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REVIEWS IN BRIEF *Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart Joyce Carol Oates (Dutton, $19.95) The masterful realist at the peak of her powers. Comparisons with Balzac, Dickens, and Hardy are not farfetched. A
*Berthe Morisot Anne Higonnet (Harper & Row, $25) A memorable portrait of an admirable woman, as elegantly simple as a Manet, or a Morisot. A
*The Burden of Proof Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22.95) Although The Burden of Proof lacks the surefire thriller devices that helped make Presumed Innocent such a commanding piece of storytelling, readers who persevere will be rewarded. B
*Coyote Waits Tony Hillerman (Harper & Row, $19.95) The 11th tale in Hillerman's series about the Navajo Tribal Police is sturdy work from an incorruptible craftsman. A-
*The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey Harold T.P. Hayes (Simon & Schuster, $21.95) An engrossing study of the life and murder of Dian Fossey, the troubled champion of Rwanda's mountain gorillas. A-
*Disturbing the Peace Vaclav Havel; translated by Paul Wilson (Knopf, $19.95) Readers interested in learning more about this most reluctant of political heroes will nd no better place to begin than this memoir/interview. A-
*Family Pictures Sue Miller (Harper & Row, $19.95) An ordinary Chicago family with an autistic child-a loving, suffering family that endures and tries to learn. A
*First Hubby Roy Blount Jr. (Villard Books, $18.95) ; A flawlessly lame comic novel from the author of One Fell Soup and Crackers. F
*An Inconvenient Woman Dominick Dunne (Crown, $19.95) Dunne's most recent chronicle of well-heeled heels. B
*The Innocent Ian McEwan (Doubleday, $18.95) Far more than an intelligent thriller, The Innocent is also a haunting black comedy charged with psychological complexity, sex, and suspense. A
*Killing Mister Watson Peter Matthiessen (Random House, $21.95) Matthiessen has gotten lost in his own splendidly evoked South Florida swamp in this documentary novel about the desperado Edgar J. Watson. D
*Raw, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Penguin, $14.95) Offbeat stories and drawings by an international group of artists who prefer the punkish, eclectic look of the word ''commix'' to the old-fashioned ''comics'' label. A
*Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History Robert Draper (Doubleday, $19.95) A brisk and passionate account of the magazine's tumultuous 23 years. B
*Saratoga Hexameter Stephen Dobyns (Viking, $16.95) A charming small-town mystery-comedy. B+
*Slim: Memories of a Rich and Imperfect Life Slim Keith with Annette Tapert (Simon & Schuster, $22.95) An irresistible combination of salty wit, down-to-earth honesty, and great photographs. B+
ALSO NOTED *Country Cookies: An Old-Fashioned Collection Lisa Yockelson (Harper & Row, $12.50) Cookie-jar cookies: orange-raisin drops, lemon butter balls, milk chocolate- almond bars.
*Flowering Judas and Other Stories; Pale Horse, Pale Rider Katherine Anne Porter (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, $15.95 each) Reissues of two Porter classics.
*The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love Oscar Hijuelos (Perennial, paperback, $9.95) The winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
*Other People's Trades Primo Levi (Summit, paperback, $8.95) Essays by the prolific Italian writer who came in the end to prefer silence.
*Passage Home Alison McLeay (Simon & Schuster, $19.95) A Big Read of the 19th-century romance variety, stocked with steamships, saloons, salons, and an appropriately plucky heroine.
*The Posters of Glasnost and Perestroika (Penguin, paperback, $19.95) Political posters from the thaw years.
*Self-Consciousness John Updike (Fawcett, paperback, $5.95) These six personal essays are as close as Updike has come to writing an autobiography.
