The Kite Runner (2013)
Khaled Hosseini

This novel of education illustrates the similarities and the differences between two people, two countries, and two vastly different cultures, focusing on what is right and wrong and the nature of the wickedly ugly.

Fobbit (2012)
David Abrams

As a former real-life soldier in Iraq who rarely ever left the confines of the Forward Operating Base, the author puts his knowledge of this world to good use in this historical novel about his experiences.

Invisible Country: A Mystery (2012)
Annamaria Alfieri

In Alfieri’s anti-war mystery, the 1964 War of the Triple Alliance pits Paraguay against its neighbors Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay—and a freelance assassin.

One Hundred and One Nights (2011)
Benjamin Bucholz

Iraq war veteran Benjamin Buchholz depicts both the delicate and intimate nature of war, while capturing the struggle for salvation and the power of family.

Half of a Yellow Sun (2007)
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An emotionally complex story of Biafra’s struggle to establish an independent republic in southeastern Nigeria during the late 1960s.

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (2005)
George Saunders

Called the “Animal Farm for the 21st century,” this book plops us into a world not recognizable to any United States citizen and makes us look to another planet for answers.

Disgrace (1999)
J. M. Coetzee

Suggested by Paolo Giordano as a book that inspired The Human Body for its fiery language, this book explores the downfall of a professor, caught in the chaotic aftermath of the overthrow of Apartheid during a difficult period in South African history.