The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis. "Many twists and turns as children hired for 'special opportunities' must outwit their nefarious employer."

The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden. "I love this book. If my son doesn't do something dangerous with the information packed inside, then I most certainly will."

Ken Kalfus, author of the novel A Disorder Peculiar to the Country:

The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault. "A novel about classical Greece, Socrates and the Peloponnesian War. It's very moving, very philosophical and comparable, I think, to War and Peace."

The Folded World by Amity Gaige. "A touching story about a young married couple and their ordinary travails. It's really an amazing book."

Jon Clinch, author of the novel Finn:

A Miracle of Catfish by Larry Brown. "A great, gritty yet lyrical Southern writer. The book is gorgeous and fun and harrowing. Brown died before finishing the last three chapters, and it doesn't matter."

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (the inspiration for Clinch's novel). "Only when we revisit this book as an adult do we realize what a weird, surreal book this is."

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. "There's a great application of his ideas everywhere you look. He's quite a philosopher about how it's really a game of risk about what's going to succeed or not."

Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin. "A little known but hysterical fictional memoir told not by an idiot but a lunatic. The only known novel dedicated to Juan Valdez."

William Lashner, author of Marked Man and Falls the Shadows:

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. "This has everything: the doctor with the needle, the femme fatale, the big moose guy, the gamblers."

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. "Really such fun, a blast of a book."

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. "The detective Porfiry Petrovich is my favorite detective in literature."

Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams by Nick Tosches (a biography of Dean Martin). "Amazing."

Sheila Avelin, owner of the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, Mount Airy:

Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George "This is part of the Inspector Lynley mystery series which I've read and reread. It's about class and her constant theme of broken parenthood and missing children."

Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen. "The narrative voice is funny and accessible about the immigrant experience. Mona's one of my favorite characters."

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. "A tour de force of art and narrative."