BOOKS

Percival Everett's reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which won a National Book Award, is a sweeping story centering on Jim, the enslaved sidekick in Mark Twain's classic adventure tale.

- ANNABEL GUTTERMAN

FICTION

1. JAMES

Everett sends both Huck Finn and his friend, reintroduced as James, down the Mississippi River as he pokes holes in the 1884 novel and paints the original protagonist's companion as a perceptive observer of danger, humanity, and language.

2. WE WERE THE UNIVERSE

Leaving her young daughter and husband at home in Texas, Kit goes on a retreat with her best friend in Montana. The getaway is fun, until a drunken night suddenly reminds Kimberly King Parsons' overwhelmed protagonist of her dead sister Julie. When she returns home, Kit feels Julie's presence everywhere, and her world begins to warp.

3. BEAUTYLAND

Raised by a single mother, Adina Giorno enjoys a childhood marked by the usual things (going to school, making friends), as well as an uncanny ability to communicate with extraterrestrial life via a fax machine. As Adina grows, she reports on the people she observes with a clarity that is often hilarious. Through Adina's eyes, Marie-Helene Bertino unveils a sweet and strange exploration on what it means to be human.

4. FIRE EXIT

For years, Charles has kept a watchful eye over his daughter, who lives on the nearby Penobscot Reservation and has no idea her father is a white man. He catches glimpses of Elizabeth's life from his porch across the river and yearns to know her. When she suddenly disappears, Charles decides to take matters in Morgan Talty's haunting book about heritage and belonging.

5. ALL FOURS

Miranda July's second novel begins as a 45-year-old woman leaves her child and husband at home in Los Angeles to go on a cross-country drive to New York City. But less than an hour outside of town, she pulls off the freeway and into a motel, where an unexpected love affair with a younger man steers her thrillingly off course.

6. MARTYR!