Nov. 25-Dec. 1: A Scholar, A Singer And Princeton's Dark Secrets

In softcover fiction, Joyce Carol Oates wreaks karmic horror on turn-of-the-century Princeton, and Sebastian Faulks braids five lives in the search for what makes a self. In softcover nonfiction, Elton John tells the story of his crusade for better AIDS treatment, and Bernard Lewis maps the Middle East with a life's worth of anecdotes.

*Some of the language in the summaries above has been provided by publishers.