DEADLINE ARTISTS
Edited by John Avalon, Jesse Angelo and Errol Louis (Overlook, 432 pages, $29.95)
This splendid collection of columns from the heyday of American newspaper journalism is a trove to be savored at length and at leisure. Mike Barnicle, the great N.Y. Daily News sportswriter, observed that a good columnist is like a brilliant photographer: He (or she) captures in words a snapshot of history as viewed through a unique lens. The greats are here, from Ernest Hemingway to Jimmy Breslin, Westbrook Pegler to Mike Royko, H.L. Mencken, Dorothy Parker, Grantland Rice, Peggy Noonan, William F. Buckley Jr., Murray Kempton and Ernie Pyle. There are many more, of course, and the topics range from full-throated opinion to sage advice and pulse-pounding sports coverage, from marvelous humor to sentimental journeys. All of it is rich with grace, eloquence and some of the best writing you are likely ever to see. It is sheer delight.
MICHAEL J. BONAFIELD, NEWS COPY EDITOR
Second Nature
By Jacquelyn Mitchard (Random House, 384 pages, $26)
Imagine having a face transplant, your whole life and appearance changing practically overnight. Imagining it is exactly what Mitchard does in this wonderful and absorbing novel. The book tells the story of Sicily Coyne, whose face was disfigured in a fire at her school when she was 13. Her firefighter father died a hero that same day. Raised by an aunt after her mother died a few years later, Sicily has made a career in medical illustration and is engaged to be married to a young man who knew her as a child. When her fiancé confesses an awful secret, the wedding is off. Sicily suddenly finds herself reconsidering an idea she had once easily rejected: having a face transplant. Mitchard writes realistically of the complicated thoughts and emotions Sicily goes through, and readers find themselves on a roller coaster of pulling for the young woman and being dismayed by some of the decisions she makes. The story and its strong, brave heroine will stay with you a long time. The book jacket calls this novel a love story, but it more accurately is a story of courage and faith.
JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER
