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Michael Chabon's eighth novel, Telegraph Avenue, delves deeply into issues of art, race and sexuality. The book started with a "very tiny world," Chabon says, a vinyl record shop not unlike a Berkeley store that inspired him in the late '90s.

Elissa Schappell was 13 and in search of a delicious romance novel when she stumbled on Erica Jong's feminist call to arms, Fear of Flying. It didn't resonate with her at the time, but later she appreciated its message. Is there a book you've changed your mind about? Tell us in the comments.

It's been almost 20 years since Irvine Welsh first introduced Rent, Spud and Sick Boy — a group of gritty characters struggling to survive a grim, heroin-fueled existence in late-1980s Edinburgh. Welsh brings the boys back in his new prequel, Skagboys.

T.C. Boyle's past work is largely satirical and tough on his characters. In San Miguel, readers will find the same biting tone, but none of the irony. Loosely based on ranchers' memoirs of a grim California island, this chillingly written novel exposes a bleak and savage reality.

To understand many of the triumphs, tragedies and conflicts in the world, geopolitical analyst Robert Kaplan says to look no further than a map. In his book The Revenge of Geography, Kaplan argues that geography is central to understanding the history and future of world affairs.

Zadie Smith returns to old haunts in her latest novel, but it is a sobering homecoming. Where her first novel, White Teeth, was a wild ride into the diverse, vibrant rhythms of a city in transition, NW is a complex exploration of where the inhabitants of that world have landed.

Author Scott Spencer is best known for his literary best-seller Endless Love — now, he's adopted a pseudonym, Chase Novak, to explore darker stories like the tale of baby lust and body horror in his new novel, Breed.

Author Kij Johnson's first short story collection mixes straightforward realism with lyrical science fiction and fantasy. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says the stories bring to mind the work of Ursula Le Guin, and have the power to highlight the marvelous aspects of everyday life.

In 1989, Iran's leader issued an edict that sentenced Salman Rushdie to death for writing the novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie reflects on the fallout from that order — from the years spent in hiding to the alias he created to avoid detection — in a new memoir called Joseph Anton.

Author Scott Spencer is best known for his literary best-seller Endless Love — now, he's adopted a pseudonym, Chase Novak, to explore darker stories like the tale of baby lust and body horror in his new novel, Breed.