Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Not as moving or sophisticated as his second effort but still pretty impressive for a 21-year-old.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I had no idea this had won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction until I saw it written on the cover. I chose it because I completely adored Strout's first novel, Amy and Isabelle (I remember finishing it, and then turning right back to the beginning because I didn't want it to be over!), and enjoyed the more recent Abide with Me.

Olive Kitteridge is truly Strout at the top of her game. The connected stories - all involving, though sometimes tangentially, the title character - are beautifully written and emotionally intense. Vivid and powerful.

The New England setting made me so homesick.

There was a sadness to it - the hardship in the character's lives. Cold, dark Maine. And me reading it in chilly, dark London.

But I will come back to this, I know. I haven't felt so moved to re-read since discovering Alice Munro many moons ago.