Summer reading, fun to functional

A Question of Attraction by David Nicholls. "A delightful coming-of-age comedy about a student consumed with appearing on the BBC version of College Bowl."

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. "The ridiculously rich and enchanting saga of a pair of accomplished British magicians in the Napoleonic era."

CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders. "Breathtakingly dyspeptic and derisory stories about America in the age of malls."

Frank Wilson, Inquirer book editor:

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. "The very humidity of the jungle is turned into poetry."

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope. "Brings to mind expansive lawns in bright sunlight where supremely civilized men and women stroll and bicker."

Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson. "The perfect walking tour with the perfect companion, at the end of which you will surely shed a tear."

Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier. "A gentle venture into pure magic."

Karen Heller, Inquirer staff writer and columnist:

The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope. "A luscious fat English novel about class, ambition, risk and reputation."

The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. "A luscious American novel about class, ambition, risk and reputation with an impossibly selfish and ruthless heroine, as modern today as she was in 1913, who bolts out of the book with the first line: 'Undine Spragg - How can you?' "

The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker. "An exquisite trio of books about the horrors and psychological devastation of World War I, the nature of sanity and art in the face of absurd, suicidal warfare. Each novel, now published in one volume, is brief yet rich and unforgettable."

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. "A life of such complexity and range, especially the patriarch's early life as the impoverished son of a scoundrel and bigamist, that it reads like great fiction."

Michael Schaffer, an Inquirer editor and writer:

Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan. "A darkly funny tale, soaked in a pool of irony worthy of Evelyn Waugh."

Through a Glass Darkly: A Commisario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon. "A thoroughly enjoyable cruise through the canals of Venice with a police detective who manages to keep his idealism and humanity intact while navigating a corrupt bureaucracy."

Little Tiny Teeth by Aaron Elkins. "Anthropology prof Gideon Oliver, also known as the Skeleton Detective, finds more than he bargained for on an Amazon expedition in a series that never disappoints."

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. "A long but readable - and rewarding - story of sectarian hostility in the early days of independent India."