The star story in 'Leah, Newhampshire' a collection by Thomas Williams. After the death of his wife, Robert Hurley goes back to Leah where he was born. While hunting in the great forests of beech, juniper, maple and pine, he relives his wife's last months and at the same time confronts his own mortality and the dangers of the woods where he hunted as a boy. A sparsely evocative story with a brilliant final line.

I've tried for many years to enjoy reading science fiction. I can understand the appeal, the plots and imaginary worlds and alternate realities sound compelling, but when I start reading I lose all interest. Then someone reccomended Richard Powers. I looked into the different books he's written and decided on Plowing the Dark because of the impressive reviews and fascinating description. I was not let down. The book captured me immediately with its scintillating dialogue, diverse and informed cultural and scientific references that kept the synapses firing, and characters who are sharper and more interesting than anyone I know. Way cool.

A happy case of serendipity led me to this brilliant short novel about a murder on a south Texas farm in the l930s. Porter's prose is dry and understated but she wields a masterfully descriptive pen that says more in one sentence than most books in one chapter. I must have read it 50 times and will probably read it 50 more.

This book quickly grabs hold of you and engrosses you in the world of the narrator, a spinster schoolteacher in England. Despite the narrator's intention to detail the scandal involving her friend's affair with an underage student, she instead offers up a fascinating study of herself and her own obsessions. While I haven't yet seen the movie, the book is definitely worth a read, especially for those who enjoy devilishly creepy characters.