Browser: Discovery at Rosetta

An exotic setting, a prized archaeological artifact, hoodwinking intrigue and a backdrop of war might be the perfect formula for another tried-and-true "Indiana Jones" installment. The saga of the Rosetta Stone can't match Hollywood for melting faces and whip-cracking scientists, but the unraveling of a millenia-old mystery that befuddled ancient Greeks, Persians and Romans is even more compelling. The 1,600-pound stone, discovered by Napoleon's forces during his three-year foray into Egypt, is written in three languages: classical Greek, a form of written Egyptian and hieroglyphics. Matching the hieroglyphics to the Greek allowed them to be deciphered for the first time (a saga in itself) -- but not until after the British absconded with the prized stone following a siege and a high-stakes shell game with their French foes. Dry at times (about 2 1/2 saltines on a five-saltine scale), but a well-paced, straightforward telling of a significant piece of history. And no snakes.

JIM ANDERSON, COPY EDITOR

Lilly is the kind of sassy-mouthed, take-charge girl that readers can't help but rally around. In Siddons' weighty new novel, we soar with Lilly through the highs of near-mythic loves and fumble with her through the darkness of intense grief, hoping that her dog or her dad or her own spunky style will release her from the grip of existential terror. Although Lilly is salt-of-the-earth, she moves among the social elite in Washington, D.C., where Southern blue-bloods like herself take off for their second homes in Maine each summer. It is here that Lilly experiences life's defining moments. Siddons takes on a lot in this book - perhaps too much. There's love, loss and betrayal with a dash of the metaphysical, mystical and civil rights injustice thrown in. Siddons' writing on grief is stunning, but it's nearly undone by the love-at-first-sight clichés and gullibility that don't fit a character of Lilly's intelligence and complexity. And though the ending left me feeling whipped around like a nor'easter tearing across the Eastern Seaboard, Lilly's spirit ultimately prevails. We never doubted it would.