One of the best things about doing the ‘Book Beat’ column for the Sunday Arts & Travel section of the paper is the way it has introduced me to the work of so many writers I might not have experienced if I didn’t need to do research before I interview them.The column has forced me to read – and enjoy – several ‘chick lit’ writers who should be read by men as well as women, including the smart and funny Westport novelist Jane Green who moved from her native London several years ago and has since written about Fairfield County with as much insight as any native.Last week, I read Patrick Carman’s ‘Atherton: The House of Power’ (Little, Brown) to prepare for a phone interview with the 41-year-old young adult novelist who lives in Walla Walla, Washington. I was completely captivated by his story of an artificial world created a century from now when pollution and mechanization has made our planet virtually uninhabitable.The book is being marketed with a teen audience in mind, but the quality of Carman’s writing and storytelling puts many so-called ‘adult’ writers to shame.I don’t like it when someone simplifies a new book by comparing it with old ones, BUT Carman manages to pull together some of the elements that have made the Tolkien stories and J.K. Rowling’s books so popular – mythical worlds, children as adventurers – with his own distinctive style. ‘Atherton’ is the first of a three volume saga and I can’t wait for the next two chapters of this wonderful story. And rather than rail against the inroads made by the Internet and other new media, Carman has created a Website and CD-Rom that complement his book in an exciting way. 10 or 20 years ago, readers would visualize a movie version of their favorite books. Now, there are ways to augment books visually and aurally without the compromises that often result when Hollywood steps in to dramatize a novel.If you have children, read “Atherton” with them, if you don’t have kids, savor it on your own.(Patrick Carman will be speaking on April 3 at 3:30 p.m. at Just Books & Arcadia Coffee, 28 Arcadia Road in Greenwich. He maintains his own Website at www.patrickcarman.com and the new site devoted to Atherton can be found at www.unlockdrhardingsbrain.com)

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