Scott Brown is an (as yet) unsung hero of contemporary American letters: subversive, hilarious, his gaze unsparing. Read him and your universe will expand--as you laugh out loud. He tackles big topics with a microscopic lens, inimitably blending the personal with the political. Brown's latest work, THE TRADERS, is a rollicking take on the misplaced ambitions of one Cecil Po, a bookseller in the fictitious Asian country of Tandomon. Told in his inimitable, oddly insightful voice, we are privileged to witness the outlandish skewering and exalting of literary ambitions, including his own. To what lengths will Po go to ensure his legacy? Read this delightful tale of loss and belonging to find out.--Cristina Garcia

Best novel about a bookseller since Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop. Scott Shibuya Brown's THE TRADERS features an honest and no-holds barred narrator, tons of energy and comedy in the prose, and wonderfully odd details. A genuine and unexpected pleasure.--Peter Orner