Book Give Away: Round 2

Round two of the great shelf clean-off continues with two of my favorite categories, Contemporary Fiction and Fantasy/Speculative Fiction. This time I got kind of excited and put little annotations next to the titles below the photos because I have loved all these books at one time or another and don't really want to shut up about them even though I want the shelf space back. 

Locals, let me know if you want any of these and we'll work out how to get them to you. If a title has been crossed off, it has been claimed.

Contemporary Fiction
Top to bottom:
The Greenlanders by Jane Smiley: a Scandanavian-style epic written in clean, clear prose; you can lose yourself in this world
Hard Laughter by Anne Lamott: I think this was Lamott's first novel, semi-autobiographical, definitely before she was sober/found Jesus
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson: possibly one of the most beautiful books I've read about a father
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields; a compelling story of one woman's life from 1905-the late 1980s with surprising lightness and bursts of humor
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich; the book where so many of Erdrich's recurring cast of amazing characters were introduced, on the North Dakota reservation where many of her books are set
Postcards by E. Annie Proulx; a sad but exquisite story of two brothers in New England
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro; a collection by one of the best short-story writers, most set in Canada
The Hill Bachelors by William Trevor; a collection by one of the other best short-story writers, most set in Ireland or UK
The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter; a retelling of Midsummer Night's Dream set in Ann Arbor
Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith; not fiction, but essays by the whip-smart novelist, and many of the essays are about fiction

Fantasy/Speculative Fiction
Top to bottom:
Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor: probably technically YA, fierce fairies and talking crows, together battling an invading evil darkness
Foundling by D.M. Cornish: Fantastic world-building, the first book in a series, the kind of book that has an 100+ page "explicarium" with a dictionary of terms, maps, and drawings which you either love or hate; I love that kind of stuff
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell: Mitchell's first book with linked narratives; if you liked Cloud Atlas, you will probably like this
Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell: a little more intimate (one character, rather than linked stories) but still weird in a beautiful Mitchell way
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell: a head-spinning plot, both witty and strange
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie: a fantasy novel by one of my favorite Science Fiction authors, excellent world building