Complete books coverage for Jan. 25, 2009

‘The Serial Garden’ presents stories of the Armitage family that will win over young readers -- and adult ones too.

When the cosmic and commonplace collide

Essay: The state is in crisis, but is this the first time? Hardly. As books about California show, it has all happened here before.

Mary Austin found freedom after her California masterpiece, but no new muse.

A brief glimpse into the equally brief life of America’s gothic master, Edgar Allan Poe.

What happens when cultural customs become hip and mainstream? Something gets lost, argues this reviewer.

On a Vermont farm, getting at the heart of the country’s immigration debate.

The Japanese novel, charming, restrained and cinematic, receives a smooth translation.

Fiction weeks on list1.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 27 2.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality.24 3.The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press: $22) A writer corresponds with islanders after German occupation.24 4.A Mercy by Toni Morrison (Knopf: $23.95) A slave girl is sold by her mother in late-1600s America to give her a better life.85.Netherland by Joseph O’Neill (Pantheon: $23.95) An equities analyst’s life is upended after Sept. 11, when his wife and son flee New York for London. 76.Black Ops by W.E.B.

Fiction 1. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates ($14.95) 2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99) 3.

Author and literary events for the week of Jan. 25, 2009