Complete book coverage for Sept. 27, 2009

Encounters with dangerous horses, Al Capone and Destiny give young adult readers glimpses of the realities beyond childhood.

In Stuart Neville’s ‘The Ghosts of Belfast,’ a former IRA killer tries to quiet the restless spirits of the people he killed by hunting those who gave him his orders.

The poet wishes more people would realize that her medium doesn’t hurt. At all.

This retelling of ‘Oryx and Crake’ -- from a female point of view -- is a slap-happy romp through the end times.

An elusive songwriter meets an unlikely supporter.

The Nobel Prize-winner’s 1980 novel, just translated into English, is a misguided exercise in myth-building that marginalizes the very people he seeks to elevate.

Theodore Roosevelt as a gun-toting St. Francis: A massive, masterful look at TR as environmental crusader and ultimate outdoorsman.

A partnership of poets has always seemed right to her. The alternative would’ve been like something out of a Jay McInerney novel.

Disasters bring out an altruistic side of people, at least briefly, author says.

Also: ‘Gourmet Rhapsody’ and ‘Journal of a Prairie Year’

Fiction Weeks on list1.The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 16 2.A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf : $25.95) A naive Midwestern college coed takes a job as a nanny for a recently adopted toddler.2 3.The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 8 4.South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A.

Fiction 1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson ($14.95) 2.