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September's Best Books

A necklace sparkles, tarot beckons and wine delights in this month’s feast of books

By Caroline Leavitt
Published: Aug 27, 2008

The Grift
by Debra Ginsberg
Shaye Areheart Books $23.95

The acclaimed author of Blind Submission is back with a taut little tale about a fake psychic who suddenly realizes she just might be a bonafide seer. Martina Marks makes her living pretending to know the future for the lost souls who come to visit her. But when, to her horror, she predicts her lover’s murder and becomes a suspect, her life begins to be as cloudy as a crystal ball. A wonderfully quirky mystery with real heart.

Falling Under
by Danielle Younge-Ullman
Plume $14.00

Fierce, erotic and absolutely fearless, this riveting debut tunnels into the psyche of a young artist who’s as self-destructive as she is talented. To transform her career and have any sort of shot at happiness, she must grapple with thorny secrets from her past and open herself up to the terror of love. Shocking and moving, Falling Under is as edgy as a razor blade and unlike anything you’ve ever read before.

The Devil, the Lovers & Me: My Life in Tarot
by Kimberley Auerbach
New American Library, $14.00

Performer Auerbach’s (her one-woman shows are sell-outs) hilariously original memoir picks apart her life in relationship to her tarot cards. Turning to a tarot card reader to predict her future, Auerbach instead dips back into the past. As memories about love, life, family and the deepest kinds of loss, rise to the surface, Auerbach begins to realize that the truest answers might just be within. Funny, fresh, and full of vulnerability and charm.

The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment that Transformed Their Lives
by Cheryl Jarvis
Ballantine $24.00

In 2004, 13 women in Ventura, California, took a risk and banded together to share in the extravagance of a $37,000 diamond necklace. Forget the media frenzy and movie rights. The real story is how each woman was changed by collectively owning and wearing the necklace. From the loner who becomes gregarious to the woman who wears the necklace to her gynecologist appointment, this time-share luxury comes to represent possibility and transcendence, as rare and sparkling as the diamond itself.

Educating Peter: How I Taught a Famous Movie Critic the Difference Between Cabernet and Merlot or Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert
By Lettie Teague
Scribner $16.00

In this deliciously funny Pygmalion story, Food and Wine editor Lettie Teague makes short shrift of the idea that understanding wine is difficult. Lassoing her wine-challenged neighbor, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers, she turns him into enough of a connoisseur so that he can eventually impress even his Hollywood honchos. From how to release the bouquet to telling the difference between Chablis and port, the book is jam-packed with essential wine information. Each wine region even gets its own chapter, and Teague also gives great recommendations for tasty wines.

Briefly noted: Shining City by Seth Greenland, (Bloomsbury, $24.99) is an uproariously smart and funny novel about a man whose life changes when
he inherits a dry cleaning business from his brother—which turns out to be a brothel.

Caroline Leavitt has her nose deep in a book. Her novel Breathe will be published by Algonquin Books and she can be reached at www.carolineleavitt.com.

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