Editor’s Note: Roxanne J. Coady founded R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT, in 1989 after leaving her job as national tax director at a New York-based international accounting firm. Roxanne is the co-editor, with Joy Johannessen, of The Book That Changed My Life. Visit R.J. Julia at www.rjjulia.com.

It seems like over the past few years I only finish about one in every ten books I start. So many seem like the same story, or they don’t capture my attention. And I feel badly; what if the good part is coming and I’m just too impatient to get to it?

So imagine my delight that, in the last week, I have had the unbelievable pleasure of reading four books in a row (I was on vacation), each of which engrossed and fascinated me from page one.

The first one is Genesis by Bernard Beckett. It is a rare thing that I get to read a book that astounds me — let alone one as slim as this. It’s even rarer that my husband, Kevin, and I are astounded by the same book. I’m aware that a buildup like that begs a rundown of what makes it so spectacular. But there is absolutely no way I can really describe it without ruining your experience of reading it. Take my word for it, and just read it. After you read it please let me know what you think in the reader forum below. This is a book that cries out for discussion and I’m so eager to hear what others have to say about it. Click here to read an excerpt from Genesis.

Remember what it felt like to start a book as a kid, sitting on the beach or in the most comfortable chair, spending time with incredible characters and then realizing that the whole afternoon had been spent reading away? That’s what reading The Ballad of West Tenth Street by Marjorie Kernan is like. I started this and immediately became my 12-year-old, voraciously reading self who picks up a book and disappears into the story, its characters and the world of the book. This urban fairy tale is set on West 10th street in New York with a great cast of characters, ranging from a homeless man to the wife of a deceased British rock star. It’s all about the contagiousness of kindness, which normally strikes me as treacly and way too melodramatic. But this is neither. Instead it is smartly written, great storytelling and, remarkably, a genuinely happy book. 

Then there is Yoko Ogawa’s The Housekeeper and the Professor — a beautifully, almost poetically, written story of a genius math professor who, as a result of an accident, only has 80 minutes of memory. His housekeeper and her son become a part of his life in a surprising and honest way that left me with a sensation that has lasted in the days since I finished it. It is, as they say, a "small book," which is in direct contrast to the power of the story and the connections among the characters. For a full review, click here to read my wOw colleague Ann La Farge’s piece. Click here to read an excerpt from the first chapter of The Housekeeper and the Professor.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is completely and utterly enjoyable. Marion and Shiva Stone are twin boys born to an Indian nun (yes, a nun) who are orphaned at birth and fall in love with the same woman later in life.