Each bookstore will act as a concierge, recommending "the book you should read now" to FASHION HEADLINE readers. Every Saturday, we will introduce books selected by Shelf, a Harajuku bookstore specializing in foreign books (3-7-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo).


■ "I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating" by Alec Soth

This is a new photo book by Alec Soth, one of the most popular American photographers today, and his first publication since "Songbook" and "Gathered Leaves."

Taking its title from a line from "The Grey Room," a poem by Wallace Stevens, the renowned American poet of the 20th century, Alec Soth's new book is a lyrical exploration of the limits of photographic expression.

These large-format color photographs were taken all over the world, but they are not about any particular place or inhabitants. Often based on long-term, intimate engagements, Soth's portraits and images of his subjects' surroundings are so engaging that the figures depicted in them portray more than just their physical appearance, perhaps even offering insight into unknowable depths of both model and photographer.