Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

Emotionally detached Liam Pennywell has just lost his schoolteacher job when the novel opens. He immediately downsizes by moving to a cheaper apartment, where an assault and head wound has Liam become obsessed with the blank space in his memory surrounding the time of the head injury. His somewhat estranged but pretty typical modern family complicate his life just as he is becoming drawn into a relationship with a women whom he hopes can help him with the missing piece of memory. This is vintage Tyler where we really get inside the off beat, pale and underachieving characters and the less than perfect webs of connections between people. The novel is literary and interior with character being the strongest component. It is good for those off days when you don't want action or bubble gum reading. Tyler still manages to satisfy me with her quirky but familiar people where, dare I confess, I always recognize aspects of myself as well as others.