June 15, 2001


Dear Reader:

As I was thumbing through our features this week, it became apparent to me that I was going to need a much larger beach bag for my summer reading selections than I originally thought. There are so many wonderful books being released every month --- familiar favorites and debut authors as well. For example, IN THE FOREST OF HARM by Sallie Bissell and MONKEY BEACH by Eden Robinson are both powerful first novels that should capture readers' attention and put their names on the sought-after list for the future. In the familiar category, Joanne Harris, author of the popular CHOCOLAT, has returned with another remarkable set of characters in FIVE QUARTERS OF THE ORANGE. And Kinsey Millhone fans will be thrilled with Sue Grafton's newest addition to her alphabet series: P IS FOR PERIL. We've all got a great summer of reading ahead of us!

In addition to this week's features and reviews, we've spotlighted another book that we think readers' shouldn't overlook, SLAMMERKIN by Emma Donoghue. Read our Don't Miss feature for a preview of this intriguing novel. With all the wonderful new books out there, we'd like to remind readers about our featured Re-Reviews, too. This week we're taking another look at Clive Cussler's ATLANTIS FOUND, since the mythical Atlantis is also the subject of Disney's new movie that opens this weekend. Our focus for This Week in Book History is another novel that might be worth re-reading: James Joyce's ULYSSES.

And while we're thinking about hot seasonal reading, don't forget to take a look at all the fantastic book selections in conjunction with our Surf the Web Summer Reading Contest. Just by browsing through the book sites to see what's new and exciting, you can enter the contest for a chance to win a prize from the $1,000 in prizes that are being given away.

This Sunday, of course, is Father's Day. In honor of the dedicated, hard-working dads in our lives, we've collected some books that we think will make great gifts because as we all know, You Can't Read a Tie! Check out our suggestions for the sports-minded dad, the sentimental dad, and every dad in between. By the way, we were amazed by your responses to: What is the quintessential book about fathers? One fictional father took top honors by a landslide --- check out who Readers' Say is their favorite father.

You might also want to consider picking up a title from one of the fastest growing genres in the book world --- Young Adult (YA) literature. Our Perspective this week highlights some of the notable authors in this field and you may be surprised by the number of adults who are finding these novels fascinating. One of my recent YA favorites is on this list: WHALE TALK by Chris Crutcher.

Since I've already mentioned we have a feature on the newest in Sue Grafton's alphabet series, it seems a good time to ask our readers how they approach reading those serial novels. So, here's this week's Question of the Week: When reading a book in a series are you compelled to read in order? (e.g. A IS FOR ALIBI before P IS FOR PERIL) Or, are you comfortable reading out of order?