Huffington Magazine Issue 85 | Page 79

Exit 14 CULTURE as one of their 5 Under 35 nominees last year. Her debut work of fiction is a short story collection about political dissidents, actors imprisoned during the Red Scare, and others feeling disillusioned with their country. California by Edan Lepucki Lepucki’s debut paints a picture of a very real-seeming dystopian future, as the novel’s two protagonists flee what used to be Los Angeles, only to find new dangers while seeking a community in which to raise their child. 15 Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami The author of 1Q84 has written another book as puzzling as it is difficult to put down. Tsukuru Tazaki has been mysteriously abandoned by his friends, so he visits them one by one to discover why. 16 An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay This will be Gay’s first novel, about the kidnapping of the daughter of a very rich man in Haiti. If it’s anything like her fabulous essays, which cover every corner of the world of contemporary pop culture, it’s sure to be a hit. 17 Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi The author of Mr. Fox serves up an inventive retelling of the Snow White story, centering around Boy, a woman who marries a widow and gives birth to a son, Bird, whose dark skin reveals that the family has been attempting to “pass” as white. 18 Thirty Girls by Susan Minot A journalist travels to Africa, hoping to tell the story of young girls like Esther, a Ugandan teenager who has been captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army, in Minot’s latest novel. HUFFINGTON 01.26.14