when he learns of a disaster. The Philadelphia police bombed a house owned by MOVE, a radical African American organization. The resultant fire destroyed 61 other homes. Cudjoe returns to his devastated Philadelphia neighborhood in search of a lost boy and the fire's larger meaning. Strong language and descriptions of sex.

Mao II by Don DeLillo.
RC 33432.
Allowing the media to presume him dead, author Bill Gray has been wallowing in a secluded life of drinking, drugs, and depression while he works on his latest book. Then, for the first time in over thirty years, he allows a photographer to capture him on film and push him into publishing. Events conspire to draw him out of seclusion, and he finds himself facing violence on the streets of Beirut. Strong language.

Postcards by Annie E. Proulx.
RC 35489.
Loyal Blood's only ambition is to improve his dairy farm in Vermont, but his life takes a drastic turn when he accidentally kills his girlfriend Billy. Loyal takes off before his crime can be discovered. The separate, poignant stories of the Bloods are punctuated by sporadic postcards from the wandering Loyal. Strong language, some violence, and some explicit descriptions of sex.

Operation Shylock: A Confession by Philip Roth.
RC 36537.
Two characters bear the author's name. The imposter believes that Arabs will destroy Israel in a nuclear war if the Jews do not return to their European roots. While the real Philip Roth searches for the imposter, he engages in a satirical debate about the Middle East, shifting from specific instances and Jewish identity to a Greek project with the code name Shylock. Strong language and descriptions of sex.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.
RC 40688, BR 11904.
In 1946, Carl Heine drowns in Puget Sound. Fellow fisherman Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. The reporter covering the trial is Ishmael Chambers, the first love of Miyamoto's wife. Soon the courtroom and the community are tense with suspicion and prejudice. Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

Independence Day by Richard Ford.
RC 44192.
Frank Bascombe got divorced seven years ago, yet he is still coping with it. Perhaps things will change this Fourth of July weekend. Frank plans to see his longtime girlfriend and then take his teenaged son Paul to visit several sports halls of fame. Fate steps in along the way. Strong language.

Women in Their Beds by Gina Berriault.
RC 43699.
Short stories that depict the human condition through a variety of characters in realistic situations. In one story, a librarian becomes suspicious of a homeless man who wants him to interpret a poem.

The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor.
RC 45448.
A hip, saxophone-playing bear finds himself underemployed as a street musician. The animal prodigy begins playing jazz in a New York club. He is arrested, rescued, and taken to Woodstock. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
RC 47310.
The novel opens with an evocation of Virginia Woolf's last days before her suicide in 1941, and then alternates to the stories of two modern American women who are trying to make rewarding lives for themselves in spite of conflicting demands.

Waiting by Ha Jin.
RC 49107.
In 1960s China, army doctor Lin Kong falls in love with Manna Wu. However, Kong is bound by an arranged marriage to Shuyu, a village woman who refuses to divorce him. If Kong can bear eighteen years of separation, the court will dissolve the marriage.

The Human Stain by Philip Roth.
RC 50274.
In a small New England town, aging classics professor Coleman Silk is forced to retire when his colleagues falsely decry him as a racist. The real truth about Silk would astonish even his most hostile accuser. Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

Bel Canto by Anne Patchett.
RC 54190.
A private performance by soprano Roxane Coss entices Katsumi Hosokawa to attend a party in his honor in South America. While the audience applauds, guerrillas occupy the mansion taking everyone hostage. Some strong language.

The Caprices by Sabina Murray.
RC 58726.
Nine stories about men and women affected by World War 2's devastating Pacific campaign. In "Guinea," two American soldiers lost in the jungle learn what bonds them together. The title piece portrays the fatal encounter of a young girl and a Japanese soldier. Violence and strong language.

The Early Stories by John Updike.
RC 57642, BR 15219.
More than 100 short pieces originally published in the New Yorker and other magazines. Includes the Olinger and Tarbox sagas as well as "Pigeon Feathers" and "The Family Meadow."

War Trash by Ha Jin.
RC 59844.
Novel in the form of a memoir by 73-year-old Yu Yuan, who, as a young Chinese soldier captured by the Americans during the Korean War, was forced to become a prison camp interpreter. He recalls perilous life and death power struggles between his fellow POWs' nationalist and communist factions. Violence and strong language.