We're short on shelf space in this house. That makes for piles of books in the basement, more in the (inaccessible) attic, and clutter elsewhere. So I decided to give two of my sons books I already owned and loved. I gave my francophile son L'Adversaire (The Adversary), by Emmanuel Carrere. It's the story of a man who lived an expanding and eventually disasterous lie. I also gave away Pete Dexter's The Paperboy, a great novel about families, newspapers, ambition and secrets, among other themes. Other books we exchanged yesterday: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which my wife is reading at this very moment. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (It takes place in Madison, which makes it even more appealing to me.) Read Me by Dwight Garner (It's a century of book advertisements.) Biocentrism: How life and consciousness are the keys tounderstanding the true nature of the universe, by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman.