A hilarious romp through literature — literally. Meet Thursday Next: the literary detective responsible for the success of Charlotte Bronte’s classic Jane Eyre (she knows Jane and Mr. Rochester personally and they owe their ending to her). Other characters include Pickwick (Thursday’s pet Dodo bird), Humpty Dumpty (a gambling alcoholic), Mary Mary (that chick from the nursery rhyme) and Great Expectation’s Miss Havisham (who has a bit of a drag racing problem these days). Jasper Fforde’s blend of nerdy enthusiasm for classic literature and sci-fi, results in a fantastically readable mystery series reminiscent of the British humor of Douglas Adams.

An addicting novel for the memoir lover. Jeannette Walls’s own memoir The Glass Castle is an almost unbelievable tale about growing up with parents who are dreamers and drifters. In Half Broke Horses, Walls goes back a generation. The story is a true one, but Walls writes it as a novel in the voice of her own grandmother. A poignant and sometimes heart-wrenching story, Lily is a bright cowgirl who longs to gain an education and a choice in a man’s world. She does not let life get her down despite heartache and disappointment — she bucks up. As engaging as The Glass Castle, Half Broke Horses is the type of book you read in one sitting.