All are paperback, which means easy transport, and all have the official Complex co-sign. $150 for a pair of shoes that’ll be out in three months vs. $15 for a book that just might change your life? Get your paper up!

THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO (Riverhead Trade)

AUTHOR: Junot Diaz

A comic-book geek, hot Dominican girls, and magical realism? We think that maybe…yes, yes, it’s official, this book might just have it all!

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CITY OF THIEVES (Plume)

AUTHOR: David Benioff

The writer of The 25th Hour (which Spike then turned into a decent movie) goes back in time to the Siege of Leningrad in World War II to tell a story of two young men looking for eggs, sex, and Nazis. Sound boring? Wrong. One of the best reads of the year, trust.

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DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY (Vintage)

AUTHOR: Erik Larson

Nonfiction that reads like a crime novel. Old-timey Chicago and a serial killer who took out more people than Jack the Ripper? Yes, please.

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THE HUNTER (University Chicago Press)

AUTHOR: Richard Stark

Originally written in 1962, this is the first installment of an incredible noir series, The Parker Novels, by mystery O.G. Donald Westlake (writing under a pseudonym). It was turned into Payback, that Mel Gibson joint from the ’90s, but don’t let that sway you. No frills, just taut sadistic revenge.

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I AM NOT SIDNEY POITIER (Graywolf)

AUTHOR: Percival Everett

Post-racial utopia our behind. Just because our president is black doesn’t mean there’s not room for a white-hot satire in the vein of Ishmael Reed and Paul Beatty (blaow, two more recommendations for that ass!).

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LUSH LIFE (Picador)

AUTHOR: Richard Price

The author of Clockers and Freedomland went off to write for The Wire, then came back to books to tell a tale of L.E.S. hipsters, cops, and Tru-Life’s crew. Well, not exactly, but the book reads like a Field Guide to Ludlow Street, except with way more guns.

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THE ROAD (Vintage)

AUTHOR: Cormac McCarthy

A father and son scrabble across the wasteland that used to be our planet. Bleak post-apocalpytic settings were never so compelling, so read up now before the Viggo Mortensen movie finally comes to theaters and you’re exposed for the poorly-read poser you are.

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SUPER SPY (Top Shelf)

AUTHOR: Matt Kindt

If you’re looking for a graphic novel, stop here. Espionage + awesome meta-fiction + pretty pictures = JJ Abrams’ wet dream.

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WHITE TIGER (Free Press)

AUTHOR: Aravind Adiga

A dirt-poor village kid rises through the class divides of India. Coarse, hilarious, and a far fucking cry from the gauzy “Indian fiction” your girl’s into.

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ZEROVILLE (Europa)

AUTHOR: Steve Erickson

A freak show with an obsessive love of movies moves to 1960s LA, then falls in with some weirdos and descends into madness. Seriously, seriously unlike anything you’ve ever read.

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