Bookworm

Roddy Doyle A Star Called Henry (Viking) Roddy Doyle, novelist of the Irish working class, takes a picaresque gallop through &quotthe; Troubles" in an historical novel about an inconveniently heroic sod.

Frank McCourt 'Tis: A Memoir (Scribner) America's favorite Irishman talks about the dubious luxury of writing his second memoir while on airplanes and in waiting rooms--the hurtle from the tragic to the anecdotal.

Michael Frayn Headlong (Metropolitan) This British comic novel links an art-theft caper to both a philosophical inquiry into authenticity and an historical analysis of Breughel's painting. Frayn on the art of historo-philosophic comedy.

Fencing the Sky (Holt) Western American novelist James Galvin contrasts the eternal values of the natural world of his youth with the rapacity of the "land pimps" who infest the New West.

Scott Turow &quotPersonal; Injuries" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) This master of the legal thriller talks about the complexity of his characters-a complexity achieved by an understanding of law morality and story-telling.

 Jamaica Kincaid's beautiful notes on gardening uncover the same imperialistic and racist assumptions she exposes in her fiction.

The author of Fight Club gives an intense and raw description of his world view.

Motherless Brooklyn (Doubleday) The western, the hard-boiled mystery, the sci-fi epic; these are the screens behind which Jonathan Lethem 's oedipal dramas loom.

Kurt Vonnegut &quotBagombo; Snuff Box" (Putnam) Kurt Vonnegut began by writing conventional short stories. Here, he talks about the development of his wild style, his comic voice and his moral code.

Chang-rae Lee says the Asian-American experience is written about "in a yellow light." Here, he turns off that light to penetrate a harsh reality.

Michael Ondaatje , discussing his poetry, explores the mystery of language itself--the language of his birth, its ancient poetry and mythologies.

Timbuktu (Holt) In life, as in his metaphysical mystery novels, the elegant Paul Auster implies and evades, implies and evades -- as he does in his newest novel, featuring a talking dog.

Wayne Johnston &quotThe; Colony of Unrequited Dreams" (Doubleday); &quotThe; Divine Ryans" (Anchor) In each of these novels a secret is revealed-a secret history in one, a family secret in the other. But why has this Canadian novelist, of the quality of Robertson Davies or Margaret Artwood, remained a secret to Americans?

Sylvia Brownrigg &quotThe; Metaphysical Touch" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) In this novel, a romance, of sorts, is struck up via the internet. This, then, is a conversation about the creation of characters, how they reveal themselves, how they invent themselves, and what they tell us about that invisible presence, their author.

Edward Hirsch &quotHow; to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry" (Harcourt Brace). Some poems are so strong that they leave permanent impressionson the reader; the poems Edward Hirsch introduces are meant to alter the soul.

Jackstraws (Harcourt Brace) Award-winning poet Charles Simic on the objects (stones, forks, dolls) that form the internal puppet theater of his imagination.

Ron Hansen &quotHitler;?s Niece" (Harper Collins). Ron Hansen?sreconstruction of Hitler?s affair with Geli Raubal gives us a glimpse of acreepy, hypothetical menage ---rois: the novelist in bed with innocence andmonstrosity.

Susan Minot &quotEvening;" (Knopf). The past recaptured! Susan Minot haswritten a swoony, lyrical novel about loss. We talk about that rare thing: aromantic novel that is literary (and close to perfection).

Bone by Bone (Random House). On the culmination of his momentous trilogy, Peter Matthiessen speaks about history, fiction and the destiny of an American anti-hero.

The Red Leaves of Night (Harper Collins). As David St. John 's poems grow more elegant, they become more sexual and obsessive...

Close Range: Wyoming Stories (Scribner) Annie Proulx has written an ominous of Western tales -- tall tales, rodeo bragging, cowboy love stories -- profusely illustrated and emotionally dark...

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (Little, Brown) Witness the uproarious frenzy of definition when David Foster Wallace cuts loose and tries to make a straightforward statement about the hideous men (and women) in his new book.

Arthur Sze &quotThe; Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998" (Copper Canyon) ArthurSze on the fascinating intersection of astrophysics and Asian metaphysics. Hiswork embodies a sense of time that is both ancient and post-modern.

Andre Dubus III &quotHouse; of Sand and Fog" (Norton) Andre Dubus III is the son of a prize-winning Catholic author. How does the son write about the extreme conflicts of life without the resource of his father's faith?

Carolyn See &quotThe; Handyman" (Random House) Carolyn See solves the problems of love, life and art by wittily applying practicality, compassion and humor. In her new book, she offer what every woman needs: a handyman.