Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year, KISSING IN MANHATTAN by David Schickler is a collection of inter-connected stories about residents a New York apartment building, and on the lives of three in particular: Patrick Rigg, a young man who bears a tremendous sorrow and carries a gun, uses young women, and listens to the daily sermons of a priest he doesn’t know; his roommate, James Branch, a quiet loner who talks to an elevator, and Rally McWilliams, a travel writer and one of Patrick’s playthings who is searching for a soul mate.Others in the building include a married Jewish couple whose daily ritual brings them peace but causes controversy when revealed; a teenage girl whose parents are on a mission to arrange a marriage with an unlikely suitor. What makes Kissing in Manhattan is the way Schickler creates, with each story, a tiny world that is entirely different from the other lives in the other stories, and yet all of them are connected. Add to that his amazing writing ability and a host of compelling and unusual situations, and you have the literary equivalent of Sex and the City—smart, sexy, intriguing, and addictive.

Cal Cunningham is a wanna-be writer, living and boozing NYC and never completing the novel he tells everyone he’s writing. When his mysterious roommate, Stewart, dies suddenly, Cal does the unthinkable: he discovers the novel Stewart was writing, immediately recognizes its brilliance, and passes it off as his own. It is an immediate bestseller, and Cal revels in the attention and sudden wealth. Unfortunately, people keep turning up who know the identity of the book’s true author, and they are determined to reveal what they know...or be paid off. Cal sets off on a frantic search for those who know too much, determined to convince them not to blow his cover. Despite his deceit, Cal is a likeable character, one with whom we can easily sympathize—and even root for— and his story is a fantastic comedy noir. ABOUT THE AUTHOR by John Colapinto.

Last year I recommended Augusten Burroughs’ novel, SELLEVISION, and this year I’m promoting his memoir about his bizarre upbringing, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, in which he recounts the years he spent living with the family of his mother’s psychiatrist. Depressed and on the verge of sanity, Burroughs’ mother turns him over to Dr. Finch, and Burroughs finds himself living amidst some of the strangest people he has ever known—a toddler who runs around naked all the time, a 13-year-old daughter who moves out on her own with her father’s permission, a daughter who has chosen not to go to school but just watch TV all day, and a strange ex-patient of the doctor’s who ultimately seduced Burroughs and begins a relationship with him that lasts for years. This is a wickedly funny, almost unbelievable memoir that despite its grimace-provoking material, is un-put-downable.

"What is it that I am destined to accomplish, and how can I make that happen?" Eustace Conway, the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert's engaging biography, THE LAST AMERICAN MAN asks this question of himself daily, and has for years--ever since he left home at the age of 17 to live independently off the land. A natural woodsman from a young age, Conway spent his youth escaping his father's demands and criticism by retreating to the woods and the museum, where he learned the skills he would need for a lifetime of self-sufficiency. He studied Native Americans, taught himself to hunt, cook, make shelter, and sew his own clothes from animal skins, and eventually left home to live in a self-made teepee in the forest. He has remained there, purchasing more and more land, and has developed an education retreat for children and adults. An outspoken critic of American culture. Conway acknowledges that he is a difficult and demanding man, but his amazing lifestyle and his incredible intelligence and skill make him admirable despite his prickly personality. A smart, insightful, and often very humorous read.

THE FROG KING by Adam Davies. Meet Harry Driscoll. At twenty-eight, Harry is working at a dead-end job reading manuscripts at a prestigious New York publishing house. He’s nearly broke, he lives in a crummy apartment, and he still hasn’t finished the novel he began writing on top of that. The one bright and shining light in his life is girlfriend, Evie. Problem: due to a medical condition, Evie can’t have sex. So Harry has secretly compensated for this missing link in his love life by serving as the secret escort to a desperately lonely older woman who just happens to be a powerhouse in the publishing industry. He swears to Evie that despite a bad track record, he isn’t seeing anyone but her, but she’s still suspicious, and his reluctance to say the “L” word isn’t helping his relationship, either. So far, he’s slid by on just his looks and charm. But chance are that isn’t going to work forever...A “Bridget Jones” for the guys!

In his usual intelligent and hilarious style, Dan Savage, editor of The Stranger and author of the column Savage Love, defends the seven deadly sins and Americans’ right to practice them in their Constitutionally-promised right to pursue happiness in his book, SKIPPING TOWARDS GOMORRAH. Savage specifically focuses on particular activities in his defense: he zeroes in on the right to smoke pot (in defense of sloth); the right to overeat (in defense of gluttony); the right to bear arms (in defense of anger); the right to swing (in defense of lust); the right to gamble (in defense of greed); gay rights (in defense of pride) and conspicuous consumption (in defense of envy). In his arguments, he draws on statistics and research to defend his positions, and he also attacks the “virtucrats” —ultraconservatives—who, in trying to tell everyone else how to live, are attacking the very Constitution they claim to be defending. A fiesty, funny, book guaranteed to cause some controversy.

THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN’S PIER by Ann Packer. Carrie Bell’s life falls into disarray when her fiance in paralyzed after a dive. After 8 years, Carrie had been ready to end the relationship, but now that Mike is injured, she feels pressured to stay by his side. As she weighs the choices—staying with him or leaving—she is desperately unsure of how to proceed, and so escapes to look for answers within herself.Armed with a talent for designing and sewing clothes, she leaves her hometown for New York City, where she encounters Kilroy and the two begin an often-confusing, somewhat complicated relationship. Even as she pursues courses in design and sewing and becomes more involved with Kilroy, Carrie cannot forget the life she has left behind and she knows it will take an incredible courage to go back and face what she abandoned. This is a compelling, moving, and sometimes uncomfortable look at how we handle tragedy and react to our worst and best impulses.

In his remarkable novel, THE LOST LEGENDS OF NEW JERSEY, Frederick Reiken focuses on the unraveling of the Rubin family, mainly through the perspective of teenage hockey star Anthony, although many chapters offer other points of view, including those of his parents, Jess and Michael; his older sister, Dani; his neighbor, Juliette Dimiglio, and his grandfather, Max. In a series of chapters that could stand alone individually as powerful short stories, we learn of the affair between Michael Rubin and his neighbor, and the subsequent disintegration of the Rubins’ marriage. We also learn of Anthony’s growing fascination with his other neighbor, the tough-talking Juliette Dimiglio, whose mother commits suicide one night and leaves Juliette alone with her father, a gambling addict who is frequently being beat up by loan sharks.The stories progress through the early 80’s and focus mainly on Anthony, but also include glimpses into the worlds occupied by his family members, creating an amazingly multi-layered, believable world of characters with intriguing, complex lives that are absolutely engaging and intriguing. Far too many novels are pared down to only one character, but Frederick Reiken’s novel has the courage to explore characters whose lives are intertwined with his protagonist. The Lost Legends of New Jersey offers a cast of characters and a series of absorbing, unpredictable stories about their lives that readers will find hard to put down.

Any BRIDGET JONESES DIARY fans still out there? If so, there is an entire genre of humorous books devoted to examining the lives of the single twenty-and -thirty-somethings, and the latest I've read was IN THE DRINK by Kate Christiansen, which peers into the world of Claudia Steiner, whose career and personal life has stalled. She has spent the last several years working as a secretary/assistant to the eccentric, demanding, and extremely wealthy socialite Jackie del Castellano, responsible for enduring her boss's assorted quirks AND for writing Jackie's books, a series of memoir/mysteries that feature a Jackie-esque character who travels the world socializing with the rich and solving mysteries.Claudia spends most evenings bar-hopping and trying to sooth her anxieties and angst with alcohol--a habit that is putting her even further in debt. She's also trying to obliterate her attraction for her lifelong pal, William, now a high-powered lawyer, who doesn't seem to return Claudia's affections, and who may or may not be gay.Unlike Briget Jones's Diary, IN THE DRINK is darkly funny--Bridget, despite her problems, had a pretty wacky life and was untroubled by the financial woes and complete lack of direction that plague Claudia Steiner. But unlike Bridget, Claudia has some sharply funny and poignant insights, and some true dilemmas from which to extricate herself. She is, in the end, a much rounder, more complex character than Bridget Jones, and in many ways, funnier as well.