THE WAYWARD Bus (312 pp.)John SteinbeckViking ($2.75).
"The clouds piled in grey threat on threat and a blue darkness settled on the land. In the San Juan valley the darker greens seemed black and the lighter green of grass, a chilling wet blue. 'Sweetheart' came rolling heavily along the highway and the aluminum paint on her gleamed with the evil of a gun."
John Steinbeck's new novel moves like the bus, Sweetheart, through a day of heavy spring rains in the Salinas valley country of California. The setting, familiar to Steinbeck readers, comes out fresh and fragrant in Steinbeck's prose. A few of...