Between the covers: a different kind of issue overview

Bookmarks, July-August, 2009

Beyond our selections, here's a look at some other noteworthy books in this issue.

This Issue's Highbrow Literary Works

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Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi

By Geoff Dyer

This novel is a travelogue; a philosophical treatise on mortality, materialism, and spirituality; and an inquiry into the nature of self. Two men--Jeff Atman, a 40-something London journalist, and an unnamed man that might be Jeff--experience journeys of extremes. PAGE 33

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Lowboy

By John Wray

Sixteen-year-old paranoid schizophrenic "Lowboy" has escaped from a mental institution. Convinced that the end of the world is imminent--and obsessed with New York's subway trains--he sticks his head above ground long enough to realize that he belongs in the city's catacombs.

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The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

By Reif Larsen

This debut novel was bought at auction for nearly $1 million following a bidding frenzy. Precocious, eccentric 12-year-old cartographer T.S. (Tecumseh Sparrow) Spivet travels across the country to receive an award from the Smithsonian. PAGE 42

The Wild West: From Poetic to Plot-driven

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The Color of Lightning

By Paulette Jiles

Canadian poet and novelist Jiles fleshes out the legend of Britt Johnson, a freed slave who settled in the Texas panhandle in 1863. When his family is kidnapped, he must cross into Indian Territory to attempt a rescue. PAGE 30

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Etta

By Gerald Kolpan

In the 1900s, Etta Place, the beautiful Wild West outlaw, won the heart of the Sundance Kid. In this fictional account, Kolpan weaves together a tale of Etta's adventurous life. PAGE 38

Historical Novels

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All Other Nights

By Dara Horn

Fleeing an arranged marriage during the Civil War, the 19-year-old son of a wealthy Jewish New York merchant joins the Union army and is quickly enlisted as a spy. PAGE 36

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Sunnyside

By Glen David Gold

On Sunday, November 12, 1916, celebrated silent film star Charlie Chaplin was inexplicably sighted in more than 800 locations across the United States. Gold merges fact with fiction to explore some of those incidents. PAGE 43

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A Reliable Wife

By Robert Goolrick This novel boasts hypnotic, if at times overly sensuous, prose. When Ralph Truitt advertises in the newspaper for a "reliable wife" to join a him for "practical, not romantic reasons" in Wisconsin in 1907, neither he nor the woman who answers his ad is what each claims to be. PAGE 36

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Contemporary Life

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The Song Is You

By Arthur Phillips

A middle-aged ad executive begins communicating with a 22-year-old Irish pop singer through voice mails, e-mails, blog posts, forum comments, and photos surreptitiously snapped on cell phones. PAGE 41

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Admission

By Jean Hanff Korelitz

Korelitz, a former Princeton admissions reader herself, tells the story of Portia Nathan, a 38-year-old admissions officer for Princeton. She meets a brilliant applicant who doesn't fit the Ivy League mold, and a secret of her own comes to light. PAGE 29

You Should Know It Exists

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Grahame-Smith inserts his zombie action scenes--written in the Regency style--into Austen's original text to create something new. Does it sound like your cup of tea? PAGE 51