In the wake of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, here are our suggestions for books that might serve to comfort and guide us in these dark days.
''Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems 1927-1979'' (Noonday Press, $13)
Bishop's precise and passionate lyrics address loss, grief, and tenderness.
''Blue Highways: A Journey into America,'' William Least Heat-Moon (Little Brown, $14.95)
It's been 23 years since the author, needing to put cares behind, escaped down the backroads to explore (extra-)ordinary America, but the book remains no less relevant -- or engrossing -- than it was when published in 1982.
''Charlotte's Web,'' E.B. White (HarperCollins, $8.95)
For those looking for a book to read to their kids, few accounts of death and hope are lovelier than the classic about the spider who's a speller.
Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York's World Trade Center,'' Eric Darton (Basic, $15)
This fascinating history of the complex combines tales of architecture, urban planning, and contemporary culture, suffusing them all with eloquence.
''The Eye in the Door,'' Pat Barker (Plume, $12.95)
Barker's skillful WWI novel is an unsentimental look at how an earlier generation coped with an era of trauma and tumult.
''Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898,'' Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace (Oxford University Press, $24.95)
The authors compile a massive and marvelously detailed chronicle of the city's triumphs and past tragedies.
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