The Absolutist is the ninth novel by Irishman John Boyne (best known to American readers for the mega-bestselling YA title The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). Like most of his work, it deals with a serious subject, very serious.

The novel is elegantly laid out--divided into seven parts, each taking us to a different time, each revealing something new. It opens in September 1916, as 21-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to meet Marian, the sister of Will Bancroft, someone he met during the Great War and was in love with, though it wasn't reciprocated. He's returning letters Marian wrote to Will.

Boyne takes us from the war to postwar, to prewar, and so on, to 1979. Each "time" Tristan (as narrator) reveals more of himself. We learn about his early mistreatment as a homosexual, his war training alongside Will, his pain and suffering during the grotesque war, as well as his fears and profound guilt. Will was the "absolutist," the one who stood up to the war's brutality and refused to fight, the one who paid the highest price for his integrity. Tristan is the one left behind to suffer.

This is a highly layered tale, nuanced and complex. Its telling, with much dialogue, seems a throwback to James, Forster, even Ford Madox Ford, but its modernisms belong to McEwan and Bainbridge. Beautifully crafted and wrought, The Absolutist is a story to be savored. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher

On his way to investigate remains discovered at an archeological dig site, Chief of Police Benoit 'Bruno' Courreges gets stuck in a traffic jam caused by a road full of ducks and geese in the fictionalized town of St. Denis in the Perigord region of France. This rural area is noted for its cuisine, and it appears that the liberated fowl strayed from a vandalized farm. A leaflet at the scene reads, "STOP cruelty to animals. Boycott foie gras." This clue points to zealous activist students working at the archeology site. When Bruno finally arrives at his destination, he discovers that the unearthed skeleton is wearing a Swatch and has a bullet hole in the skull--clearly this is no prehistoric find. It is a crime scene.

In The Crowded Grave, as in the three previous installments of Martin Walker's informative, atmospheric mystery series, Bruno--proud, sensible and honest--believes his job is to take care of local matters that don't need the Police Nationale (or gendarmes). "We can settle things among ourselves," Bruno proclaims. This becomes a tall order, though, as the investigation becomes crowded by a complex storyline that encompasses terrorists, Franco-Spanish intelligence sharing, explosives and missing persons.

Walker writes taut, dramatic scenes where the past and present ultimately converge. Bruno's affection for his hunting-companion basset hound, his complicated love affairs with two women and his penchant for gourmet food, wine and cooking fortify the intensity of the suspense. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Sam Weller (The Bradbury Chronicles) and Mort Castle (On Writing Horror) have compiled (and contributed to) a collection of short stories in honor of Ray Bradbury, who died in June 2012 at age 91. The stories in Shadow Show are as varied as Bradbury's own vast range of speculative fiction; some are more successful than others, yet the strongest entries are enthralling enough to sustain the reader through the infrequent lulls.

Margaret Atwood's "Headlife," Joe Meno's "Young Pilgrims," Charles Yu's "Earth (A Gift Shop)" and Bayo Ojikutu's "Reservation 2020" recall Fahrenheit 451's use of science fiction as a vessel for exploring political and social issues. Dan Chaon's "Little America" and Robert McCammon's "Children of the Bedtime Machine" are refreshingly original takes on post-apocalyptic America and evoke the melancholy of Bradbury stories like "There Will Come Soft Rains." Other Bradbury cornerstones are paid tribute: "The Tattoo" by Bonnie Jo Campbell is heavily based on The Illustrated Man, while Alice Hoffman's "Conjure" and Julia Keller's "Hayleigh's Dad" feature menacing strangers in small towns. "By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain" by Joe Hill is an unexpected gem among the other sparkling entries of Shadow Show. It follows two imaginative children as they discover a beached lake monster, a creature reminiscent of Bradbury's "The Fog Horn."

Long-time Bradbury fans and the uninitiated alike are sure to find enjoyable experiences in this collection. The afterwords accompanying each contribution explain Bradbury's influence on the stories and on the author's life in general. These personal tributes, more so than any story, celebrate the life of Ray Bradbury and prove his impact on the literary world. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer

Deborah Harkness's debut, A Discovery of Witches, injected a conventional vampire-witch romance with enough propulsive plot to keep readers hanging on for more--right up until its frustrating non-ending. Shadow of Night picks up exactly where we left off, as Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont take a lengthy detour from their present-day troubles into late 16th-century Europe.

The couple are on a quest: since the alchemical manuscript that promises to unlock the mysteries of their supernatural existence is hidden by magic in the present, they've decided to look for it in the past. Matthew calls upon friends like Sir Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Northumberland (with grudging help from Christopher Marlowe, who clearly resents Diana's presence). Meanwhile, Diana is also trying to come to terms with her untapped powers and searches for local assistance--not an easy task when anti-witch hysteria is on the rise. There's also a visit to Matthew's family castle in France, where his father, the overwhelming Philippe de Clermont, forces a reappraisal of their relationship.

Harkness packs the story with all-star figures and tantalizing historical tidbits, such as the Voynich Manuscript and the legend of Prague's golem. Still, the core of the story is the intimate bond between Diana and Matthew, two headstrong characters whose parallel journeys of self-discovery are an ongoing dramatic cycle of argument and reconciliation. Each makes a powerful breakthrough in Shadow of Night--emotional climaxes that are doubly important because, in true "middle volume of a trilogy" tradition, the outward plot mechanics are basically holding everything in place until the couple can return to the present and confront their enemies. This time, Harkness brings the story to a relatively solid conclusion. --Ron Hogan, founder of Beatrice.com

It seems inadequate to call "Dear Sugar" an advice column, because it exists in a category all its own--as thousands of readers of Cheryl Strayed's pseudonymous biweekly column at the literary website The Rumpus can attest. Part memoir, part essay collection, the aptly titled Tiny Beautiful Things gathers together stunningly written pieces on everything from sex and love to the agonies of bereavement.

Strayed offers insights as exquisitely phrased as they are powerful, confronting some of the biggest and most painful of life's questions. Among the people who write to "Dear Sugar" are a father whose only son was killed at 22 by a drunk driver, a woman who lost her baby and another woman whose infant is about undergo surgery for a brain tumor. In her responses, Strayed shines a torch of insight and comfort into the darkness of these people's lives, cutting to the heart of what it means to love, to grieve and to suffer. Writing to the bereaved father, Strayed describes her own grief at the loss of her mother--a theme in all her work, including her memoir, Wild--and the "obliterated place" the loss created. Then, she tells us, "Sugar is the temple I built in my obliterated place."

The implication is that the power of Strayed's column comes from a previous, intense experience of annihilation. Perhaps it is for that reason that reading "Dear Sugar" can be such an emotionally grueling experience--when Strayed is at her best, the reader is, in some sense, obliterated. --Ilana Teitelbaum, book reviewer at the Huffington Post

The U.S. Olympic basketball team of 1992 was known as the Dream Team because it had the game's biggest stars, including Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan.

Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum (Seven Seconds or Less, Unfinished Business) brings these colorful personalities to life as he recounts the creation of the Dream Team and its path to Olympic gold. When a meat inspector from Belgrade came up with the idea of rescinding the amateurs-only clause of Olympics competition, it made it possible for the U.S. men's basketball team, traditionally made up of college players, to become a squad of NBA All-Stars, characterized by outrageous and iconic players and an unusual vision of the game. As McCallum tells it, this team took its ambassadorial role seriously, as the superstars relinquished their playing minutes to the greater goals of victory, teamwork and honor in a manner arguably absent from today's game.

Dream Team's tone is occasionally reverent, but just as McCallum begins to speak in mythic terms, he reminds us that these men were only human, tapping into their personal lives and private sides (when his shared history with them allows). McCallum is nothing if not opinionated, but always fair in his analyses, and the quotations and one-liners that pepper his text are pure gold in terms of entertainment as well as illumination of the fine sport of basketball. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pages of julia

This knock-out hit from Jennifer Echols (Forget You) will quickly rise to the top of recommendation lists.

Though Leah's mother has been moving the two of them from city to city, one thing has remained constant: they are always near an airport. When Leah turns 14, she makes a bold commitment: "If I was doomed to live in a trailer park my whole life, I could complain about the smell of jet fuel like my mom... or I could learn to fly." In Heaven Beach, Leah gets the chance to start her mission by getting a job for Hall Aviation, her current backyard airport. Run by Mr. Hall, who employs his two sons to tow banners, Leah works out a deal to start flying lessons with him and is soon in the pilot's seat. After tragedy strikes the Hall family, Leah is forced to work with the teenage Hall brothers--one who's a rule follower and seems interested in her, and another who seeks a good adrenaline rush (and on whom she's had a crush for years).

Echols hits the dynamics of teenage life on the head. Dealing with a mother who would rather please her boyfriend than care for her daughter and dealing with a self-absorbed friend, Leah is instantly endearing, even with her obvious flaws. The scenes between the brothers and Leah expertly reveal her confusion and struggle between friendship, romance and duty to her job. Most of Echols's readers will consider Such a Rush her best yet. --Shanyn Day, blogger at Chick Loves Lit

Jennifer Brown (Hate List) has created a realistic and emotional sibling journey with Perfect Escape.

Kendra's life has revolved around her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD has forced him into breakdowns, therapy and routines. Feeling the pressure to be a "normal child" for her parents, Kendra has spent years attempting to be perfect. This drive for perfection takes her down a path of cheating and lies in an effort to receive an A in a class she's failing and ruins the image she has tried to uphold for her parents and her college dreams. Needing a moment to think, Kendra finds herself at Newman Quarry where her brother has come on hundreds of occasions to count rocks. Sure enough, he's there again. Soon Grayson and Kendra are 100 miles from home, with Kendra planning to drive all the way to California.

The main theme of Perfect Escape may be a road trip, but the real journey here happens in the relationship between Kendra and Grayson. Brown doesn't take the easy way out, weaving solutions together for a neat package in the end. Instead, we witness Kendra's extremely realistic inner monologues as she realizes her place in life and where Grayson fits, and the shattering of her previous perceptions. The story moves quickly enough to keep readers interested, but slowly enough to fully explore the importance of a sibling relationship. --Shanyn Day, blogger at Chick Loves Lit