Nonfiction in July 2003…

by Barabra Hoffert -- Library Journal, 3/1/2003

Nonfiction is a little less lighthearted, though Notaro's waggish tale of wedded blisters should raise chuckles.

BELLOW, Adam.
In Praise of Nepotism.
Doubleday. Jul. 2003. 384p. ISBN 0-385-49388-6. $27.50.
There's a big push behind this book by the former editorial director of the Free Press, who argues that all the favoritism we show to brothers, nieces, and second cousins has a real value—and is based in evolution.

HARVEY, Andrew.
Shiva's Dancing Ground.
Broadway. Jul. 2003. 320p. ISBN 0-7679-0853-8. $24.95.
Born in post-Raj India of British parents, Harvey came to realize that the country's southern climes were for him "Shiva's dancing ground." Here he recounts mystical and sexual awakening on that hallowed realm.

JAMES, Clive.
As of This Writing: The Essential Essays, 1968–2002.
Norton. Jun. 2003. 640p. ISBN 0-393-05180-3. $35.
The editor considers this collection by a leading British critic Norton's most significant literary publication of the season.

MANNING, Martha.
A Place To Land: Lost and Found in an Unlikely Friendship.
Ballantine. Jul. 2003. 224p. ISBN 0-345-45055-8. $23.95.
In her mid-thirties, clinical psychologist Manning had celebrity status as an author (Undercurrents) and a bad case of the blues. Her salvation was a friendship she formed with a black single mother while volunteering at a local shelter.

MISHLER, William.
A Measure of Endurance: The Unlikely Triumph of Steven Sharp.
Knopf. Jul. 2003. 320p. ISBN 0-375-41133-X. $25.
Teenaged Steve Sharp was gruesomely injured in an accident on the Oregon farm where he worked; both arms were severed by a haywire baler. When he learned of other accidents involving the same type of equipment, he sued the manufacturer—and won. The publisher's sales force is reportedly wildly enthusiastic about this book.

NOTARO, Laurie.
Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood.
Villard. Jul. 2003. 256p. ISBN 0-375-76092-X. pap. $12.95.
Having provoked tears of laughter with The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, Notaro returns with a tongue-in-cheek account of love and marriage.

Correction: In LJ 1/03 , the publisher of Gail Evans's She Wins, You Win was incorrectly listed. It is Gotham Books, a Penguin Putnam imprint.