Patchwork Planet, Paperback/Anne Tyler

Many of the reviews for the hardback of this title suggested that this was Anne Tyler's best novel yet. It is the story of Barnaby Gaitlin, a man who used to have a happy family, but now has an ex-wife, troublesome nine-year-old, an unreliable car, as well as a job doing chores for the elderly. His hopeless charm still attracts the women though... Tyler won the Pulitzer Prize for Breathing Lessons, and The Accidental Tourist was made into a major film.