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[42itous]

This puzzle by selinker (known in the National Puzzlers' League as Slik) appeared in the Saturday-evening puzzle extravaganza at this year's NPL convention.

Each group of nine books can be divided into three groups: one linked by their authors, one by titles, and the third by cover images. Each group of three is part of a four-member set; figure out what the fourth word or phrase is in each set.

Table 1:


Table 2:


Table 3:


Table 4:


Table 5:


I apologize that not all the covers are legible: I tried to find an appropriate balance between legibility and overfilling your screen. If you ask me nicely, I'll send you a higher-resolution version of any or all images.
There was more to the puzzle, but it had to do with tying these answers in to a meta-puzzle encompassing the whole evening, and I think that sorting the books was the fun part of this puzzle.

PLEASE please don't post spoilers in the comments! I haven't solved the whole puzzle yet (I'm still missing six answers), and other readers of this post will want to solve from scratch.

Comments

[selinker.livejournal.com]

Here's the full list:

TABLE 1:
Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home?, by Karen Thompson
Never Say Never, by Phyllis George
Best Easy Day Hikes: Salt Lake City, by Brian Brinkerhoff & Greg Witt
The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul
Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, by Lawrence Schiller
Santa Fe Dead, by Stuart Woods
I Am Third, by Gale Sayers
Midnight Murders, by Katherine John
Every Second Counts, by Lance Armstrong

TABLE 2:
Death Match, by Lincoln Child
The Devil’s Right Hand, by J.D. Rhoades
The Beauty and Lore of Coins, Currency, and Medals, by Elvira & Vladimir Clain-Stefanelli
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving
Star Wars: A New Hope, by Bruce Jones
Christy Brown: The Life That Inspired My Left Foot, by Georgina Louise Hambleton
The Toilet of Doom, by Michael Lawrence
Cold Pursuit, by T. Jefferson Parker

TABLE 3:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
Democracy Matters, by Cornel West
American Spartans, by James A. Warren
Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
Earth in the Balance, by Senator Al Gore
The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, by Steven Jay Rubin
Dogtown, by Elyssa East
Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
The Jericho Sanction, by Oliver North

TABLE 4:
The Circulatory Story, by Mary K. Corcoran
Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser
The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry
Breaking the Slump, by Jimmy Roberts
The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
Brave Charlotte and the Wolves, by Anu Stohner
Miranda v. Arizona, by Gail Blasser Riley
The Big Sky, by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
A Free and Ordered Space, by A. Bartlett Giamatti

TABLE 5:
Psycho Alley, by Nick Oldham
The Gas We Pass, by Shinta Cho
The Principia, by Sir Isaac Newton
The Various Flavors of Coffee, by Anthony Capella
Common Ground in a Liquid City, by Matt Hern
Documentary in American Television, by A. William Bluem
The Wizard of Rondo, by Emily Rodda
The Satanic Bible, by Anton Szandor LaVey
Book Yourself Solid, by Michael Port