You Think That's Bad

In this collection of 11 previously published tales of love and adversity, National Book Award nominee Shepard (Like You'd Understand, Anyway), whom the publisher compares to Jonathan Franzen and Colum McCann, offers close personal glimpses into the lives of characters facing ordinary and extraordinary challenges, among them a woman alone in Muslim Asia, a national guardsman from Wisconsin facing the Japanese in New Guinea, and a hydraulics engineer struggling to hold back the ocean while maintaining a sinking marriage in a flooding world of the future. These are just some of the characters who will remain forever with listeners in this collection ideally suited to audio and narrated in an accessible and intimate manner by actor/Audie Award winner Bronson Pinchot. A treat for all fans of literary or historical fiction. [The Knopf hc was recommended for "readers who enjoy Andrea Barrett or Russell Banks," LJ 12/10.—Ed.]—Janet Martin, Southern Pines P.L., NC