REVIEWED BY LIZA NELSON
CRITIC'S CHOICE
SHORT STORIES
For readers hesitant to face the 800 pages of Clarke's tour de force novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, these captivating if sometimes elusive stories are an enticing introduction to Clarke's alternate universe—a 19th-century England where faeries and magic have as great an impact on human events as psychology or politics. There is nothing fey or genteel about the faeries alive in this England. Their animal instincts and sexuality frequently overpower bland human morality. Mary of Scotland and the Duke of Marlborough allow their supernatural influence to alter their lives in two of the stories. Elsewhere their magic wreaks sexual havoc on aristocrats and commoners alike. Occasionally humans do make friends within the faerie world—notably a Jewish doctor whose outsider status gives him common ground with his gentrified faerie friend and Mr. Strange, Clarke's earlier magician-protagonist, who makes a cameo appearance. Even the slightest tales have a weird irreducible logic as Clarke fuses a careful rendering of social manners and mores with occult magical fantasy.
By Michael Connelly
REVIEWED BY BOB MEADOWS
THRILLER
For 13 years Marie Gesto's murder has haunted Det. Harry Bosch. Then, out of the blue, serial killer Raynard Waits confesses to the crime as part of a plea deal. Bosch, working in the L.A.P.D.'s Open-Unsolved Unit, doesn't believe him for a second, and when Waits escapes he gives chase, all the while trying to prove that the confession was a setup to save a rich man's hide.
Connelly's measured prose moves the plot along quickly in protagonist Bosch's 12th appearance. The story does lapse into implausibility when murderer Waits turns into a superthug who, even while chained and unarmed, can instantly mastermind an escape. But Echo Park recovers quickly, delivering all the punch of a compelling, suspenseful thriller.
By Ray Bradbury
REVIEWED BY PORTER SHREVE
NOVEL
Bradbury delivered his classic Dandelion Wine as a young writer in 1957. Now at 86 he has finally completed his portrait of late '20s Green Town, Ill., in a meditation on youth and old age. As summer dies, Doug Spaulding, 12, declares war on the old, blaming elders for denying him and his friends their freedom. Doug and his troop destroy the courthouse clock "that jerked people out of bed, hounded them to schools and graves." But time speeds brutally by and they learn a hard lesson. A slender companion to Dandelion Wine, Farewell Summer is nevertheless a lyrical ode to life and mortality.
By Heidi Julavits
REVIEWED BY NATALIE DANFORD
NOVEL
With this tale of Mary Veal, a New England prepster who may or may not have been abducted when she was 16, Julavits does not traffic in easy answers. The story of what did—or didn't—occur is compelling all the same, due largely to the precision of the prose in Julavits's third novel. Chapters dart from Mary's disappearance in 1985, to the notes of the psychotherapist who then cast doubt on her story, to the aftermath of her mother's death in 1999. By constantly shifting the ground beneath our feet, Julavits invites us to reconsider the meaning of truth when it comes to family dynamics.
By Harry Cauley
REVIEWED BY ALLISON LYNN
NOVEL
It's the summer of 1939, and, while Europe erupts in war, a local drama captivates sleepy Millersburg, N. J.: two weekenders have been murdered. The gruesome crime takes a particular toll on teen Ben Whyte and his kin living on the faltering family estate. Though they farm the land together, Cauley's insular protagonists keep their private lives to themselves. But Cauley delivers a shock to the Whytes, and as their history begins to unravel, Ben discovers what it really means to grow up. Cauley delightfully relays his layered saga in prose as thick and languorous as a New Jersey afternoon in July.
By Tom Sykes
REVIEWED BY JOSH EMMONS
MEMOIR
What should you do if your alcoholism gets so severe that you crawl into bed with colleagues and dial your boss at 4 a.m. to call him a wanker? If you're Sykes, an editor at British GQ, you move overseas and continue the party. In 2003 Sykes and his fiancée relocated to Manhattan, where he managed to land a gig writing, yes, bar reviews for the New York Post. His downfall is predictable—each chapter begins with a countdown to rehab—but Sykes's amusing and depressing anecdotes about his "research," deepened by the occasional bout of introspection, make this addition to the recovery-memoir genre distinctive.
Memoirs
The White Masai by Corinne Hofmann A Swiss tourist and a Masai warrior fall in love in Kenya; she moves to the bush with him and they wed. Just try to put this one down.
Sala's Gift by Ann Kirschner Sala Kirschner spent five years as a slave in Nazi camps as a teen. Now her daughter has gathered Sala's vintage snapshots and the letters that reached her in the camps into a moving volume.
From Baghdad With Love by Jay Kopelman and Melinda Roth A tenderhearted Marine officer risks all to get a stray puppy, stranded in Iraq, safely to the U.S. Dry eyes aren't an option.
Stealing Love by Mary Fischer A former PEOPLE correspondent's stellar account of coping with her mentally ill mother and rescuing abused animals.
Blood Brothers by Michael Weisskopf The TIME correspondent, who lost a hand while lobbing a grenade out of a truck in Baghdad, chronicles the hurting after the heroism in an unsparing picture of the cost of war.
Charlie Sheen's nasty calls? Billy Joel's police accident report? You'll find them on thesmoking gun.com and in The Dog Dialed 911, a collection of telling memos, rap sheets and mug shots dug up by the Web site. Savory bits:
TWO JOBS, ONE CAR From a police complaint about an impounded delivery vehicle: "I witnessed a stretcher in the rear.... [Owner] stated [that after] completing work at Domino's Pizza, he transports dead bodies in the same vehicle for a funeral home."
E-Z PASS EXAM Question on quiz for UGA jocks: How many points does a three-point field goal account for?
SCARIEST JOB APPLICANT Cover letter from Tulane law student: "I am utterly unconcerned with having any sort of personal life. If my wedding was the day of a key trial, my wedding would be postponed. If the wife-to-be didn't like it ... she is free to find a competing husband."
EASIEST STING IN FARGO Calling the Fargo, N.D., police first on 911 and then on the nonemergency line to ask "where I could buy some pot," a narcotics suspect is told, "... we have some in our evidence locker." When he asks, "Can I come pick some up?" the officer replies, "Yep. Just come in the front doors...."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
