(4 of 4)
THE FUTILE LIFE OF PITO PEREZ, by José Rubén Romero. A Mexican classic gets its first English translation. Pito Perez is a south-of-the-border Everyman, and his story illuminates the national character of Mexico.
THE LAST ONE LEFT, by John D. MacDonald. Murder at sea, mayhem on land, and skulduggery everywhere in this tautly told story by one of America's masters of suspense.
PAPER LION, by George Plimpton. The author makes his personal dream come true for the reader too; his account of playing as a temporary member of the Detroit Lions pro football team puts every fan on the bench right behind the coaches.
A SHORTER FINNEGANS WAKE, by James Joyce, edited by Anthony Burgess. Readers are given both a guide and an economy tour of the night life of H. C. Earwicker, mightiest of Irish dreamers, whose nocturnal visions embrace all human history, from the fall of man to Judgment Day. Burgess, a gifted novelist and linguist, plays a lively Virgil to the Dublin Dante.
DEATH ON THE INSTALLMENT PLAN, by Louis-Ferdinand Céline. New, idiomatic and closer to the black heart of Céline's comedy, this fresh translation helps readers share the gritty grandeurs and squalors of a Parisian orphan's progress through an underworld of comedy and horror.
THE MAN WHO KNEW KENNEDY, by Vance Bourjaily. The first effort to capture the triumph and tragedy of the Kennedy era in fiction. Bourjaily's flashback-filled book is a sometimes brilliant and always evocative account of how the generation closest to Kennedy in age and aspirations reacted to his death.
Best Sellers FICTION 1. The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Crichton (1 last week)
2. Capable of Honor, Drury (2)
3. The Captain, De Hartog (5)
4. The Mask of Apollo, Renault (4)
5. The Birds Fall Down, West (3)
6. Valley of the Dolls, Susann (6)
7. Tai-Pan, Clavell (7)
8. Waiting for Winter, O'Hara
9. All in the Family, O'Connor (8)
10. The Fixer, Malamud (9)
NONFICTION 1. Everything But Money, Levenson (1)
2. Madame Sarah, Skinner (2)
3. Paper Lion, Plimpton (3)
4. Games People Play, Berne (5)
5. The Jury Returns, Nizer (4)
6. Rush to Judgment, Lane (6)
7. The Boston Strangler, Frank (7)
8. Random House Dictionary of the English Language (8)
9. How to Avoid Probate, Dacey (10) 10. Winston S. Churchill, Churchill (9)
* All times E.S.T.