It's long, it's sweeping, it's brimming with details.  New England White, Stephen L. Carter's social novel masquerades as a murder mystery and in the process becomes something quite a bit more. In a university town not called New Haven (it's Elm Harbor here), a prominent African-American economics professor is murdered sparking several varied and maddening investigations. While this murder and a decades-earlier one of a white teenager, may provide the reason to turn the page, race, class and power are really at the heart of the matter.

Our protagonist is deputy dean of the divinity school, Julia Carlyle.  She also happens to be the wife of the president of the university, Lemaster Carlyle. Almost every character at center stage is African-American and so begins an incisive cultural critique of how power is acquired and actually used.  

Carter, the William Nelson Cromwell professor of law at Yale University and the author of The Emperor of Ocean Park, knows a thing or two about the inner workings of a university. Here, he has conjured a few fictional entities that may or may not decide the destiny of a nation.

Might the vast set of characters in different socio-economic groups interacting to provide a clear picture (make that canvas if we're talking about the 19th century novel) of society constitute a classic?  Carter refers to his main theme as the "irony of race." He also adds to the language several excellent neologisms such as "the darker nation" and "the paler nation." The family sections are deeply recognizable as they further the plot. Will New England White endure? That is tonight's topic.

We've been here before, but it has never been like this. Jane Austen mania continues unabated with new productions of The Great One's novels and new editions of her classic works.

The Jane Austen Book Club, based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler premieres September 21st, and it is a most worthy field trip.  You will feel inspired by the impeccable cast that includes Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman and Hugh Dancy as Grigg.  It's really a movie about contemporary California, though the Austen themes of possibility and persuasion are front and center.  The good news? You never feel bludgeoned by official Austenmania and can truly care about Fowler's appealing characters.

Early next year, Masterpiece Theatre will broadcast productions of all six of Jane Austen's novels, under the title, The Complete Jane Austen.  Check out the unintentionally hilarious promotion comparing two Janes -- Austen and Tennyson.

Meanwhile, enjoy the news stories, the editorials and the exhaustive investigative reporting on the authenticity of her portraits.  And don't forget to consult The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, which should be at your side at all times this season.

You may still be on the beach, but a lot of us are patrolling the book stores and libraries, preparing for the new fall season.  This is the time of year when it is extremely hard to resist the lure of the hardcover.  Here's what we're considering:

Away by Amy Bloom. It's 1920s New York and Lillian Leyb arrives from a Russian pogram ready for the full immigrant experience.  Will our heroine persevere?  Will she seem anachronistically headstrong, feminist and full of 21st century knowledge?  We can't wait to find out.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.  The love story between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney is as well known as the fact that she and her family perished in an attack and blaze set by a deranged servant.  The lurid yet fascinating tale has never received the full book club book treatment  -- until now.  Will the reconstructed dialogue induce cringes? Might this be offset by the powerful story and the author's skill? A complete reader's guide will help us deal with all conflicts.

Songs without Words by Ann Packer. The Dive from Clausen's Pier, in my opinion, was the perfect club book.  Will Packer return next month with an equally satisfying novel that balances character, plot and a sense of time and place? In Songs without Words, she examines the delicate balance of friendship between childhood friends Liz and Sarabeth, a topic we all know a little something about.

This is not about pets.  Known for its dog days -- though the weather pretty much stays sultry until about November -- August might be the very best time to dissect book club behaviors that may or may not be a result of too-warm evenings.

Item: Members treat their book clubs as hotel lobbies.  Maybe they will drop in, maybe they will not.  Maybe it depends on the minor moons of Jupiter, maybe it depends on a Pilates lesson.  In any case, maybe they should just show up every month.

Item: Members do not like the book and/or are upset by it and stop half way through, fully admitting so.  Yet they hijack the conversation from people who have actually read The Whole Book.  Will nothing stop them?

Item: Members lack zeal.  They are easily swayed by the person sitting next to them, until it is an epidemic.  And like a book club form of mass hypnosis, every single person hates/loves the book.  There is simply no in-between.

Item: Free for alls R us.  At least two and sometimes four loud conversations proceed at once.  Did I mention they are loud?

Distracted or absent hosts might be at the heart of this.  If you are hosting, take a look at the discord around you and step up.  If you are not, support the host or discussion leader as things spiral out of control.

 Everyone will thank you in the end and the club can start the fall season newly attentive.   

Are your picnic baskets packed?

Are all the club members presently not on vacation contacted and confirmed? 

Have you chosen the perfect outdoor setting your club likes best at the beach, on the porch or in the town gazebo? Don't forget to dispatch a representative early to fend off other clubs with the same idea -- or better yet, invite them in. 

Most important, have you picked a summer It book (A Thousand Splendid Suns), a towering tome or two with a nautical theme (Moby Dick or In the Heart of the Sea) or something light and frothy (you might want to refresh the club's memory in time for The Nanny Diaries movie coming out in September).

Make a quick plan. Review the schedule and for heaven's sake, respond to your host's ever-more-imploring emails about impromptu meetings.

Here's a quick checklist:

• Picnic hamper in easy reach
• BBQ equipment at the ready
• Outdoor spot identified and a club member agrees to claim the spot early
• Moon and stars set to cooperate

Continue your usual summer traditions, or be prepared to start a few new ones. September is right around the corner.