Bookworm

David Grossman The Zig Zag Kid (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) The Israeli writer tells the story of how a book written for his son's coming-of-age became a cross-over hit--an adult best-seller in Israel.

The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (Random House)Why do adults need fairy tales? What is, at its essence, the heart of a story? The answers appear as international wise-woman A. S. Byatt unravels the "fairy stories for adults" in her most-recent book.

An unusually revealing conversation about female masochism and creativity: Oates on the harrowing of the flesh, penitence and salvation.

Open Me...I'm a Dog (Harper Collins)In this discussion of a "mind trip" for children, Art Spiegelman reads from his new children's book--with running commentary from the Bookworm.

The infrequently interviewed Don DeLillo discusses his epic novel, Underworld, particularly the movement toward sincerity and simplicity that characterizes the book's climactic chapters.

A close look at the waves of passion and neutrality that comprise the style of this elegy on the death of Jamaica Kincaid's brother.

All Around Atlantis (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) This unusual writer, who takes a full year to complete each story, has completed seven -- enough to fill her third book.

The Runaway SoulTwo interviews: Brodkey discuses life, literature and his new novel.

This final book of Edmund White's trilogy about gay life in New York provides gossip, tragedy and, of course, brilliant writing. 

Cal Bedient, Candy Necklace (Wesleyan) This book, the poet's first, comes as the culmination of years of criticism and teaching. Here, an in-depth discussion of one poem leads to a conversation about modernism, metaphor and madness.