books

THE DIARIES OF SOFIA TOLSTOY

Translated by Cathy Porter, introduction by Doris Lessing (Harper Perennial, 607 pages, $16.99 paperback)

What enthralling, entertaining journals these are! Sofia Tolstoy was the intelligent, intense, long-suffering wife of brilliant, difficult Leo. In this fat collection, recently retranslated and reedited for the general reader, Sofia's own genius and drive shine through as she adjusts to early marriage, fights with Leo, reconciles with Leo, copies out Leo's brilliant scrawlings, births baby after baby, loses a few children, tries to run the family estate, witnesses historic events (the diaries span 1862 to 1919), outlives Leo, learns, dreams, ages, lives. Everything Sofia experiences is deeply felt, and her stories and laments are endlessly fascinating, and oddly don't feel a bit dated. Great photographs, too. A perfect companion read for admirers of the recent movie "The Last Station," in which Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren portray the colorful, tormented couple.

PAMELA MILLER,

Night metro editor

SO COLD THE RIVER

By Michael Koryta (Little, Brown and Company, 529 pages, $24.99)

An old bottle of water and a name are all filmmaker Eric Shaw has to go on when he accepts a job making a documentary about mysterious millionaire Campbell Bradford. He travels from Chicago to southern Indiana, where strange things start happening. The water, bottled by Pluto Water Co., takes hold of him. He becomes obsessed with it. The bottle itself seems to be getting colder even though it is not refrigerated. Shaw begins to see people who lived long ago and witness events that are long a part of history. Understanding what is happening to him is key to solving the Bradford mystery, but will he live to tell the story? The suspense builds to a frenzy near the end, paralleled by a massive storm that threatens the town where he is staying. To add to the creepiness, the story's setting is real: the West Baden Springs Hotel was built in 1852 and eventually was destroyed by fire and neglect. But it was reopened in 1902 and appears in photos on the Web to be exactly as described in the book. The river in the book's title is the Lost River, which flows above and below ground near the hotel.

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH

NEWS DESIGNER