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Polish journalist Mariusz Szczygieł's compilation of short vignettes about Czechoslovakia centers on Prague's infamous Stalin monument, a giant edifice that lingers despite its destruction in 1962.

Lucius Shepard's posthumously published novel ties together a career's worth of stories about the town of Teocinte and the ancient, slumbering dragon Griaule who curls around it like a vast hill.

The action in Paula Fox's harrowing 1970 novel is set in motion by an unfriendly alley cat — but it spirals out into a multilayered and pointedly accurate portrayal of the dissolution of a marriage.

Growing up in the '80s, author Myla Goldberg crafted a survival plan in the event of a nuclear war. But all that changed when she read On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Have you ever read a book that gave you a sobering picture of the world? Tell us in the comments.

In her hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking semi-autobiographical novel, Toronto author Sheila Heti chronicles her struggle to interact with people.

The five interconnected Patrick Melrose novels may first seem like vapid tales of the wildly rich, but to author Mark Saunders they're also harsh dramas about the excesses of the British upper crust. What's your favorite story of the upper class? Tell us in the comments.

Nnedi Okorafor's new book imagines an alien landing in the waters just off Lagos, Nigeria. Reviewer Amal El-Mohtar calls it chaotic and beautiful, though occasionally dizzyingly difficult to read.

See Now Then, Jamaica Kincaid's first novel in a decade, follows a neglected wife in a small New England town. Reviewer Heller McAlpin says the book reads as if "Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf had collaborated on a heartbroken housewife's lament."

Leonard Michaels' Sylvia, an account of a violent and tumultuous love affair, began as an autobiographical essay and then grew into a novel. Author Sarah Manguso writes that despite all of its particularities, the story could really be about anyone. What are some novels that you can relate to?

Enter the haunting imagination of the 2011 Nobel laureate, whose Swedish-language poems — rich in silence and metaphor — survive translation particularly well.