Wish You Were Here - Graham Swift

Brilliant.  An exploration of tragedy of the collapse and disappearance of the rural small farm tradition in England.  It chronicles the loss of family farms that have been in the same families sometimes for centuries.  Loss of one's sense of place, of one's rootedness.  In fact, the disappearance of a whole rural society and culture, a way of belonging.  The last bits of an alienation that began more than a century ago.  Swift's exploration of the mind of the son about to give up the family farm is subtle and deep.  Again through that marrying of theme and narrative voice.  (He is generally wonderful with narrative voice in all his work.)

Mothering Sundays - Graham Swift

Another brilliant piece of writing.  A tightly knit world and narrative voice that you just sink into.  A short novel set in the 20s on two country estates.  The whole story unfolds in the course of one afternoon - with flashbacks and background information delivered in asides.  An exploration of the meeting of two young people across the social divide of servant and upper class.  There is a beautiful extended passage where the young servant explores the mansion of her beau stark naked  one afternoon when the house is unusually empty, and after her beau has gone off to meet his bride to be.   A surprising ending... suicide?  Not clear.

Tales of Belkin - Alexander Pushkin

A collection of short novellas - early writing.  Wonderfully crafted.  Even though the world he portrays (rural Russian estates, military officers) is very foreign, the stories hold your attention.  An interesting look into the values and social conventions of another time and another place.