A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris

Steady Boy, aka Charlie Barnes, is convinced he’s dying of pancreatic cancer. When the doctor’s office calls, will he get a reprieve? This is the hook for Ferris’s exploration of an average Joe, a man who has still to find a true calling, at the age of 68. It might never happen, but given how close he has come to death, Charlie can’t afford to waste any more time. The premise might sound depressing but Ferris has a light touch that elevates the mundane into a moving (but not sappy) story of a man trying to do the right thing.

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya

Against the backdrop of Brexit, the narrator of this thought-provoking novel struggles to find a job and a place of her own. Hamya captures the rootlessness of the millennial generation — carving a space for themselves out of hollowed structures as they navigate the gig economy and the dumpster fire of capitalism. “There had been no place I could have dragged a sofa into, painted the walls whatever color I wanted, stayed in long enough to find inviting colleagues over for dinner and drinks, a worthwhile task,” the narrator says. It’s enough to make you scream: The “kids” are not okay. 

 

Skinship by Yoon Choi

Immigrants from Korea make their way through the novel landscape that is the United States, even as the past continues to haunt them. This remarkably brilliant collection might tread familiar ground but it is especially successful in its subtle acknowledgment of the minor triumphs of the new transplants. That even these achievements might be a step down from life in Korea makes their accomplishments even more noteworthy. The most moving stories feature aging and dying in a foreign land, characters clinging to a past that is fuzzy even in memories. The collection spotlights life in its high-definition beauty and complexity. 

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

It takes an assured hand to take a classic Pacific Northwest loggers’ fight for survival and not turn it into an us-versus-them story. Colleen is still reeling from her eighth miscarriage when her husband Rich boldy buys a patch of redwood trees he can’t afford. As the environmental damage wrought by chemicals and logging takes its toll, the community faces slim choices. This is an unforgettable novel saturated with languorous yet memorable prose — a salad is filled with “horseshoes” of celery, a character’s laughter fills the air like “confetti,” — and a slow-burn of a plotline. An absolute stunner.