// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var Ent_FiveTop_060901 = new Array(); Ent_FiveTop_060901.ID = "Ent_FiveTop_060901"; Ent_FiveTop_060901.ID_WB = 14620354; Ent_FiveTop_060901.sPubDate = "9/1/2006 1:25:11 PM GMT"; Ent_FiveTop_060901.navsectionID = "3032083" Ent_FiveTop_060901.appFmt = 2; Ent_FiveTop_060901.itemsPerPage = 5; Ent_FiveTop_060901.nTeaseW = 198; Ent_FiveTop_060901.nTeaseH = 198; Ent_FiveTop_060901.appWidth = 624; Ent_FiveTop_060901.appHeader = ""; Ent_FiveTop_060901.appFooter = "   By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, Books Editor"; Ent_FiveTop_060901.rowSpacer = "20"; Ent_FiveTop_060901.rowAlt = "F7F7F7"; Ent_FiveTop_060901.appNavStyle = 3; Ent_FiveTop_060901.appLayout = 1; Ent_FiveTop_060901.copyMargin = 9; Ent_FiveTop_060901.copyBorder = 0; Ent_FiveTop_060901.sBodyFont = "font-size:12px;"; Ent_FiveTop_060901[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060829/060829_5top_SecretHistory.small.jpg","","The Secret History", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Random House", "198", "116", "1", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060901[i-1].body = "“The Secret History,” Donna Tartt: Some students study English or biology, but in “The Secret History,” the classics scholars at Vermont’s Hampden College (a thinly disguised Bennington) are majoring in murder. In Tartt’s wonderfully literary 1992 tome, outsider Richard Papen is slowly welcomed into a mysterious circle of students led by a quirky outsider professor. Their secret unfolds to Richard and to the readers simultaneously, and the decisions he makes, which seem perfectly logical at the time, wrap him in a web of death and destruction. Tartt’s language is rich with descriptions as sharp as a biology-class scalpel, and her characters will haunt you long after you shelve the novel. A classic to be savored."; Ent_FiveTop_060901[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060829/060829_5top_Gentleman.small.jpg","","Gentlemen & Players", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "William Morrow", "198", "132", "1", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060901[i-1].body = "“Gentlemen and Players,” by Joanne Harris: “Gentlemen and Players” is told in alternating chapters by two people: one, a stuffy longtime teacher at England’s St. Oswald’s, and the other, a new teacher with a not-so-new-association with the venerable boys’ school. The book is part guessing game -- the new faculty member’s identity is hidden till the end -- and part murder mystery. A grudge against the school builds until lives begin to topple like the chess pieces on the book’s cover. Some found the book’s big reveal disappointing and obvious, but don’t read it for that minor point; instead, savor it for the fascinating twists and turns that go on behind the doors of the faculty lounge."; Ent_FiveTop_060901[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060829/060829_5top_Prep.small.jpg","","Prep", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Random House", "198", "129", "1", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060901[i-1].body = "“Prep,” Curtis Sittenfeld: Few school-set books detail the lives of the in crowd, and for obvious reasons: Readers find it easier to identify with misfits, the shy wallflowers, those who shuffle along in a cheerleader’s wake and never run for student council. In “Prep,” the misfit is Midwestern girl Lee Fiora, who arrives at snooty Eastern boarding school Ault hugging tight her assorted fears and foibles. She’s one of the most realistically drawn high schoolers seen in fiction to date, crushing on older girls and boys alike, and always battling to find her place in the school and social order. The book covers Lee’s entire four years at Ault as she finds friendships and love, and watches them both crash on the rocks of adolescence."; Ent_FiveTop_060901[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060829/060829_5top_NeverLet.small.jpg","","Never Let Me Go", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Vintage", "198", "129", "1", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060901[i-1].body = "“Never Let Me Go,” Kazuo Ishiguro: Kathy H. and friends, now in their 30s, attended Hailsham, a wonderful boarding school in the English countryside. Or did they? “Never Let Me Go” slowly unrolls the lurking mystery about the purpose of the now-defunct school and the actual role in life of Kathy and crew. If you’ve seen “The Island” or the old Mystery Science movie “Clonus,” you may have an early inkling. But the book is less about its secret than about the meaning of what it is to be a person, and the raw human emotion of hope. Ishiguro has been criticized for Kathy’s almost-mechanical, nonemotional demeanor, but as the plot unfolds, the reason for that slips nicely into place."; Ent_FiveTop_060901[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060829/060829_5top_FridayNight.small.jpg","","Friday Night Lights", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Da Capo", "198", "133", "1", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060901[i-1].body = "“Friday Night Lights,” by H.G. Bissinger: High-school football in Texas is a phenomenon that those of us raised in the other 49 states will never fully appreciate, but H.G. Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights” does an amazing job of filling in the gaps. The Permian High School Panthers are the young gods of Odessa, an oil town that’s seen its best years go bust. As the team rides the waves of its 1988 season, the town’s feelings and fortunes follow. “Lights” turned an unflinching eye on the town’s dedication to young athletes only as long as they could perform, never shying away from racism or fans’ fickle feelings. Not surprisingly, Odessa is still divided over the book, which has been fictionalized into a new fall NBC series."; // END editorial data