Little Brother By Cory Doctorow, 382 pages, $19.95 In the very near future, Marcus Yallow is walking with his friends in San Francisco when a 9/11-sized terrorist attack occurs blocks away. Everyone around is secretly taken away by the Department of Homeland Security to see whether they're terrorists. However, during the investigation, one of his friends dies mysteriously. The friends try to find out the truth. If you read only one science-fiction novel this year, make it this one. The Flying Troutmans By Miriam Toews, 274 pages, $32 The heart of the book is a road journey in Canada made by Hattie,Thebes and Logan to find Cherkis, the kids' dad. It's rich in dialogue, sometimes funny, sometimes surprisingly sad, always character-true. Toews is an extraordinarily gifted writer, with tough-minded compassion   for her characters. Reading By Lightning By Joan Thomas, 388 pages, $22.95 We're in 1930s Canada, where Lily's father arrived three decades earlier to be promised fertile agricultural land. But they had been cheated and thrown in the middle of Manitoba. Now William Piper and his wife farm their land and place little hope in this life. What They Wanted By Donna Morrissey, 325 pages, $32 A father has a heart attack; a brother and a sister leave Newfoundland and go to Alberta, Canada to work; a tragedy brings reconciliation  , but also terrible loss. Primarily a novel of character, it's also a novel of Canada, of two very specific and vividly drawn places. Donna Morrissey's characters are troubled, sensitive, quick to be moved to anger or pain, and just as quick to laughter and affection. If Jim only has 20 dollars, which book could he buy?
The Flying Troutmans. What They Wanted. Little Brother. Reading By Lightning.