These are trying times, but good books, which exercise the intellect and expand the imagination, can be of help. Try some of these.

Nonfiction First  This is a shameless attempt to persuade you to read a 478 page book about the origin of the universe, particle physics, quantum leaps, mitochondrial DNA, tectonic plates, and lots of other stuff that can quickly give you the feeling that your brain isn't wired to understand some things. But the author who sees you through these arcane (but fascinating) facts is Bill Bryson; his new book is A Short History of Nearly Everything. It's amazing, wide-ranging in time and space, and of course dependably funny. Writing about accelerators that whip subatomic particles to incredible speeds, Bryson mentions that fears have been raised that scientists might create a black hole. Pause. . . "If you are reading this, that hasn't happened." Writing about the ocean, Bryson reflects on what it takes to feed a sperm whale. (A lot.) The giant squid is part of their diet, and its indigestible parts form ambergris in the whale's stomach. Ambergris is a fixative in perfumes. Think of that, says Bryson, when next you spray on Chapel #5: "distillate of sea monster." Why did our author undertake this daunting project? In part because he remembered his textbooks as a long way from interesting, or even entirely understandable, and they never answered the question that gripped young Bryson: how do they know these things? He spent three years reading books and journals and questioning "saintly, patient experts." We're lucky that he did. P.S. Some subatomic particles exist in pairs. If you separate them by many miles and interfere with one, you get an instant reaction from the other. Stephen King, top that for eerie.

Bernard Lewis, who is an emeritus professor at Princeton, has written in The Crisis of Islam a short, very readable account of militant Islam, which is not new, and the suicide bomber, which is. The word Islam can refer to a religion and to the civilization that developed under this religion. "The word Islam thus denotes more than 14 centuries of history, a billion and a third people, and a religious and a cultural tradition of enormous diversity." (Christianity, Lewis says, represents more than two billion people over 20 centuries and even more diversity.) Like other religions, Islam has had periods when some of its followers opted for hatred and violence. "It is our misfortune that we have to confront part of the Muslim world while it is going through such a period, and when most- - though by no means all -- of that hatred is directed against us."

Michael Wood is a British documentary film maker; "In Search of Shakespeare" is the latest of more than 80 films he has made. Wood is also a writer and member of the Royal Historical Society, and along with his most recent movie, he has written a companion biography entitled Shakespeare. It is a vivid description of Elizabethan times, filled with illustrations and very readable. We feel the terror of the time (Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616) when Elizabeth I tried to insure that a once Catholic England turned Anglican. Refusing to follow the state's decrees led to barbaric public deaths. Some of Shakespeare's own relatives died in this way. Then there was London, with its theatres and their much needed sponsors, the Plague, the Spanish Armada, the American colonies. Most of all, there was Shakespeare himself, our unequaled genius in world literature. Wood helps us to see him as a man.

Fiction  Mark Haddon looks very young in his book cover photo. From that same source, however, we learn that he teaches creative writing at Oxford University, and that he has worked with autistic people. Haddon's novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, is told by an autistic 15 year-old, Christopher Boone, and it manages to be both outrageously funny and very moving. Christopher seeks a well-ordered routine in his daily life with no sudden surprises. When he finds his neighbor's dog Billed by a pitchfork, Christopher thinks of the character he most admires for his logical thinking -Sherlock Holmes -- and decides to find the killer of Wellington, the poodle. In his favor is his near genius in mathematics and his ability to think logically. Christopher's adventures provide a fascinating glimpse of a life lived in the literal world. He doesn't laugh much, but you will.

Pompeii by Robert Harris, a British novelist, former BBC correspondent and London Times columnist. Harris covers the few days in 79 AD leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24 and 25. Uneasiness gripped the seacoast along which the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum lie. Waves appeared in the sea with no wind, plumes of vapors showed on the mountainside, hot ash fell like snow. It's easy for us to think "Get out!", but some of the ocean view villas represented great wealth. Against this background, Harris' protagonist is Marcus Attilius, the young aquarius sent from Rome to take charge of the vital aqueduct that brought water to the area. This aqueduct had "to drop the width of a finger every 100 yards -- any more and the flow would rupture the walls; any less and the water would lie stagnant." When the eruption occurs it is heard in Rome, 120 miles away, as a thud . . . . And of course, it has been heard down through time.

Summer reading sounds escapist -- be warned that this next novel is not. Edward P. Jones' The Known World has recently won the 2004 Pulitzer for literature. Jones lives in Virginia and has chosen to write about a black slave-owner. Henry Reynolds is free because his father, Augustus, bought his freedom, as he had done for himself and his wife, using money he made from building furniture because his white owner let him hire out. Our author tells us that Manchester County, VA, had 34 free black families in 1860, and eight of these families owned slaves. Henry is unusual; he reads Milton and the Bible because a freed black woman taught him. Slave patrollers are out at night, catching runaways and occasionally selling freed men and women back into slavery. The Known World is not a quick read, but it will stay with you.

Haven Kimmel's last book was her warm and funny memoir about growing up in Indiana, A Girl Named Zippy. Her newest book is a novel, Something Rising (Light and Swift). The title is not easy to explain --just accept that it describes Cassiopeia Claiborne and her growing up, also in Indiana, with her book-loving, journal-keeping mother and her brilliant but also withdrawn older sister. Cassie's father, whom she loved fiercely (but realized early on that he could not love back) does one good thing for her before he deserts the family -- he takes her to a pool room. Ten year-old Cassie knows at once that this is where she wants to be and begins practicing three hours a day until she is unbeatable at nine ball. She supports her family with her winnings, beats her wastrel father handily, and finally earns her way out of town. You will be cheering her on, and maybe looking around for a pool cue.

Anna Quindlen became a New York Times columnist at a ridiculously young age, won a Pulitzer in 1992, and then retired to raise three kids -- and write books. Blessings is a short novel featuring Skip Cuddy, the young man who becomes caretaker of the estate named Blessings. His employer is 80 year-old Lydia Blessings, and she helps him when he decides to keep a newborn baby left in the driveway by a teenage couple one night. Sounds simple, but this book has to do with love and commitment, and it's very well written. One wonders: what new world can Quindlen conquer?

Mysteries! A Cry from the Dark is Robert Barnard's 36th book and once again it's a carefully crafted British mystery (characterization tops violence) with his unfailing surprise ending. Betina Whitelaw, a successful London novelist, is writing her memoirs at age 80, which means reliving her childhood in Australia. Someone enters her apartment in her absence and goes through her papers. Who? Someone threatened by her memories? Then a murder occurs . . . . Read and admire, please.

Anna Pigeon, everyone's favorite park ranger/sleuth, is on a new assignment in High Country by Nevada Barr. Anna is in Yosemite, waiting tables at the famous old Ahwahnee Hotel. Four young park employees have disappeared, and search and rescue teams have spent two weeks with no results. Time for Anna, undercover. This isn't one of Barr's very best mysteries, but her description of the Sierras are wonderful, and if you've ever visited the Ahwahnee, you'll enjoy returning.

Stuart M. Kaminsky is always worth inviting into one's hammock. Kaminsky has excellent mystery series set in Hollywood, Chicago, Russia, and Sarasota, plus an Edgar award to attest to his competence. Midnight Pass, his latest, takes place in Sarasota, which is where Lew Fonesca had his car break down after he fled Chicago when his wife was killed n an auto accident. Lew is still depressed and trying just to get through each day, but because he's a good guy, he is slowly building a community of friends. Hey, Lew thinks at one point, if I died and a funeral followed, there are people who would come. Watching Lew's life come back, plus a possible romance, is almost more interesting than the crooked politicians who want to hurt the environment to help their wallets.

Val McDermid grew up in Scotland, and her latest mystery is set in St. Andrews. Twenty-five years ago, four students, coming home from a party, literally stumbled on the body of Rosie Duff, a barmaid who had been raped and stabbed. The young men are considered suspects and are persecuted by some of the townspeople. Twenty-five years pass and the police re-examine cold cases. Rosie is one. Soon two of the four former students are killed. McDermid's tale is titled The Distant Echo.

Enough. You have a yard to care for and the Cubs to cheer for. Have a fine summer.

                                        -- Alice Racher

Reprise

Mother was a work of art
sculptured in serenity,
shaped in stability
of ancient truths,
an elegant relief
rising from the rubble
of a deconstructing world.

Who was it who said,
One can't dwell on the past?
Fie on them,
for it is the past
that colors the present
and prescribes the tools
for a future canvas. I shall

return with her
to this place, again,
this inner sanctum now
somnolent with winter shadow
where we shared
the cycle of renewal,
where the tyranny of days
disintegrates in tranquility,
where life transmutes
into art itself and
past and present
reconcile
in an impalpable reprise.

   -- Shanti Biem Thayil

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