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new stuff of interest

"The Missing World"
by Margot Livesey
The heroine of "The Missing World" has been deprived of her livelihood, her freedom, and (most alarmingly) her memory. Never fear, though--Margot Livesey produces a wonderfully eccentric cast of Good Samaritans to assist her in this brilliant tale of desire and grand delusion.

"In the Gloaming"
by Alice Elliott Dark
In her second collection of short fiction, Alice Elliott Dark proves herself a superb anatomist of family life. The title story of "In the Gloaming" is already an acknowledged classic, but every tale here delivers some complicated truth about that eminently breakable organ, the human heart.

"The Vision of Emma Blau"
by Ursula Hegi
"The Vision of Emma Blau" is first and foremost a family saga, covering almost a century in the life of a German American clan. But Ursula Hegi's latest is also a superb rumination on immigrant dreams and indigenous realities--not to mention a touching and unpredictable love story.

"So I Am Glad"
by A.L. Kennedy
In "So I Am Glad," Glasgow's own A.L. Kennedy delivers yet another piece of artistic alchemy. Her latest novel revolves around a damaged narrator and her mysterious suitor, a reincarnated Cyrano de Bergerac who ultimately wins her love by (as it were) a nose.

"The Tesseract"
by Alex Garland
Alex Garland's second novel is as notable for its narrative ingenuity as for its street-smart portrait of the Manila underworld.

"The Year of Reading Proust"
by Phyllis Rose
Talk about Proustian moments! In this 1997 nonfiction outing, Phyllis combines autobiography, lit-crit, and a passionate appreciation of the Belle Epoque's greatest social climber.

"The Intuitionist"
by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead's ambitious and irresistible debut elevated him to the very top rank of first novelists. Going up!

"Harold and Maude"
"Vice, virtue, it's best not to be too moral--you cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality." --Ruth Gordon as Maude in "Harold and Maude"

"Jean Cocteau's Orphic Cycle" (NR) VHS Widescreen
directed by Jean Cocteau
This three-tape series chronicles Jean Cocteau's lifelong fascination with the Orpheus myth. Beginning in 1930 with his first film "Blood of a Poet," a hallucinatory exploration of art and madness, continuing with the magical "Orpheus" (1949), and concluding with his final film "Testament of Orpheus" (1960), this collection shows the master stylist his best--creating films steeped in dream-logic and filled with haunting images.

"Cries and Whispers" (NR) VHS
starring Harriet Andersson and Liv Ullmann
directed by Ingmar Bergman
One of Bergman's greatest works, "Cries and Whispers" is the story of the relationship between a dying woman, her sisters, and her housekeeper. Bergman's subtle touch and Sven Nykvist's Oscar-winning cinematography combine to produce a complex, powerful, and ultimately disturbing film.

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (NR) VHS
starring Conrad Veidt
directed by Robert Wiene
A milestone of the silent film era and one of the first "art films" to gain international acclaim, this eerie German classic from 1919 remains the most prominent example of German expressionism in the emerging art of the cinema. Stylistically, the look of the film's painted sets--distorted perspectives, sharp angles, twisted architecture--was designed to reflect the splintered psychology of its title character, a sinister figure who uses a lanky somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) as a circus attraction. Scary stuff.

"A Zed and Two Noughts" (NR) VHS Widescreen
starring Brian Deacon and Eric Deacon
directed by Peter Greenaway
The films of Peter Greenaway are as much intricate puzzles as stories, and "A Zed and Two Noughts" is one of his most enigmatic, charting the emotional journeys of estranged brothers, both zoologists, who lose their wives to a car wreck. Greenaway has always shown more interest in ideas than characters and this is no exception, but for those who love his witty, odd, and labyrinthine style, "A Zed and Two Noughts" is an entrancing conundrum.

"The General" (R) VHS
starring Brendan Gleeson and Jon Voight
directed by John Boorman
Brandan Gleeson gives an astonishing performance as Irish crook Martin Cahill in Boorman's beautifully shot, morally complex film. Cahill is larger than life--funny and charismatic one minute, a violent thug the next--but in the world he inhabits, where rough justice is as likely to be dispensed by the IRA as by the police, he begins to look like a folk hero.

"My Sex Life" (NR) VHS Widescreen
starring Mathieu Amalric and Marianne Denicourt
directed by Arnaud Desplechin
Paul is a graduate student in philosophy who is nearing 30 years of age, and is stuck with a thesis he can't finish and a 10-year relationship he can't end. About all he can do is engage in endless conversations about heady French philosophers, drink, and escape his stifling existence in a series of sexual trysts. Arnaud Desplechin's study of identity crisis on the cusp of adulthood is filled with so much neurosis, jealousy, guilt, denial, rationalization, and malaise that everyone's bound to identify with something in this talky, wonderful film.

"Joan the Maid: The Battles" (NR) VHS
starring Sandrine Bonnaire
directed by Jacques Rivette
The first of Rivette's two films about Joan of Arc charts her story from her first revelation through the Battle of Orleans, where the wisp of a girl is both a tough leader rubbing shoulders with foul-mouthed, hot-tempered career soldiers and a blubbering young woman who cries when hit with an arrow. Rivette's camera weaves through long takes with a gentle grace while his narrative leaps over the traditional highlights to focus on the privileged moments of conversation and preparation. The result is a superb alternative to the more bombastic versions of the same story.

"Joan the Maid: The Prisons" (NR) VHS
starring Sandrine Bonnaire
directed by Jacques Rivette
"Joan the Maid: The Prisons" takes the teenage soldier from her greatest triumph to martyrdom. Having liberated Orleans, Joan accompanies the Dauphin to Rheims, where she observes his coronation--but her string of victories soon ends. When her voices and visions leave her she puts up a front of bravado and spirit, but she is soon captured and the film concludes with her trial for heresy. Rivette's film is a study in faith and fortitude brought alive by Sandrine Bonnaire's sincere, tough, and vulnerable performance.

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"Rushmore" (R) VHS
starring Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman
directed by Wes Anderson
After showing considerable promise with "Bottle Rocket," Wes Anderson excelled himself with "Rushmore." Jason Schwartzman stars as Max Fisher, a 15-year-old attending the prestigious Rushmore Academy on scholarship. Possessing boundless confidence and chutzpah, Max finds two unlikely soul mates in industrial magnate and Rushmore alumnus Herman Blume (Bill Murray) and first-grade teacher Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams)--but their friendship quickly turns into a very bizarre love triangle.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (R) VHS
starring Nick Moran and Jason Flemyng
directed by Guy Ritchie
Four cocky cockney lads try to get themselves out of a heap of trouble in this razor-sharp riff on '60s caper movies. Director Ritchie piles on the plot twists while crafting a lovingly sleazy portrait of a London underworld where every sentence is peppered with rhyming slang. It's "A Hard Day's Night" meets "Reservoir Dogs."

"Go" (1999) (R) VHS
starring Sarah Polley and Katie Holmes
directed by Doug Liman
Director Doug Liman's follow-up to the winning "Swingers" is a rollicking adventure that, while lacking in any substantial plot, speeds along with nonstop adrenaline and style to burn. Taking a cue from "Pulp Fiction," Liman plays tricks with time and overlapping plots, all of which play out in L.A. and Las Vegas in a 24-hour period sometime between Christmas and New Year's. The comedy and action sequences rocket with energy, humor, and genuine surprise, and Liman works wonders with one the most winning ensembles in recent memory.

"100 Things Every Writer Needs to Know" by Scott Edelstein

Veteran writing-book author Scott Edelstein's "100 Things Every Writer Needs to Know" is geared decidedly toward the novice. Should I quit my day job? Pay someone to represent me? Employ a vanity press? Anyone who's been around the writer's block knows the answers to these questions (no, no, and no), but this book is a great place for a rookie to pick up a lot of knowledge without too much hard work. More experienced writers will also appreciate Edelstein's authoritative and reassuring words, and may pick up a few hints, as well. Edelstein has great advice on determining whether a writing workshop will be worthwhile, as well as some clever recommendations for wriggling one's way into a writing job and a list of 10 foolproof methods for making at least $50,000 a year as a writer (for instance, "Write a Broadway show that runs a long time"). He warns against relying on the Writer's Market books too heavily, as they list only "35-40 percent" of the markets available; gives the go-ahead on multiple submissions; and--unless you're seeking representation--advises against sending query letters. "Ninety percent of the time," he says, "you'll get a reading," regardless of whether a publication claims not to consider unsolicited manuscripts. Oh, and in case you don't know better, "bribery, toadying, and sucking up not only are smarmy, but almost never work."

"Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation About Writing"
by Kurt Vonnegut & Lee Stringer

Kurt Vonnegut ("Breakfast of Champions"): writer of wild, satiric, outrageous fiction. Lee Stringer ("Grand Central Winter"): one-time homeless crack addict who discovered that pencils are not just drug implements. Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer: a mutual admiration society. "Like Shaking Hands with God": a transcription of two moderated conversations between Vonnegut and Stringer--one before a bookstore audience, one over lunch.

"Shaking Hands" has a slender profile and a pretty cover. But the only thing slight about these conversations is that they leave the reader wanting more. The book is billed as "a conversation about writing," but it is as much about life as about writing. Neither Vonnegut nor Stringer is interested in holing up in a garret to write. Vonnegut makes any excuse to go out and rub elbows with the folks who buy lottery tickets. Stringer wonders, "Can you write anything on Park Avenue, really?" Vonnegut laments his happy childhood as "no way for a writer to begin." Stringer panics--while he wrote his first book as if on a high, the next one may emerge from an awareness of Oprah and marketability.

Vonnegut and Stringer are passionate about one another's work, passionate about life, and passionate about writing. But not so much so that they ever, for a moment, lose their sense of irony or humor. In the age of the sound bite, literature can be deemed, on some level, useless. Stringer praises writing, in that context, as "a struggle to preserve our right to be not so practical." And Vonnegut? "We are here on Earth to fart around," he proclaims in "Timequake." "Don't let anybody tell you any different!"

"Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True"
by Elizabeth Berg

Elizabeth Berg ("Talk Before Sleep") is a can-do kid. Forget the common wisdom--that writing is difficult and getting published nearly impossible without contacts or an agent. "What you need most," she says, "is a fierce desire to put things down on paper." And if a gentle nudge will help you on your way, well, Berg wishes to provide just that, cheerfully, with "Escaping into the Open." For Berg, writing--and success--comes easily. In fact, she says, "What I like doing best is writing.... I feel like a drug addict with an exceptionally wise drug of choice."

It is refreshing to come across a book so positive and friendly--even if a there is a little too much emphasis on the author's own experience (did she really have to include a five-page essay by an envious friend and three pages of topics about which she herself has successfully written?). Still, how could one not appreciate a writing guide that espouses napping, eating chocolate-covered cherries, and standing by your "man(uscript)," and that likens passionate, risky writing--the only kind that's worth anything--to great sex? Berg encourages her reader to look (and listen and feel) deeply, to learn from children, and not to let life interfere with writing any more than it has to. She addresses--sometimes with help from her friends--writing classes, writing groups, and the writing life. In a chapter called "If you're a man, be a woman," she offers up 30 pages of writing exercises. Berg is personable, whimsical, amazed by her good fortune, and direct. "There's only one person who can stop you," she says gravely at book's end, "and we both know who that is."

"Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors"
by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Sure, Jewell Parker Rhodes is African American. Many of the writing traditions to which she refers in "Free Within Ourselves"--the slave narrative, trickster legends--are specific to African American culture. The resonant works of short fiction (reprinted here in their entirety) that she uses to illustrate fictional elements were written by such African Americans as Zora Neale Hurston and John Edgar Wideman. The 67 authors whose pearls of writing wisdom bring this book to its fine conclusion are all African American. Rhodes even bills her book as "fiction lessons for black authors." So why should the rest of us bother?

Because Rhodes has written a rich and vibrant guide to creating fiction, and she's engaged a whole community of celebrated writers to show us how it's done. Like the authors of many such books, Rhodes touches on all the expected aspects of fiction writing--character, plot, viewpoint, description, dialogue, theme, and revision. But as Rhodes takes a different approach, reading this book is like coming upon a familiar sight from a completely new angle. Especially fine is Rhodes's chapter on dialogue, which includes a section on subtext and a fascinating discussion about dialect, particularly apropos, as "African Americans often shift between standard and Black English."

Your Novel Proposal: From Creation to Contract: The Complete Guide to Writing Query Letters, Synopses and Proposals for Agents and Editors

by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook

And you thought writing your novel was difficult! Now you have to wade your way through query letters, synopses, outlines, agents, cover letters, proposals, and, with any luck, editors and publishers. There is an etiquette to gaining representation for your novel, and you'd be a fool not to follow it after all the hard work you've put in. Stellar agents are not exactly twiddling their thumbs waiting for the phone to ring or the mail to bring in the next batch of writers' queries; one wrong sentence or mistimed phone call (but you wouldn't really wake a sleeping agent, would you?) can foil your chances completely. Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook, authors and teachers both, have enlisted published writers (Elmore Leonard, Dick Francis, Stephen King), agents, and editors to help them teach us everything there is to know about turning that manuscript into a published novel. "Getting your novel published," they warn, "will take the same sort of creative problem solving, the same determination and persistence, the same refusal to quit that you brought to writing the book." True. Except this time, you have their help. What qualifications should you include in your query letter? How do you portray a whole novel in a one-page synopsis? How long should you expect to wait for a response? Camenson and Cook cover it all. The keyword to success here is "professionalism," and, if you follow the advice put forth in this book, you'll learn how to be a professional in this business, from the very first query to the "firing the agent who isn't working out" missive.

--Jane Steinberg was a longtime editor at Seattle Weekly and a stringer for Glamour magazine. She now writes from her home in New Jersey.

1. "Spread the Word"
by William Safire
William Safire's "On Language" column, 20 years old with the publication of this collection, is one of Sunday morning's great pleasures: Where else can one turn for a timely linguistic assessment of a president's inaugural speech, a corporation's annual report, or the use of terms such as "stud muffin" and "horny"? A still greater pleasure is reading "Spread the Word," the 11th compilation of Safire's language columns in book form, where they are accompanied by letters from tireless members of the Nitpickers' League, the Gotcha! Gang, the Squad Squad, the Board of Octogenarian Mentors, and others.

2. "The Eleventh Draft"
Edited by Frank Conroy
For "The Eleventh Draft," Frank Conroy solicited essays about writing from 23 fiction writers--all of them one-time Iowa Writers' Workshop students or faculty members. "My instructions to them," says Conroy, "were deliberately vague.... Leaving it open seemed to me to heighten the chances of getting the strongest and least predictable work."

Most of this book's contributors aim, often by way of story, to get at the mysterious heart of the fiction writer's experience. Fred G. Leebron recalls the moment he realized that the characters take the author by the hand, and not vice versa. Elizabeth McCracken confesses to having no inner or outer life, but to stealing all her material from her family. And Scott Spencer underscores the courage needed to create fiction. "A writer who will not risk hurting someone's feelings," he says, "is finally no more effective than a firefighter who will not smash in windows."

3. "The King's English"
by Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis's "The King's English" is as witty and biting as his novels. Modestly presented as a volume "in which some modern linguistic problems are discussed and perhaps settled," Amis's usage guide is a worthy companion to his revered Fowler's. Forget Amis's protestations of being unfit for the position of language arbiter; after all, as he says, "the defence of the language is too large a matter to be left to the properly qualified."

4. "Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay"
by Richard Lederer and Richard Dowis
In "Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay," indefatigable verbivores Richard Lederer and Richard Dowis present a quick-and-dirty grammar guide, tip a few sacred cows, and even offer some helpful hints on orthography and punctuation. Now, if only they could do the actual writing for us.

5. "Sin and Syntax"
by Constance Hale
You gotta love a grammar guide that calls verbs "moody little suckers" and adverbs "promiscuous." Constance Hale relishes prose that is deliberate, beautiful, and bold. Go ahead and break the rules, she says; just know the rules first, and know why you are breaking them. In "Sin & Syntax," Hale examines the elements of grammar from four angles: the "bones" (the grammar lesson), the "flesh" (the writing lesson), "cardinal sins" (what she calls "true transgressions"), and "carnal pleasures" (the beauty that results from either "hew[ing] exquisitely to the underlying codes of language," or not).

6. "Creating Fiction"
edited by Julie Checkoway
Unable to secure a coveted spot in a creative-writing program? Unwilling to make the life changes necessary to do so? "Creating Fiction" is a fiction-writing course from some of those programs' top instructors. Among the finest of these 23 never-before-published essays about fiction writing--each of which is accompanied by a few writing exercises--are those by Jane Smiley on revision, John Barth on plot, Carrie Brown on the writing of magic realism, and Julie Checkoway on "The Lingerie Theory of Literature" ("The fundamental secret ... to the effective ending," Checkoway confides, "is to practice the restraint one sees in those Victoria's Secret lingerie ads--enough coyness to tantalize, enough enigma to tease, but never, ever, too much naked abandon").

7. "Why I Write"
edited by Will Blythe
Will Blythe gathers 25 essays detailing the joy of writing by fiction writers as diverse as David Foster Wallace, Ann Patchett, and Terry McMillan in "Why I Write." More than a meditation on the art of writing, "Why I Write" celebrates fiction's power to inspire, challenge, and liberate our imaginations.

8. "Going on Faith"
edited by William Knowlton Zinsser
"Going on Faith" is an expanded version of "Spiritual Quests" (1988), a collection of essays--originally a New York Public Library lecture series about religious writing--by David Bradley, Frederick Buechner, Mary Gordon, Hugh Nissenson, Allen Ginsberg, and Jarozlav Pelikan. This new edition coincides with what the book's editor, William Zinsser, calls "a new interest in matters of the spirit." Its list of contributors has grown to include Hillel Levine, Diane Ackerman, and Patricia Hampl.

Not all of the book's contributors are traditionally devout. Hugh Nissenson professes to make a religion of his atheism. David Bradley, who comes from a long line of Methodist preachers, claims writing as his religion. And Diane Ackerman doesn't believe in God. Nevertheless, she says, "even without an organized religion or a church I often find myself in a position of praise or prayer.... I also find myself constantly going on pilgrimages and quests."

9. "Fitzgerald Did It"
by Meg Wolitzer
Unlike the many screenwriting guidebooks geared toward Hollywood wannabes with little writing experience whatsoever, "Fitzgerald Did It" is intended for writers--particularly fiction writers and journalists--eager to make the leap to screenwriting. Blessedly absent are the tedious lessons about how to write; in their stead is an explanation, almost, in unlearning how to write. "Writers' initial screenplays tend to be talky, static, interior and structurally shaky," says author Meg Wolitzer. The screenplay form, Wolitzer maintains, "is more often about architecture and imagery and movement than it is about language."

10. "Letters to a Fiction Writer"
edited by Frederick Busch
"As a writer," says Andre Dubus, "you are constantly in training. Day after day, alone at your desk, with no one watching you or even depending on you, you take your position on the playing field." "Letters to a Fiction Writer," which was inspired by Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," is a reminder that there is actually a whole community out there sharing your Sisyphean task. These 33 letters are written by authors such as Ann Beattie, John Gardner, Joyce Carol Oates, and Tobias Wolff. Lee K. Abbott addresses the obligation of the fiction writer to "write it all goddamn down." Raymond Carver ponders the relationship between writing and alcoholism. David Bradley discusses the difficulty of being an as-yet-unpublished writer: "Most professions," he says, "pay bright prospects to develop their skills.... There are no such positions in writing."

--Jane Steinberg was a longtime editor at Seattle Weekly and a stringer for Glamour magazine. She now writes from her home in New Jersey.

ART HOUSE FILMS

There are an awful lot of movies out there, and a lot of awful movies, but 1999 saw the arrival of a great crop of topnotch art house and international films on video. Cult classics, the latest flowering of the French New Wave, and even Norwegian thrillers are all represented in this diverse selection of favorite films. Challenging, clever, and just plain fun, this list has something for everyone.

1. "Peeping Tom" (1960) (Not Rated) VHS Widescreen
starring Carl Boehm; directed by Michael Powell
A young man, scarred by an abusive childhood, murders women and films their final moments in this extraordinary film. Better than "Psycho"? Perhaps. But whatever the verdict, Michael Powell's deeply disturbing meditation on sex, cinema, and murder is a lurid, twisted masterpiece.

2. "Elizabeth" (1998) (R) VHS
starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush; directed by Shekhar Kapur
Kapur's dazzling evocation of the rise to power of the Virgin Queen is history rewritten as a horror movie. Blanchett is simply superb as the princess who must stay one step ahead of her rivals and ultimately reinvent herself in order to heal the fractured body politic. Director Kapur keeps the pace slow and the tension high, and the film looks ravishing, setting dazzling costumes against a menacing background of shadows.

3. "Insomnia" (1997) (Not Rated) VHS subtitled in English
starring Stellan Skarsgard; directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Stellan Skarsgard--best known to American audiences for his roles in "Good Will Hunting" and "Breaking the Waves"--gives an intense, daring performance in this gripping Norwegian thriller. He plays a detective who, during the pursuit of a vicious murderer, accidentally kills his own partner. The cat-and-mouse game between the cop and the murderer (who witnessed the death of the partner) is gripping, and Skarsgard's portrayal of a man descending into chaos is breathtaking, and often painful to watch.

4. "Shall We Dance?" (1996) (PG) VHS subtitled in English
starring Koji Yakusyo and Tamiyo Kusakari; directed by Masayuki Suo
When a bored white-collar worker takes the plunge and joins a ballroom dancing class his life is turned upside down; this thoroughly charming film shows what happens when Japanese reserve rubs up against flamboyant Latin dance. Much of the comedy comes from the wonderful characters who attend the dance school, all of whom use the throbbing rhythms and satin pants as an escape from the workaday world. This film was a surprise hit when it appeared in U.S. theaters; on video, it would make a perfect double bill with the Australian "Strictly Ballroom."

5. "Harakiri" (1962) (Not Rated) VHS Widescreen subtitled in English
starring Tatsuya Nakadai; directed by Masaki Kobayashi
If you're looking for a film that elevates suspense to an art form, "Harakiri" is it. Tatsuya Nakadai plays a samurai for whom the arrival of peace has meant poverty and dishonor. He goes to the stronghold of a rival clan and asks to be allowed to commit ritual suicide, but he has a hidden agenda: revenge. Kobayashi's stately camera glides through empty corridors to the courtyard where the samurai sits, surrounded by his enemies. As the plot slowly unfolds, the director captivates the audience with stillness--only the passage of sun and shadow across the ground lets us know that events are moving towards what must be, and is, an explosive climax.

6. "Wild Man Blues" (1998) (PG) VHS
starring Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn; directed by Barbara Kopple
Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple's revealing portrait of tragicomic auteur Woody Allen is not for everyone. If you like your celebrities cuddly and affable you'll be disappointed, but if you want a glimpse into the mind of one of America's greatest filmmakers this is a fascinating documentary. Above all, "Wild Man Blues" is about Allen's love of music. Kopple follows Allen, Soon-Yi Previn, and Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band on a tour of Europe; the Allen that emerges is a man who only seems truly at ease when he brings his clarinet to his lips.

7. "The Singing Detective" (1986)(Not Rated) VHS
starring Michael Gambon; directed by Jon Amiel
Writer Dennis Potter redefined television drama, using the medium to explore concepts and create work that was both challenging and entertaining. "The Singing Detective" was his greatest achievement, a dazzlingly complex study of a writer's mind as he struggles to recover from physical illness and mental collapse. Fantasy and memory combine in this intricate six-hour puzzle, held together by Michael Gambon's powerful central performance, and by the unstoppable energy of Potter's writing.

8. "Forgotten Silver" (1997) (Not Rated) VHS
starring John O'Shea and Marguerite Hurst; directed by Peter Jackson
New Zealand's Peter Jackson, currently working on a film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings," is the man behind this mockumentary about a forgotten movie pioneer. He enlisted the help of a host of cinema bigwigs, from Leonard Maltin to Sam Neill, to add credence to his wickedly funny spoof, and the result is a story so convincing that audiences were fooled for months, until the director admitted that he made it all up.

9. "Irma Vep" (1996)
(Not Rated) VHS Widescreen subtitled in English
starring Maggie Cheung and Jean-Pierre Leaud; directed by Olivier Assayas
French cinema is currently enjoying a period of creativity as exhilarating and refreshingly iconoclastic as the heyday of the New Wave. Olivier Assayas is one of the most playful of this new generation of directors, and "Irma Vep" is a witty, thoughtful look at the world of moviemaking. Hong Kong star Maggie Cheung plays herself, summoned to Paris to appear in a remake of the silent classic "Les Vampires" directed by an extremely unstable genius (played by New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Leaud). Cheung doesn't speak a word of French, but before long she's part of a delightfully odd family of filmmakers. Assayas isn't interested in big messages--he's simply content to give us a warm and funny slice of life in contemporary Paris.

10. "Lain: Navi" (1999) (Not Rated) VHS subtitled in English
directed by Ryutaro Nakamura

"Lain: Navi" comprises the first four episodes of a remarkable animated story that carries echoes of "Twin Peaks," "The X-Files," and the novels of William Gibson, while establishing its own vision of the virtual world. In the opening moments a schoolgirl commits suicide, but several days later her classmates receive e-mail from the dead girl. One--an introverted 13-year-old called Lain--replies, and her correspondent claims not to be dead, but to have passed into the "wired world." The phrase "nothing is what it seems" applies to just about everything in this strange, gripping anime.

All titles featured are NTSC format (VHS) and Region 1 encoded (DVD).

1. "A Star Called Henry"
by Roddy Doyle
In "A Star Called Henry," Roddy Doyle takes us deep into Ireland's fanatic heart. Setting his tale in the early years of this century, he creates not only an appealing, street-smart protagonist--the offspring, incidentally, of a one-legged hit man--but an entire gallery of indelible Dubliners.

2. "The Last Life"
by Claire Messud
Cutting from France to Algeria to New England, "The Last Life" explores the peculiar burdens of exile. Claire Messud's bildungsroman is also a dazzling meditation on family, and on the heart-rending fabrications of personal history. Fiction doesn't get any smarter than this, or more affecting.

3. "Coleridge: Darker Reflections"
by Richard Holmes
In "Coleridge: Darker Reflections," Richard Holmes completes his chronicle of the great poet, polemicist, and opium fiend. As he did in the splendid "Early Visions," the author manages to evoke not only Coleridge's day-to-day existence but peculiar turbulence of his imagination. This is a magisterial production from one of the most gifted literary biographers on the planet.

4. "Amy and Isabelle"
by Elizabeth Strout
As its title suggests, "Amy and Isabelle" is a tale of two women--or more specifically, a mother and daughter, who walk the familiar line between mutual adoration and abhorrence. Elizabeth Strout recounts this hot-button relationship with rare and remarkable delicacy.

5. "For the Relief of Unbearable Urges"
by Nathan Englander
In his first collection, Nathan Englander produces nine superb slices of Jewish life. His wickedly intelligent prose and world-class imagination belie his age--a tender 28. And while Englander's stories bear the occasional imprint of such predecessors as Singer and Malamud, his evocative voice is all his own.

6. "The Travelling Hornplayer"
by Barbara Trapido
For sheer astonishment and comic zing, "The Travelling Hornplayer" may be Barbara Trapido's best novel to date. This intricate tale of love and death--which employs one of Franz Schubert's song cycles as a narrative springboard--is a marvel of storytelling ingenuity. It's also our nominee for the funniest book of 1999.

7. "Tipping the Velvet"
by Sarah Waters
In "Tipping the Velvet," young Nancy Astley goes from provincial innocent to male impersonator to unhappy hooker--and beyond. A vivid portrait of Victorian England's underbelly, Sarah Waters's first novel has more than its share of sensual energy and scintillating prose.

8. "Passage to Juneau"
by Jonathan Raban
"Passage to Juneau" takes Jonathan Raban from the caffeinated precincts of Seattle to the Alaskan frontier. Navigating the chaotic Inside Passage in a 35-foot ketch, the author chronicles its history, culture, and landscape with his customary brilliance--and encounters some personal turbulence along the way.

9. "Waiting"
by Ha Jin
"Waiting" begins with an almost fairy-tale-like premise: a husband returns to his village year after year to divorce his wife, who refuses to grant him his freedom. In the end, however, Ha Jin's novel is a painfully realistic portrait of marital gridlock--and an off-the-cuff allegory of totalitarian politics.

10. "Layover"
by Lisa Zeidner
The heroine of Lisa Zeidner's "Layover" has held up through the loss of a child and a foundering marriage. But when her husband confesses to an infidelity, Claire Newbold begins a sex-and-self-discovery spree, which the author recounts in some of the wittiest and wisest prose in recent memory.

Oh dear God..."You Can Make It Big Writing Books: A Top Agent Shows You How to Develop a Million-Dollar Bestseller"
by Jeff Herman
If your goal is a Pulitzer, don't look here. But if your aspirations include wealth, bestsellerdom, and an appearance on Oprah(R), "You Can Make It Big Writing Books" can help. The majority of the book comprises author and literary agent Jeff Herman's profiles of more than 60 top-selling authors. While the profiles quickly begin to sound formulaic--the authors all seem to have been asked the same questions--there is a lot to learn from this group of confident, successful self-promoters: mainly that writing may be an art form, but, as Carmen Renee Berry says, "publishing is a business." Some of the best--and funniest--tips come from Ralph Roberts. Roberts recommends autographing books at every bookstore you can (it makes it more difficult for the store to return them to the publisher) and giving the pilot a copy of your book every time you fly. "It's awesome," says Roberts, "to hear the pilot announce: 'We have Ralph Roberts, the world's greatest salesperson, on board.'"

"A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion & Lively Muse for the Writing Life"
by Judy Reeves
Musicians practice. Athletes practice. And so, too, argues Judy Reeves, should writers practice. Her "Writer's Book of Days" provides a "writing prompt" for each day of the year, and then some: "Write about a time someone said yes"; "Write about leaving"; "Something seemed different." The more you practice, says Reeves, the more you write. And writing from a prompt, she adds, is like "someone provid[ing] the music when you want to dance." The prompts are the backbone of this book, but its pages are fleshed out with advice, inspiration, quotations from writers, encouragement, and a profusion of literary tidbits. Write from the sense, Reeves recommends. Audition words. Take risks. And when all else fails, amuse yourself with these astonishing tidbits from literary lives: T.S. Eliot, we learn, preferred writing with a head cold; Flaubert kept his lover's slippers and mittens in his desk drawer; and Friedrich von Schiller liked invoking his muse by sniffing rotten apples.

"Delicious Imaginations: Conversations with Contemporary Writers"
edited by Sarah Griffiths and Kevin J. Kehrwald
"As Samuel Johnson observed," writes Henry Hughes in his introduction to "Delicious Imaginations," "questioning is not the most polite mode of conversation. But hot answers make it worth the risk." Graduate students, typically interested neither in the cult of celebrity nor in the posturing of success, seem uniquely qualified to get hot answers from their subjects. These 15 "conversations"--between grad students and such contemporary writers as Gerald Stern, Catherine Bowman, Rick Bass, and Russell Banks--were culled from the first 10 years of Purdue University's Sycamore Review. All kinds of fascinating literary byways are explored here, but perhaps the hottest answers involve the role of M.F.A. programs, and academia in general, in the lives of contemporary writers. Michael Martone laments the fact that writing programs do not address "the consequences of their existence." Larry Brown claims that "the only thing an M.F.A. will give you is the ability to go out and teach creative writing." Denise Levertov calls M.F.A. programs "disastrous. They've taken people far from the concept of poetry as a vocation and turned it so much into poetry as a career." And Charles Simic advises young poets to "keep away from the Academy as much as you can."

"Spread the Word"
by William Safire
Sure, he's an apologist for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and other war criminals great and small, but some people can actually read his pap and keep their dinners down, so here is his latest.

William Safire's "On Language" column, 20 years old with the publication of this collection, is one of Sunday morning's great pleasures: Where else can one turn for a timely linguistic assessment of a president's inaugural speech, a corporation's annual report, or the use of terms such as "stud muffin" and "horny"? A still greater pleasure is reading Safire's language columns in book form, where they are accompanied by letters from tireless members of the Nitpickers' League, the Gotcha! Gang, the Squad Squad, the Board of Octogenarian Mentors, and others. The columns may be Safire's, but the letters--from Jacques Barzun, Alistair Cooke, William A. Sabin, even Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and Benazir Bhutto--are allowed the final word. And imperfect wordsmiths everywhere may be relieved to know that even William Safire can make a mistake. "Sometimes," he writes in his introduction to "Spread the Word," "a kindly copy editor will call to say, 'Are you deliberately trying to slip this egregious error into the paper?'"

"Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions"
by Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber
New Yorker founding editor Harold Ross, according to this book's preface, is said to have asked writer James Thurber once, with bewilderment, "Is Moby Dick the man or the whale?" Well, even Homer nods (Horace). But, Harold! Thou shouldst be living at this hour (Wordsworth). "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions" is a Big Rock Candy Mountain (American folk song) for anyone who feels amid the alien corn (Keats) when it comes to understanding allusions everyone else seems to grok (Heinlein). Thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears (Churchill) of authors Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber--compiling this allusional Rosetta stone must have taken a Herculean, nay Brobdingnagian (Swift), effort--we can come in from the cold (popularized by le Carre) of the dark night of the soul (St. John of the Cross) and dine out on (G. Gordon Liddy and others) these allusions for years to come.
--Jane Steinberg was a longtime editor at Seattle Weekly and a stringer for Glamour magazine. She now writes from her home in New Jersey.

Tom Drury

The End of Vandalism/Tom Drury/$8.80
A thief vacuums the church before stealing the chalice....A lonely woman paints her toenails in a drafty farmhouse....A sleepless man watches his restless bride scatter their bills beneath the stars....Welcome to Grouse County....
The Black Brook/Tom Drury/$16.10
"An irresistably droll portrayal of an All-American liar, loser and innocent dominates this edgy, captivating second novel.... A deft cataloguing of outrageous behavior, presented in a deadpan style that will have readers humming with pleasure as they turn the pages. A trip and a treat."--Kirkus Reviews
"The thing I love most about Tom Drury's fiction is its genuinely quirky vision. Here's an author who sees and hears what others either miss or fail to note the significance of. Every page of "The Black Brook" yields wonderful surprises--of invention, of insight, of language.--Richard Russo

In Our State/Tom Drury/$5.00+$2.35 surcharge

Beau Sia

A Night Without Armor II; The Revenge/Beau Sia/$10.00 + $0.85 special surcharge
'We already have some things in common,' he writes in the open letter to Jewel that begins the book. 'You're from Alaska and I'm from Oklahoma. Both of these states end with the letter a.'
Attack! Attack! Go! (CD)/Beau Sia/$12.98
"21-year-old Asian/Oklahoman bug-out Beau Sia discharges hilarious spoken-word material over beats and sounds." --Spin magazine