Joyland by Stephen King.
For those who think King is a hack writer who only pens over-the-top horror
stories, think again and dive into this beautifully written coming-of-age
story. Oh, yeah, it also has a mystery about an unsolved murder at an amusement
park thrown in for good measure. ~Gene
Taft

The Son by Philipp Meyer. I’ve never had much interest in stories about the American West, but
this sweeping, exhilarating novel of one multi-generational Texas family sucked
me in immediately. Unflinching and unsentimental, it tells — in often gory
detail — the tale of white settlers, the native peoples they vanquished, and
the oceans of blood spilled in the process. ~Holly
Smith

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay. This is Gay’s first
full-length novel, and, oh, what a novel it is. It follows the kidnapping of a
woman named Mireille while in Haiti. During the 13 days of her captivity —
while her husband fights for her release and her father refuses to pay the
ransom — Mireille endures horrors beyond the imagination. This novel is not for
the faint of heart, but once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it
down. ~Katie Dvorak

You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt. Holt’s
novel is several parts Cold War fiction, mystery, and a sociological study of friendship.
In the early 1980s, a young girl and her best friend write letters to the
Russian president acting as peace brokers, and one of them gets a response.
What ensues is a thoughtful dissection of growing up in America, and the
illusions and ideas we have of places we’ve never been (but only experience
through news headlines and network images). Holt develops a well-told story of
how we figure out where we’re supposed to end up. ~Shanna Wilson

Redeployment by Phil Klay. Each of the short stories in this collection has a certain
power in portraying U.S. troops’ ground-level experiences in Afghanistan and
Iraq and how they face life afterward. But the best come from unexpected angles
— the military chaplain, the hapless and harried Foreign Service officer, or
the psychological-operations specialist who returns home both wily and possibly
utterly broken. A valuable, entertaining, and sometimes bitterly funny read. ~Chris Schneidmiller

Girl on the Golden Coin by Marci Jefferson. Frances
Stuart is a beautiful, penniless woman who uses her gumption and talent to
manage two kings. Jefferson writes with tremendous sensitivity and insight, and
her characters bring the 17th-century English court of the Restoration alive. ~Carrie Callaghan

What’s the finest book — recently released or otherwise — you’ve read so far this year? Tell us about it in the comments section below!