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Reviews in Brief * The Barnum Museum Steven Millhauser (Poseidon, $18.95) Brilliantly imaginative stories from the author of the novel Edwin Mullhouse. A- * 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 * Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tiananmen Square (Collier, $19.95) A handsome collection of photographs, speeches, and newspaper accounts documenting China's ill-fated democracy movement. 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 find 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 Do-minick 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 * Advertising in America: The First 200 Years Charles Goodrum and Helen Dalrymple (Abrams, $49.50) Advertising as social history. Lavishly illustrated. * Ball Four Jim Bouton (Collier paperback, $12.95) A 20th-anniversary edition of the baseball classic. * Bon Voyage! Souvenirs From the Golden Age of Travel Harold Darling (Abbeville Press, $19.95) Luggage labels, postcards, steamship tickets. * Chanel: A Woman of Her Own Axel Madsen (Holt, $19.95) Yet another take on the extraordinary Coco Chanel. * Honey From a Weed: Fasting and Feasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apula Patience Gray (North Point Press, paperback, $15.95) A cookbook about the rituals of fasting and feasting in the Mediterranean. * Horse Crazy Gary Indiana (Plume, paperback, $8.95) The anxieties of love in the age of AIDS. * Nice Work David Lodge (King Penguin, paperback, $7.95) Social comedy by the author of the academic farce Small World. * Ringolevio Emmett Grogan (Citadel Underground, paperback, $12.95) A reissue of the classic document about Haight-Ashbury at its height.
