The Rising Value of Land in Book Titles

On Sept. 24, Jhumpa Lahiri's new Booker Prize-nominated novel, "The Lowland," will be released on this side of the Atlantic by Knopf in what promises to be a highlight of this most literary season. And yet surveying recent offerings in the bookstores, one can't help but notice a strange echo reverberating behind the esteemed author. Even the world of publishing, it seems, is not immune to the whims of fashion.

"No one wants to be derivative in book-titling," said Ms. Sohn, an occasional Times contributor whose novel was released in paperback this past summer.