Bookworm

City of God (Random House) Doctorow unravels the signs and omens of a new order of faith in his visionary millennial novel.

Kenward Elmslie Cyberspace (Granary Books) Kenward Elmslie, our wildest poetic genius, takes no hostages when he explodes into cyberspace in this book-length poem-extravaganza.

Richard Slotkin Abe (Holt) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starring young Abe Lincoln? What does this exploration into our 16th president's childhood reveal about American literature and heroism?

Timothy Findley Pilgrim (Harper Collins) Timothy Findley insists on Jung's dispassionate anti-humanist attitudes in Pilgrim, his confrontation with the frontiers of madness and history. Why? There is more in heaven and earth than there is dreamt of in your philosophy, Dr. Jung.

David Eggers A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Simon & Schuster)We approach this anti-memoir about the death of both of the author's parents with an eye on this question of distinction: when does heartbroken facetiousness become heartlessness?

James Quandt, editor of Robert Bresson (University of Indiana Press) The recent death of Robert Bresson, the legendary French film director, provides the occasion for this tribute to Bresson's purity of style and the power of his literary adaptations. James Quandt, film curator and editor of an anthology of essays on Bresson, is our guest.

In America (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)With In America, Susan Sontag embarks on an exploration of America through the eyes of a great Polish actress. What is an American? What is the role of a woman in the American imagination? A conversation about the invention and re-invention of a woman's identity. This is the last in our nine-part series "Women, Writing and the Imagination."

The life of Marilyn Monroe inspires Joyce Carol Oates, vast accomplishment in Blond and provides an opening for our conversation about a feminine icon. Part 8 of the nine-part series "Women, Writing and the Imagination."

Ana Castillo Peel My Love Like and Onion (Doubleday) Castillo's new novel is about an aging and crippled flamenco dancer. We talk about the powerful sensuality that keeps the dancer vital despite age, infirmity and the demands of an exacting art. Coming from a family of curanderas, Castillo focuses, as well on her experiences with &quotthe; healing arts." Part 7 of the nine-part series &quotWomen;, Writing and the Imagination&quot.;

Jamaica Kincaid on "the feminine arts," from reproduction to literary creation. Part 6 of the nine-part series "Women, Writing and the Imagination."