The Life of Graham Greene, Volume I: 1904-1939 Norman Sherry
Volume 1 of Sherry's biography of the
novelist-adventurer is a sublime portrait of the artist as a
cosmopolitan. Despite the huge canvas (family life, education, love,
religion, mental breakdown, experience in Africa, early work), the
tone is intimate. Sherry lets Greene take us into his confidence. A
Anna L.M.N.O. Sarah Glasscock
Does every Southern woman style hair? Anna, the heroine of this
McMurtryesque first novel, is another gutsy hairburner. But
Glasscock, who can tell a story, doesn't choke us with local color,
and she knows how to make Anna more than the latest bud on the Steel
Magnolia assembly line. B+
A Peace to End All Peace David Fromkin
Fromkin's
historical narrative (nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the
National Book Award in 1989) describes the creation of the modern
Middle East during the period from 1914 to 1922. Centering his book
on the decisions of Winston Churchill, Fromkin, the author of The
Independence of Nations, enlivens — but never compromises — the history
he presents. A
Keep the Change Thomas McGuane
Joe Starling,
McGuane's latest Montana dude, can't stick with anything, but you'll
have no trouble sticking with him. He's McGuane's best creation in
years, and Keep the Change is a reminder of what an effortlessly
fresh, funny, and appealing writer McGuane can be. A-
Italian Days Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Harrison's journal of a meandering 1985 trip through Italy (Milan,
Venice, Rome, Calabria, the Mezzogiorno) is rich, sensual, and
completely absorbing. You read it like fiction, hooked on the
colorful destinations, the playful asides on traveling, and the
gracious traveler herself. A
Jack A.M. Homes
Homes' New Wave Catcher in the
Rye tells the story of a teenage boy who finds out his father is gay.
Jack takes the adolescent novel into new territory; no one is
''normal'' in Homes' funny, slightly eerie world. These remarkable
characters react to events gradually, slowly learning to live with
modern life's most subtle complications. A
Bird, Kansas Tony Parker
In groups of interviews
from ''Stay-at-Home Wives'' to ''Kids at School'' to ''Some of Our
Business Folk,'' Parker lets the people of this Kansas town chat about
their lives, and they're no rubes. Parker's oral history is good
reading, but it's hard not to feel you've covered this territory many
times before. B
Death of a Hollow Man Caroline Graham
Murder strikes
the Causton Amateur Dramatic Society during a production of Amadeus.
Graham's theatrical whodunit is wholly entertaining, and her
descriptions of backstage life with an amateur theater group are
worthy of Robertson Davies. She writes with humor and supplies plenty
of entertaining characters. But this is a real mystery, too, and the
resolution does not disappoint. A-
