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    		•  September paperback releases offer good choices for reading groups

    REVIEWS BY JULIE HALE

    Cover Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
    By Susanna Clarke
    Ten years in the making, Clarke's playful debut novel is a beguiling mix of history and fantasy that brings to mind some of the best British novelists, including Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, and—best of all—introduces a good old-fashioned magician. The novel opens in 1808, in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars. Mr. Norrell, a scholarly gent from Yorkshire who is an expert in the supernatural lore of England, has mastered the magic of the faeries and become a celebrity in his native land. His powers are so advanced, in fact, that he is able to raise a woman from the dead. At the urging of the British government, Mr. Norrell relocates to London, where he puts his powers to use by assisting with the war, and he is soon engineering illusions like an 11-day barricade of France by means of English ships created out of rainwater. His young pupil, an aristocrat named Jonathan Strange, has also become a proficient magician, but his ideas about the uses of enchantment differ from those of his teacher, and the pair's ideological divergence eventually leads to conflict. In the end, Strange's headlong and impulsive use of his powers threatens to bring about his own destruction. Clarke uses some excellent narrative devices to authenticate her tale; there are footnotes throughout, and she employs the vernacular of the 19th century. This wonderfully compelling novel, which was named the 2005 Book Sense Book of the Year in fiction, is a surprise sensation that lives up to its reputation. A reading group guide is available online at www.bloomsburyusa.com.

    Cover The Plot Against America
    By Philip Roth
    Another ingenious mix of fact and fiction from one of America's most esteemed authors, this provocative novel is Roth's strongest offering in recent years. Taking liberties with history, he re-imagines the 1940s as a decade in which hero-pilot Charles A. Lindbergh beats out Franklin D. Roosevelt for president. Roth constructs the novel around Lindbergh's alleged anti-Semitism (according to some historical accounts, he was a fascist and a supporter of the Nazis). As president, Lindbergh inspires such fervor among the country's anti-Semite population that pogroms result. But the real core of the narrative lies in the history of Roth's own family, which is recounted here in wonderful detail. Parents Bess and Herman Roth, along with their young sons Sandy and Philip, endure the indignities imposed by the president from their home in New Jersey. The author masterfully blends world-changing events (Lindbergh's signing of nonaggression treaties with Germany and Japan ) with everyday incidents (young Philip's childish pranks and mix-ups). The wholly believable tale is recounted after-the-fact by Philip, who is now an adult. At once revisionist history and a terrific piece of fiction, the book only strengthens Roth's already formidable reputation. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.

    Cover The Sunday Philosophy Club
    By Alexander McCall Smith
    Fans of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels will welcome the appearance of The Sunday Philosophy Club, the first entry in a new mystery series from McCall Smith. The book marks the debut of female sleuth Isabel Dalhousie, a plucky and inquisitive philosopher-turned-detective who gets herself involved in (you guessed it) a murder. The sinister events unfold in Edinburgh, where, at a concert one evening, Isabel witnesses a tragedy: a young fund manager named Mark Fraser falls to his death from the balcony of the theater. Resolute Isabel soon decides to unravel the mystery—assuming that there is a mystery—surrounding his death. Ignoring the warnings of Grace, her housekeeper, and Cat, her niece, she plunges ahead, driven by what she feels is an ethical obligation. Indulging her philosophical side, Isabel begins analyzing the circumstances of Fraser's demise, aided by the handsome Jamie, Cat's ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile, she oversees the publication of The Review of Applied Ethics and meddles good-naturedly in Cat's romantic life. With its Scottish setting and amiable characters, this appealing whodunit is sure to charm readers. Smith has scored again, delivering another literate suspense novel, full of wit and intelligence, that's hard to put down. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.


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